R.I.P. Davey Jones

[journeybear]

I don't know where to draw the line for music videos. You can go back to the 1930s, as soon as sound came in, when short films captured live performances by big bands of single songs, and animated cartoons set to music were produced - the two Betty Boop cartoons set to songs by Cab Calloway are particularly fascinating. Getting back to the 60s, The Beatles concocted a few productions which could be called music videos after they stopped touring, and didn't they also send out annual Christmas greetings? But yes, each episode of The Monkees included them performing a song.

Anyway, FWIW, the wiki says: In 1981, Nesmith won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts.

[pickloser]

I saw the Monkees in 1966 in Greensboro, NC. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was the opening act...

Saw 'em in Charlotte. All I remember about seeing Jimi Hendrix is that my mother looked so appalled that I thought she was going to jerk me and my best friend right out of there. Another friend saw them at the same concert, and Jimi scared him so bad he cried and his mother had to take him outside in the hall to calm him down.

Bye Davey.

[Jim Broyles]

I think that's a red herring. Everyone had to do that, back then.

This was a period when there was a major shakeup in the music industry between the "old school" where performers didn't write and perform their own stuff, and the newcomers who did. The Beatles being the major gate-crashers, due to sheer force of talent.

The Monkees were on the wrong side of that line, for many of us at the time.

Well, I was too naive to realize that the Monkees weren't playing their own instruments at first, but I loved a lot of their stuff. I guess I was disappointed to learn that the guys didn't really do all those cool sounds themselves, but I was disappointed to learn the same thing about the Beach Boys. Are they what's wrong with popular music, too? I do have a real appreciation for the studio musicians who made a lot of the music I loved as a younger person, but I can't say that just because they aren't really playing that there is something inherently wrong with the Monkees' music.

[mommythrice]

I was still holding onto the hope that I would marry Davy someday.

[Dan Hoover]

at the end of the day,it's all just music...you either dig it or you don't...apparently alot of people really liked thier music..even alot of their peers..i remember watching them saturday mornings too..funny stuff then..plus they had a cool car...

[Randi Gormley]

When the news came over the wires yesterday, everybody over a certain age just stopped what they were doing and started talking about how they grew up with the Monkees. Then we had the younger, snarkier crew chime in with "you mean the guy from Davy Jones' Locker?" And then the explanation from our resident guitar blogger about David Bowie and how "Last Train To Clarksville" made No. 1 before the show even started.
I looked at a lot of Monkees footage yesterday since all the news outlets had some snippet or other. They had so much fun together they generated endless goodwill, whether you thought they were sell-outs to music or not. I, too, was enamoured of Davey Jones (my sister was a big fan of Mickey, if I remember correctly), but part of that is just remembering being young at the same time. I can still sing their theme song (and could even before yesterday), and Pleasant Valley Sunday is something I've been singing for 45 years or so when I'm driving the suburbs of NYC.
RIP Davey.

[mandocrucian]

What a difference in tone between the comments on the deaths of "heavyweight" Davey Jones vs. Whitney Houston.....

"Say no more, Bob's your uncle. Nudge nudge, wink wink; know what I mean."

[John Flynn]

When I think of the Monkees (I was a fan as a teenager!) the anecdote that pops into my head is that Mickey Dolenz was doing a "come-back" appearance in St. Louis in the early 90's and he got interviewed by a local DJ on morning drive-time radio. He got asked about the tour where Hendrix opened for the the Monkees. He said it was really embarrasing for them, but they had no say in it. They were all huge Hendrix fans and didn't think they should even be on the same bill with him, much less having him open for them.

Then he got asked the inevitable question about the comparison between the Beatles and the Monkees. He said, "That's the question I always hate the most to get asked. Let me put it this way: Comparing the Beatles to the Monkees is like comparing Alan Shepard to James T. Kirk." I always thought that was a great answer.

[pickloser]

By the way, I think it's "Davy". I'm especially embarrassed, since at one time we were going to be married. Ah well, what's an e. A rose is still a ros.

[Barry Wilson]

The monkees were like the musicians version of the a team. that car was cool. the tv show had a funny easy to follow story. how could youngins not love the show and become fans of the music.

[allenhopkins]

I don't know where to draw the line for music videos. You can go back to the 1930s, as soon as sound came in, when short films captured live performances by big bands of single songs, and animated cartoons set to music were produced - the two Betty Boop cartoons set to songs by Cab Calloway are particularly fascinating. Getting back to the 60s, The Beatles concocted a few productions which could be called music videos after they stopped touring...

The segments in A Hard Day's Night that ran while the Beatles' songs were playing, included footage of them playing, but also un-related activities -- the four of them running around, chasing and being chased, etc. (can't remember all the details; long time since I saw the movie). They were little "plays" set around the music. Most of the earlier film shorts are just depictions of the musicians playing, without other "plot." That's why I see the AHDN sequences as proto-music videos. The idea that a "music video" has to include something more than just a filmed live performance -- that it needs to have actors and a storyline and creative filming and editing -- wasn't common before the Beatles, and director Richard Lester, included the song sequences in AHDN. That's why I cite them as inspiration for the "Music Video World" we're in now.

Example:



IMHO, of course. And as I remember, Ricky Nelson used to end up each episode of Ozzie & Harriet with a segment of his music, so the Monkees were following an even earlier tradition.

[MikeEdgerton]

By the way, I think it's "Davy". I'm especially embarrassed, since at one time we were going to be married. Ah well, what's an e. A rose is still a ros.

You are correct it is Davy.

[Dobe]

Wow! Didn't know there existed so much anti-Monkees sentiment...

Had the same thought Allen. And hey, I like Barry Manilow, and Wayne Newton. I'll take them or The Monkees over an awful lot of some so called 'music' I hear today I don't think the stars will ever again align in such a way, as to ever see anything close to another 'Monkees". It was a good idea for it's time, that was far more successful than anyone would have imagined. Starting to feel old now, think I'll take a nap....

[MikeEdgerton]

...And as I remember, Ricky Nelson used to end up each episode of Ozzie & Harriet with a segment of his music, so the Monkees were following an even earlier tradition.

Roy and Dale ended their shows with a segment of their music as well. Everything old is new again.

[andiwayne]

I always loved watching The Monkees on television - I thought they were awesome! RIP, Davy Jones.

Here's what I think is a fine bluegrass tribute to The Monkees done by The Grascals.

[Perry Babasin]

RIP Davy Jones the original Artful Dodger! I also was a Monkees fan and although my Dad knew and told me all the inside info about the band, I chose to not believe him, and pretend they were actually playing ha,ha,ha.

Years later Michael Nesmith would play small college venues around the L.A. area, and I have to tell you he was great, very funny and a great country-folky-singer/songwriter. In 1974, the week after seeing Dave Van Ronk at the same Student Union venue, I saw him play a concert and plug a new album he had produced and played on for the legendary Bert Jansch called "L.A. Turnaround". I was a fan of Pentangle and Michael so I ran out and bought it (great album, I'm listening to it right now). Years after that Michael had a small artsy video company in the Bay Area and produced some videos with the original members of the Firesign Theater. Videoranch is still in business.

[John Rosett]

At the show I saw in '66, Peter Tork did a solo spot, playing banjo and singing. Probably my first exposure to a "folk" instrument.

[Jim Broyles]

What a difference in tone between the comments on the deaths of "heavyweight" Davey Jones vs. Whitney Houston.....

"Say no more, Bob's your uncle. Nudge nudge, wink wink; know what I mean."

Niles, I have a great deal of respect for your knowledge of music but I must respectfully disagree with your sentiment in this case. IMO, we do our entire society a disservice when we elevate and place on pedestals individuals whose chosen lifestyle has contributed to their own demise. Whitney Houston's music may be of a higher caliber than Davy Jones', it is a very subjective issue; and I do think that she was the more talented singer, but she decided to live a life of drugs and alcohol and it ended up killing her. We may think Davy Jones was a lightweight in comparison to Ms. Houston, but he didn't live a public life of immoral self-indulgence. I am sorry for both of their families, but it is hard for me to celebrate Whitney Houston.

[Charley wild]

I haven't read every post carefully but I don't think one thing has been said that should be said. That they themselves weren't playing their own music was no secret back then. I don't recall anybody getting too huffy about it. We looked at them as actors doing a TV show, not necessarily musicians per se. That "they" had some neat tunes also was fine but we still looked at them as TV entertainers pretty much. That having been said I was no teeny bopper I was in my mid twenties when they came along and that probably made a difference as to how I looked at them. But, again, it was generally known that they were using studio musicians on the songs.

[Perry Babasin]

A Quote from the L.A. Times:

"Hailing from Manchester, England, Jones had already cut his teeth at the tender age of 11 on a popular BBC soap, "Coronation Street," but it was his role as the Artful Dodger that brought him on "The Ed Sullivan Show" the same night the Beatles made their explosive debut.

It was an auspicious encounter that would set Jones' agenda for the rest of his life. In the book "Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan’s America" Jones recalls the frenzy: “I watched the Beatles from the side of the stage, I saw the girls going crazy, and I said to myself, this is it, I want a piece of that.”

[mtucker]

awww, yes...the power of hollyweird

restored to full splendor, out of the weird...but highly creative mind of dean jeffries in his hollywood shop...is the old goat turned roadster with its' blown big block, zoomies and phaeton top....still looking cool today..

[pfox14]

Little known facts: Davy Jones changed his name to David Bowie because the other Davy Jones (from the Monkees) was so popular. The Monkees movie "Head" was directed by Jack Nicholson.

[tr6drvr]

For people of a certain age (as I was) when the Monkees came along, and if you were already playing in Rock garage bands (as I was), and listening to things like Cream, Grateful Dead, Zappa, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (as I was)... the Monkees were anathema.

They were the height of the attempt by "The Man" to co-opt "our" music. It was the start of a trend that ended in the Orlando music factories that pumped out the likes of Britney Spears and whoever is currently on your local radio station playing pop music.

.

Precisely my experience. OTOH my sister who was 3 years younger went nuts for them and could not get enough-pics on the wall, the whole bit.

I must admit, though, when I hear one of their tunes come over the Target PA system or wherever, it does put a smile on my face.

PS Monkees opening for Hendix? Gads. I read today that Jimi left the stage early because the audience was screaming for the Monkees.

[Perry Babasin]

I believe they enjoyed laughing at themselves...

[foldedpath]

Actually, Peter "Tork" (actually Thorkelson) was probably the most proficient musician of the Monkees; he'd started a career on the Greenwich Village folk scene before answering the casting call for the TV show, and was the only Monkee to play on their first recordings, albeit as "third chair guitar" behind the studio heavies.

You're right, I had forgotten that about Tork. I was probably remembering mostly what Nesmith did after leaving the group.

Anyway, FWIW, the wiki says: In 1981, Nesmith won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts.

Nesmith was also executive producer on "Repo Man," one of my favorite low-budget weird movies.