Were The Monkees really a band?

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Reverend Rock

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It's pretty well documented that Head was all about the trap that the "Pre-Fabs" found themselves in, and was their attempt to assert a certain cultural relevance at the time by destroying their former image and creating an avant-garde art film in the process.

The interesting thing about all this is that their peers in the music community were for the most part not a party to all the talk of them being fake or irrelevant. The Beatles thought they were way cool. Some of the best songwriters of the 60s went out of their way to give them opportunities (I think particularly of Harry Nilsson here, and of course Carole King and Gerry Goffin gave the Monkees some of their best work as well).

It was the critics and their audience who really didn't give them a chance.
 
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Magic

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Sure they were a band.......they released albums, so they are a band!

115645_monkees_l.jpg


The Monkees, left to right: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith

I can remember watching the show when I was a "tater tot" :)
 

LG

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Mike Nesmith was the best part of the band, Craig I think, knows a lot more about him than I do.
 

Magic

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Davey Jones had a solo career as well.

552px-Davy_Jones_%28Geneva%2C_IL%2C_2006%29.jpg

he was performing in 2006!
 

Hepcat

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The issue of how a band was formed must inevitably became irrelevant over time for any band - quite simply because the music must stand on its own sooner rather than later.

:drums:
 

Midnight Rider

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If I remember right most the Monkees early song material was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Heart.
 

Midnight Rider

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Mike Nesmith was the best part of the band, Craig I think, knows a lot more about him than I do.


You are right about that. Michael was the driving force and best musician in the group. Peter Tork would be next. Davy Jones was mostly a cute face for the girls. Micky Dolenz had some talent but was more for comedy than anything musical .
 

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The Monkees were essentually a bunch of actors which were hired by a Hollywood businessman to produce a show which would have a blend of Comedy and Music. The real debate here is who could play an instrument? My Book suggests that it was only Davy Jones who didn't play any instruments and other sources I've heard say it was only Mike Nesmith which had the talent of playing guitar - Mike Nesmith is perhaps the most accomplish of that group and the whole product in creating a group was to basically have something which could compete with The Beatles.
 

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The Monkees were a pop rock quartet assembled by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider in Los Angeles in 1966 for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968. The members were Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Englishman Davy Jones, who were supervised and popularized by Don Kirshner.

At the time of the band's formation, its producers saw The Monkees as a Beatles-like band.[1] At the start, the band members provided vocals, and were given some performing and production opportunities, but they eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name. The group undertook several concert tours, allowing an opportunity to perform as a live band as well as on the TV series. Although the show was canceled in 1968, the band continued releasing records until 1970. In the 1980s, the television show and music experienced a revival, which led to a series of reunion tours, and new records featuring various incarnations of the band's lineup.




Here's the rest of what Wikipedia has to say about them ....
 
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