just because something’s defining quality is innocence doesn’t mean it has to be a guilty pleasure.

Tell ‘em, Gil! I get really tired of the idea that things have to be cynical or depressing to be good. It seems like every time there’s a discussion of different bands or movies or whatever some goofball will pipe up that X is the best one “because it’s darker,” as though that settles the whole matter.

RIP, Davy. Sleepy Jean will need serious cheering up this day.

I’m with you on the innocence factor; it works for me.  I was barely 8 when these guys hit the scene, but I loved them anyway because they were fun. 

I did think it was weird though when my older sister was (1) sure she was going to marry Davy Jones, and (2) all sorts of upset when Tiger Beat revealed that he was already married.  Tiger Beat = the training wheels that will get you to National Enquirer someday.

Xecky, thanks for that; I appreciate it even if that means I’m a middle aged white chick with decidedly middle aged tastes (I guess, who knows?  I listen to some odd stuff but I always did). 

I heard NPR’s story on Davy; the guy was enthusiastic and happy his whole life, and that made my smile.  RIP, indeed.

You’re welcome, SOAS. Personally I’m happily middle-aged and escapist, and one of the things that happened after I hit 40 was that I stopped feeling so much guilt about liking silly happy stuff and generally stopped worrying so much about what was cool and what wasn’t. Though I’d already built up some of a callus by having been disparaged by Boomers my whole life for liking any music made after about 1975.

I do appreciate some pretty dark things too, I just disagree with the idea that happy can’t be good.

I get really tired of the idea that things have to be cynical or depressing to be good.

I should say, I dig (and according to anyone who’s ever met me, am) cynical and depressing, especially in my music—would’ve spent all day boxing Mark Steyn’s ears for bitching about NWA’s “near rhymes” if I thought anyone’d be interested—but yeah, way too many people mistake darkness for depth. I shouldn’t complain, it’s gotten me more than a few second dates.

It seems like every time there’s a discussion of different bands or movies or whatever some goofball will pipe up that X is the best one “because it’s darker,” as though that settles the whole matter.

Ah, I see you had internet access the summer both Dark Knight and Iron Man came out.

Ah, I see you had internet access the summer both Dark Knight and Iron Man came out.

hee hee

The first time I remember noticing this phenom was when I was discussing the Star Wars movies with some friends, back when there were only 3 Star Wars movies. One guy used that would-be trump line about The Empire Strikes Back.

I became a huge Monkees fan circa 1987 when they had their comeback—I was in Jr. High, which is exactly the right age to try and appreciate the Monkees. I was a headbangerette at the time, you know: G’n'R, Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Kiss, etc. But when I actually listened to stuff like “The Porpoise Song” or “Shorty Blackwell” or “Circle Sky”, I realized that The Monkees weren’t just a sweetness and light pop confection.  They might have come together through the serendipity of the miracle of television (the auditions for the show turned away Stephen Stills and Charles Manson), but the success of the band wasn’t a fluke—

Peter Tork was a good folk musician. Mike Nesmith was solid songwriter. Mickey Dolenz graduated from child actor to musician/entertainer with determination—and then there was Davy Jones—a song-and-dance entertainer who switched to rock and kept that kind of sweet romanticism about it. Somewhere I’ve read him described as a proto-Bieber—not a bad description. He was the sublimated-safe-sexy one. He was also pretty funny. He’ll be missed.

I was 14 when the Monkees hit but, as a guy who was seriously into both classical music and Motown at the age of 14 I could relate to the Beatles and the rest of the English Wave as well as the Four Tops, Temptations, etc. and Tchaikovsky and the Girl from Ipanema all at the same time. But not the TV-generated Monkees.  But my sister totally adored Davy Jones (13 years old).  They were harmless.  That’s my contemporary assessment of the Monkees.

It’s important to remember that the information portals in the 1960s were just broadcast TV and radio and both were utterly lame by contemporary standards with a few exceptions like Rocky and Bulwinkle.

Weren’t they good?
They made me happy.
I think I can make it alone.

My husband and I were big fans of the Monkees and still pull out a few of their songs every now and then. I apologize to no one for my musical choices; I listen to whomever I like.

These days I listen to more indie bands and my sons supply me with plenty of options. Current favorites include Jukebox the Ghost, Wolf Parade, and Dappled Cities.

And in a great personal high last week I got to visit Weaver D’s restaurant in Athens, GA, where REM used to hang out. The owner, Dexter Weaver was there, and he said “Automatic” every time food came up from the kitchen. yay!

Our family loves The Monkees.  I was watching an episode of OZ on the 29th (NZ one) and had to drag out my Monkees album after hearing Omar White singing ‘I Wanna Be Free’.

We’ve got a family bbq tomorrow and no doubt ‘Hey, Hey We’re the Monkees’ will be lined up on the karaoke for little sis to murder as always.

They were fun, and sometimes that’s all you need.

As an aging boomer I watched the show when it came out, at about the age it was intended to appeal to, and appreciated it for what it was - a campy, funny spin off of Beatles movies with some really decent music.  I never even thought of the Monkees as a band per se.  They were just a group of guys who auditioned for a TV show.  But the music held together in the end.  Davy Jones was funny and cute and non-threateningly sexy.  I really, really liked him and it’s sad that we’ve lost him.

Any particular reason you chose a song where Mickey Dolenz sings lead instead of Davey Jones?

That is the most bad-ass car in the world, though!

Davey definitely rocked the tambourine! I generaly listen to “classic rock” when I listen to radio, and I’m a little surprised that their music doesn’t get more air-play these days. They were quite popular back in the day, for good reason, in my opinion!

Seriously, what does KISS have that the Monkees didn’t. KISS certainly didn’t have a bad-ass car. I mean, look at that motherfucker! It’s a convertible station wagon!

Any particular reason you chose a song where Mickey Dolenz sings lead instead of Davey Jones?

My official answer is, it was their first big hit. If I say more I risk blowing my oh-so-carefully-cultivated online pseudonymity. (FYI: good song, terribly pickup line)