Remember how I foreshadowed a few posts back that I was going to discuss my re-discovering of the Monkees' music? Well, here it is. You can't say you weren't warned. Heh heh.
So. Let's go back to the beginnings of my record collection. Back to like 1982-84ish. The first album I ever owned was the Smurfs All-Star Show album, followed by the Cabbage Patch Kids Christmas record (80s! Represent!). Not that I went out and bought them with my own money - because I didn't have that when I was seven - but in the Casa Bischer Record Collection, those were the ones that represented the youngest member of the household. I guess because outside of those albums, all I listened to was the radio and whatever records my parents had - it's not like nowadays where there's Kidz Bop and the Wiggles and whatnot cranking out music for purchase every other minute specifically for children's benefit. So whenever my parents got me my Monkees albums (
The Monkees,
More of the Monkees, and
Then & Now, The Best of the Monkees, for those keeping score at home), they were the first "grown up" music I possessed. I happily played the s*** out of them for the two years or so that I was crazy obsessed the group, but then, as I got older and the reruns stopped airing and my interests transferred to that other "kees" love of my life, I didn't really think much about the music anymore.
It's funny because outside of "I'm a Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Daydream Believer", you don't hear the other songs on the oldies radio stations that often. (And yes, I've been know to listen to oldies music stations, even when I wasn't the target demographic. Sue me - I guess the Monkees were my "gateway drug" to appreciating older music and why I was digging the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel long before it was cool to. So nyah. /overly defensive missive) Yet when I started re-watching the shows recently, it blew me away that I still knew all the words and could even remember the chord progressions to "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (a song which I weirdly appreciated at the age of nine because of the "Rows of houses that are all the same and no one seems to care" part - my 1950-constructed neighborhood comprised entirely of lookalike Cape Cods was just that) and "Take a Giant Step" and "Papa Gene's Blues." And I also realized that it wasn't just past blind childlike adoration that made me like the songs - they're actually pretty damn catchy.
So that's all to say that I decided... "Hey, maybe it's okay to get some of these songs on my iPod," 26 years after liking them originally. And it also made me realize that if I grew up in the 60s when the Monkees were in their heyday, I would've gone crazy defending their musical abiliities in quite A-Rodian Defenditude fashion. Because for anyone to blow them off as a joke/fake/Beatles rip-off or whatever is just completely asinine. First off, let me say that one the arguments of my Monkees Defenditude would be that out of the 10 songs I put on my iPod recently, seven were written by the Monkees themselves, six of those by Mike Nesmith (only child, holla). So I find it mind-boggling that they had to fight so hard to have some creative input into their own albums. When they did get to do their own thing, it came out pretty awesome (and even more appealing, for me — even though this
is coming through the lens of a 35-year-old who wasn't alive during their initial run and was therefore not the target demographic in 1967. So maybe my opinion matters little here.)
Anyway. You'll notice one of the albums I didn't have growing up was
Headquarters, which was the Monkees' first full-control-of-their-music album they put out. It's the one I've been focusing on recently as most of the songs on the album are "new" to me. Like so:
"You Just May Be the One" is a song that somehow escaped my notice when I was a kid. The weekend after Davy died, however, I was watching a Monkees marathon and it was used in an episode in which Peter's trying to woo a nice girl despite his being shy to the point of incompetance (another reason he was my favorite - who else was going to attempt to light a gal's cigarette with a blowtorch?). I was getting ready for bed and half paying attention when it was on, but the second this two-minute ditty appeared, I was captivated and like, "Why did I never notice this one?" The bridge on it is damn near perfect, probably my most favorite thing right now - and it's all Mike's doing, you guys.
Another underappreciated Mike-written gem is "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," which was on the aforementioned greatest hits record I had when I was a kid. A song that didn't do much for me back then - except for wondering what the hell had this girl done to Micky that his fingers were
still burning from the last time. What? - but I now realize is a pretty fantastic example of a good little pop song — with a harpsichord (Peter, for the win). Also, I didn't really quite appreciate the uniqueness of Micky's voice till recently, which this one showcases nicely.
One word: BANJO (Peter again, BTW). Okay, more than one word - this is a great song if you need to walk with a purpose. It's pretty f***ing awesome.
One thing you probably don't think about with the Monkees is harmonies, but if you listen, there's a lot of it throughout their music, and in this stripped-down version of "Sunny Girlfriend," Mike and Micky have at it pretty fantastically.
And speaking of harmonies, here is a song I do remember...but all because at the age of nine I was pissed that it was used in a Christmas episode and they weren't singing about Christmas trees or reindeer and for god's sake they were singing in Spanish, which at that point in my life all I knew was your standard
Sesame Street-learned fare of "agua" and "amigo". So, yeah, I was kind of "harrumph" about it. Now? Good lord, it's effing pretty.
Bonus (because this is almost as much about the "video" as the song itself):
Now, "Cuddly Toy" is a song I do vaguely remember from my childhood TV-watching days, but it wasn't until I saw this clip recently that was like, "God, that sounds like a Harry Nilsson song." And sure enough, it is. I like feeling smart like that. It's kind of a, uh, not really kid-friendly song if you look at the lyrics, which is why I think I appreciate it so much now - went right over little KB's head, as it was supposed to. But also, I find this whole sequence so damn charming (Davy is downright darling in this), and that it might've pushed it into "liking" territory for me.
So you survived my Monkees sum-up post. Now that wasn't too painful, was it? (And if it was, hush up, you soulless bastard.)
