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Welsh star Ben Evans plays the late Davy Jones in new Monkees’ musical
By Karen Price
WalesOnline.co.uk
March 31, 2012

A new musical based on the story of hit band The Monkees is premiering this weekend with Welshman Ben Evans playing the late Davy Jones. He takes a break from rehearsals to tell Karen Price all about it

As he steps onto the stage this weekend for the world premiere of a new musical about ’60s American band The Monkees, Ben Evans admits he will feel a little emotional.

For the Swansea actor is stepping into the shoes of band member Davy Jones who passed away just a month ago.

And the production, Monkee Business, is opening in Manchester, Jones’ home city, so the run is dedicated to him.

“It is going to be emotionally charged,” admits Evans, who stepped onto the stage as Jones for the first time last night.

“The last song of the show is Daydream Believer and I’m standing in a spotlight so that’s very poignant.

“It’s difficult for fans to say ‘goodbye’ when someone famous passes away so by coming to see the show it’s one way they can do that.

“We also hope we can keep Davy’s legacy and his music alive.”

Monkee Business is a madcap Austin Powers-style adventure based on the band which was formed for a TV series and went on to give The Beatles a run for their money.

It’s the story of four young men who fall prey to an evil record producer and are tricked into impersonating one of the biggest bands in the world – The Monkees. As they struggle to conceal their own personalities, a frantic world tour leads to entanglements with a harem of sexy Russian spies and other misdemeanours.

Evans admits that he was really excited when the project was announced.

“I did a lot of research before the auditions and was lucky enough to get the part,” says the Welshman who celebrates his 28th birthday in two weeks. “As an actor, it’s difficult to get a role in a brand new show, especially when it comes to theatre, but you get so much more freedom when you’re creating something.

“With something like Jersey Boys there’s a formula, but this is new.

“But there’s a lot more added pressure when you’re playing a ‘real’ person as you have to be realistic – you can’t go off on too much of a tangent.”

Evans admits that he wasn’t overly familiar with the work of The Monkees before he landed the job.

Made instant worldwide stars by the famous TV series, The Monkees – which also featured Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith – became one of most successful bands of their generation, at one time even outselling The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and releasing more than 100 songs on nine albums and influencing many future artists.

“I’m not from their era but they’re so ingrained in popular culture that everyone knows who they are,” says Evans, who’s also appeared on stage in Jersey Boys, Lord Of The Rings and Les Misérables.

“I remember watching some of their programmes when I was quite young and you realise you know the tune of even the less obvious songs.

“After doing so much research during the last six months, I’m an even bigger fan now. I’ve watched every episode of The Monkees to get the character right.

“I don’t think they got the acclaim or political plaudits they deserved.”

Evans says that while researching Davy Jones, he discovered there were a number of parallels between them.

“We were both child actors who came from backgrounds which had nothing to do with theatre – it just came naturally to us,” says the actor, whose TV credits include the BBC Wales comedy High Hopes and The Indian Doctor.

“We both played the Artful Dodger in the West End and he had links to Swansea – he got married there and had family there – and it’s where I’m from.”

Evans was already preparing for the opening of Monkee Business when he heard that Jones had died suddenly last month following a heart attack.

“It was a real shock, especially as he was the youngest.”

Evans says that while The Monkees are not directly involved with the musical, they are supporting the project.

“We’ve had their blessing and Mickey has sent ‘good luck’ messages. We hope they will come to see it and we think they will enjoy it.”

The musical will be staged at Manchester Opera House until April 14 before touring to Glasgow and Sunderland. It is then hoped there will be a West End run.

Evans is joined by Oliver Savile (Peter Tork), Stephen Kirwan (Micky Dolenz) and Tom Parsons (Mike Nesmith) in the leading roles.

Also among the cast is fellow Welshman Lee Honey-Jones, who is a long-standing friend of Evans’.

“We grew up together in Swansea and were going for auditions together when we were nine or 10. We then both had a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School. It’s great to be working together again.”

And while putting together a new show must be pretty exhausting, it sounds as if the cast have been thoroughly enjoying it too.

“We’re having a whale of a time doing it. If the audience enjoy it half as much as we do they will be in for a great time.”

Monkee Business – Opera House, Manchester
The Public Reviews » COMPETITION

Monkee Business, the new musical mystery featuring exotic locations, far out cars, groovy spies AND The Monkees’ biggest hits, is swinging into the Manchester Opera House for its world premiere. We have teamed up with The Producers to offer 2 lucky readers a family ticket (4 tickets of which 1 must be a child under 16) to see the show on 3rd April at 7:30pm.

A madcap Austin Powers-style adventure, Monkee Business the Musical – announced last November – is the zany, new major musical for 2012. It’s the story of four innocent boys who fall prey to an evil record producer and are tricked into impersonating one of the biggest bands in the world. As they struggle to conceal their own personalities, a frantic world tour leads to entanglements with a harem of sexy Russian spies, an army of Tower Beefeaters and a railway carriage full of nuns. Totally far out!

Featuring a huge cast and a seriously loud and LIVE rock and roll band, with brand new designs by Morgan Large (Flashdance, Never Forget, Footloose), this exciting new musical features a fantastic score, madcap mix of zany adventure, dreamy romance and hilarious hi-jink that will have you going bananas!

From the producers of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Spamalot, Monkee Business the Musical will pay homage to both the crazy chaos of the Emmy Award winning TV series and the brilliant music of The Monkees featuring hit after hit including I’m A Believer, Last Train to Clarksville, Hey, Hey We’re The Monkees and the smash hit Daydream Believer alongside many more iconic songs from the era like My Boy Lollipop and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.

Made instant world-wide stars by the famous 1960s TV series, The Monkees, made up of Manchester-born Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith, became one of most successful bands of their generation – at one time even outselling The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – releasing 121 songs on nine albums and influencing many future artists.

A fantastically talented quartet of young actors take the lead roles in Monkee Business the Musical.

Ben Evans (Chuck – posing as Davy Jones), has a wealth of West End credits already including Jersey Boys, Les Miserables, Olvier! Mamma Mia! and The Lord of the Rings.

Oliver Savile (William – posing as Peter Tork), after graduating made his professional debut in the UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and has recently been touring the world in the international tour of Mamma Mia!

Stephen Kirwan (Andy, posing as Micky Dolenz) made his West End debut in Cameron Macintosh’s Mary Poppins. He has also toured the UK in Fiddler on the Roof and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Most recently Stephen has appeared as Claude in the European tour of Hair.

Tom Parsons (Mark – posing as Mike Nesmith) has appeared in the West End in Mamma Mia! and most recently as Nicky/Trekkie in Avenue Q.

Joining Ben, Oliver, Stephen and Tom in Monkee Business the Musical, playing the role of the boys’ unscrupulous manager Joey Finkelstein will be the extremely familiar face of Linal Haft. Linal – most recently seen as Harry Gold in Eastenders – has a wealth of theatre, film and television credits to his name. Theatre includes Slaughter City (RSC), Happy Birthday Brecht (National Theatre), The Old Neighbourhood (The Royal Court) and most recently the award winning Burlesque at Jermyn Street Theatre. TV includes Minder, Shine on Harvey Moon, Great Expectations, Vanity Fair, Rome and the aforementioned Eastenders with films including Moulin Rouge.

Monkee Business the Musical is written by Peter Benedict (Naked Flame, Fire Down Under, Deadlock), directed by David Taylor (A Chorus Line, Cats, The Prisoner of Second Avenue), choreographed by David Morgan (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and produced by the madcap Michael Rose Ltd in conjunction with the seriously-off-the-wall Ambassador Theatre Group.

Monkee Business is premiering at the Opera House as part of Manchester Gets It First, Ambassador Theatre Group’s commitment to making Manchester the UK’s official city for launching theatre’s biggest and best new musicals, a scheme which has won the backing of the city council. Ghost the Musical was the first MGiF show, and last month saw the second, the record-breaking All New People – written by and starring Zach Braff.

The Manchester run of Monkee Business The Musical will be dedicated to Davy Jones, a wonderfully talented musician whose songs brought happiness to millions of people around the world.

Friday 30 March – Saturday 14 April 2012
Box Office 0844 871 3018 : www.atgtickets.com/manchester

We have 2 sets of Family Tickets (4 tickets 1 must be a child under 16) to give away to the show on 3rd April at 7:30pm

To enter, simply answer the following question:

QUESTION: Which Monkee was from the UK?

a) Peter Tork b) Davy Jones c) Mickey Dolenz

Email your answer to comps@thepublicreviews.com making sure ‘MONKEE’ is the email subject heading. The competition closes on 29th March 2012 at 12pm, when 2 winners will be chosen. Please include your name, address & telephone number with your entry.

Terms & Conditions: By entering this competition you are agreeing to the following: *** you will be added to The Public Reviews mailing list (unless indicated by yourself in your email entry.) *** Your details will be passed on to the supplier of the competition prize. *** Entries after the closing date/wrong subject heading/spelt wrong may not be entered into the competition. *** Only 1 entry allowed per person/email address allowed, multiple entries will be removed and not entered. ***Prizes are non transferable and no cash alternative will be offered.*** The Public Reviews/Competition promoter have the right to change the prize or remove the competition at any stage.***

Oliver to star in world premiere
Buxton Advertiser
March 21, 2012

Buxton man Oliver Savile will take a step closer to his dream of becoming a West End star when the curtain rises on the world premiere of a musical based on the Sixties pop phenomenon The Monkees.

Twenty-two-year-old Oliver, a former Buxton Community School pupil, plays a character based on Peter Tork in Monkee Business, which opens at the Manchester Opera House on March 30.

And if it’s a hit, the show could transfer to London’s West End.

That would be the realisation of a dream which started at Buxton Opera House more than a dozen years ago: “The first show I ever saw was Blood Brothers at Buxton Opera House when I was about ten,” Oliver told the Advertiser.

“From that time on, that was it. From then on, I knew what I wanted to do.”

He joined the REC Theatre, performing his first musical at 13. After leaving Buxton Community School, Oliver gained a distinction in a two-year BTec Musical Theatre course at City College Manchester which allowed him to apply for the prestigious Mountview Theatre of Arts in London, where he was one of 20 applicants out of 6,000 to be awarded a place for a three-year degree course in Musical Theatre. Since graduating in 2010, Oliver has never been out of work.

Monkee Business features all the amazing songs which turned the American group into a worldwide craze which at times outstripped even The Beatles. Apart from Peter Tork, none of them were really musicians, but famous names such as Neil Diamond wrote their classic hits which included Daydream Believer and Last Train to Clarksville.

The show is not a showbiz biography, but a story – based on the kind of madcap adventure Monkees fan will remember from their hit TV show – featuring an unscrupulous promoter who finds four youngsters to stand in for the Monkees on a world tour.

“In the show we’re pursued by spies and singing nuns, but it’s all great fun,” said Oliver.

His dad Marcus, who lives in Buxton, is even more excited by it all than Oliver: “He’s a great fan of The Monkees. The whole family will no doubt be there on the first night!”

So far Oliver, who has travelled the world singing in stage shows, has only played romantic leads – The Prince in Sleeping Beauty and Sky in Mamma Mia.

“It’s weird playing a real person,” said Oliver of Peter Tork, who was always “the lovable dummy” in the TV show. But as well as his research into Tork’s life, real life has given him an insight into how pop stars have to live when the cast of his production of Mamma Mia was mobbed in the Philippines and Belgium.

The death last month of The Monkees’ lead singer Davy Jones at the age of 66 has intensified interest in the group, and opening the show in his home city of Manchester is also a tribute to his memory.

And Oliver’s thoughts will be close to home as the curtain goes up with his father – who backed his ambition to the hilt – in the audience.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for him,” said Oliver. “He’s never been a pushy dad, but he’s always been there.”

Monkee Business: Manchester Opera House – March 30 – April 14. Box Office 0844 871 3018.

New take on The Monkees' musical magic will premiere in Manchester
The Diary by Dianne Bourne
Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk
January 24, 2012

Hey, hey it's The Monkees - but not as you've seen them before.

A cast of young actors are preparing to embody the famous 60s boyband in a new musical based Monkee Business, which will get its world premiere here in Manchester.

The cast of the show were unveiled at a launch bash at Manchester's Hard Rock Cafe at the weekend, and proved they've not only mastered some of the band's biggest hits like Daydream Believer and Last Train To Clarksville – but also the infamous Monkees walk too.

The jukebox musical, like Queen's We Will Rock You and Take That's Never Forget, will not be the story of the band itself but instead see the characters in a “zany madcap plot” take on the roles of The Monkees' Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Manchester's own Davy Jones.

It's down to Welsh actor Ben Evans to embody the heart-throb Jones character - and he tells The Diary he's been perfecting his Manc accent in preparation for the role.

He says: “I've only been in Manchester for a week so I'm trying to listen to the Manchester accent but there are so many versions it's difficult to make a choice. But we've all been watching The Monkees endlessly on Youtube so I'm concentrating on Davy's accent and of course getting to know the tambourine!"

Meanwhile Buxton's Oliver Savile will play the Tork character, and says: “It's set in the sixties and we're four rather gullible boys who are told that The Monkees are too busy to do a World Tour but are happy for us to fill in for them! Not allowed to tell you too much but let's just say there's a series of mad-cap adventures which all the family can enjoy.”

Producer Dave McNeilly said that Manchester was chosen for the world premiere not least because of its rich musical history.

He said: “From early rock’n’ rollers like Freddie & The Dreamers and Herman’s Hermits through The Bee Gees, The Hollies and The Smiths – right up to Oasis, Elbow and Take That – Manchester has been at the very heart of the music business throughout the decades.”

The show is also part of the Palace and Opera House's Manchester Gets it First initiative, that brought the world premiere of Ghost the Musical to the city this time last year.

Dave added: “The West End production of Ghost is now playing to record audiences – and from Manchester, via London – to New York – the Broadway production opens there in a couple of months time.

“This campaign aims to position Manchester, and The Palace and Opera House in particular, as the venues to launch theatre’s biggest and best world-premieres. We’re the second, but know that there are plans to continue the project with more new musicals planned for the near future.”

The plot will see four boys swept along in a crazy adventure as they are tricked into impersonating The Monkees around the world, where they encounter the likes of Russian spies, a trainful of nuns and a host of glamorous girls.

Dave explains: “Imagine a show where Austin Powers meets the Monkees in a crazy international adventure and you won't be far wrong.”

The Monkees themselves have not been involved with the musical, although bosses hope they will come to see the show when it premieres in Manchester.

The show premieres at Manchester Opera House from March 29 to April 14, for tickets call: 0844 871 3038.

Monkees and Herman's Hermits Stars for PBS Special
antiMusic.com
November 16, 2011

Davy Jones of The Monkees and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits will co-host and edition of My Music series this holiday season for public televison.

Recorded live in concert at Pittsburgh's Benedum Center earlier this year '60s Pop, Rock & Soul: My Music will premiere on PBS stations nationwide December 3.

"This special is all about happy, great times," says Davy Jones. "It's music from the '60s generation that my kids and grandkids listen to – they're into it. This is fun stuff, thanks to PBS."

'60s POP, ROCK & SOUL: MY MUSIC premieres December 3, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. on PBS and airs throughout the December pledge period. Check local listings for stations and times.

Dedicated to the 1960s pioneers who forever changed our world through their music, this brand-new concert special showcases some of the biggest hits of the AM radio era, including crowd-pleasing singalongs "Daydream Believer" (The Monkees' Davy Jones) and "Mr. Tambourine Man" (The Byrds' Roger McGuinn); frat rock anthems "Louie, Louie" (The Kingsmen) and "Devil With A Blue Dress" (Mitch Ryder); garage rock nuggets "Kicks" (Paul Revere & The Raiders) and "96 Tears" (Question Mark & The Mysterians); soulful sounds from Percy Sledge ("When A Man Loves A Woman") and Eddie Floyd ("Knock On Wood"); heavenly ballads from Eddie Holman ("Hey There Lonely Girl") and The Miracles ("Ooo Baby Baby"); infectious ear-candy like "This Diamond Ring" (Gary Lewis & The Playboys) and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" (Gary DeCarlo from Steam); a pair of classic rock staples from Jefferson Starship ("Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit"); and a trio of Herman's Hermits hits from Peter Noone ("I'm Into Something Good," "There's A Kind Of Hush" and "I'm Henry The Eighth, I Am"). The special also includes a memorable performance of Glen Campbell's "Turn Around, Look At Me" by Pennsylvania vocal group The Vogues – featuring the reunited tandem of original lead vocalist Bill Burkette and first tenor Hugh Geyer, the team that recorded their biggest '60s hits.

Interview: Monkees member Davy Jones chats MUSIC: '60s
By Abbie Bernstein
Assignment X.com
December 2, 2011

Davy Jones remains one of the most enduring icons of ‘60s pop, thanks largely to the fact that as the primary lead singer of the Monkees, he was insanely popular, but also because he’s still performing now. For people of a certain age, the Monkees were indelible. Yes, the ‘60s band – Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith – was originally put together by NBC network casting executives and played a lot of material by outside songwriters, but the songs were catchy, the show was fun (and actually subversive when rewatched by adults), and the band has remained so beloved that Jones, sometimes solo, sometimes with Dolenz (and occasionally Tork), continues to tour.

Although Jones is also a stage actor – one of the few, if not the only one, who has played both the Artful Dodger (in his youth) and Fagin (more recently) in OLIVER! – a writer and was a jockey, he’s still best known as a pop performer. It therefore makes complete sense that he’s the host of PBS’ MY MUSIC: ’60s POP ROCK, which airs Saturday, Dec. 3 at 8 PM.

Jones still loves performing, but he also enjoys his home life – and his horses. “At the moment, I have six thoroughbreds and I have some other horses – I have a driving horse, I have an Amish carriage, I sometimes ride it round my track at the back of my house. I bought an old house in Pennsylvanian the Eighties and, as they say, people think I’m in the Witness Protection Program. I’m there because I’m unknown, anonymous, and that’s what I like to be. And then I go and I find [very enthusiastic audiences].”

ASSIGNMENT X: You’ve said you’re also working on writing a new musical with a longtime friend …

DAVY JONES: It’s got a great book that I’ve written and we’ve collaborated on all the songs as far as the storyline and everything else. It’s going to be good.

AX: There are clips of you performing very recently and you look to be having as great a time as the audience. Have you just enjoyed performing this much through your entire career, or did you ever have a moment of feeling bad about it?

JONES: Yes, I did. In the Eighties, I went back to England in ’82 and I said to myself, “I’m not going to do it.” Then all of a sudden, I’m watching television and seeing what’s going on, and I said, “I’m better than this. I should be doing some work.” So in ’86, I played the part of Jesus Christ in GODSPELL, and I went out there for a year and I just renewed my interest in the business. I hadn’t worked [as a performer] for about four years in England, I was just looking after horses and taking care of stuff, and I thought, “I can do this. I’ve got to go there and do this.” And so I did. And then we did the ’86 Monkees reunion tour, which was the biggest tour of the year. And basically I’m just trying to incorporate my enthusiasm into my performance. And I feel better, my voice is better, I’m singing better, I’m feeling better about my life.

AX: Are there acting roles you’d still like to do?

JONES: I would like to do Joel Grey’s [Emcee role in] CABARET. I would like to be Tony Newley in STOP THE WORLD, I’d like to do Tommy Steele in HALF A SIXPENCE. Just those things that would match my personality. As a sixty-five-year-old man, I can’t be doing BARNUM, balancing on a high wire. It’s got to be sensible and it’s got to be something that I’m going to enjoy. An actor takes whatever is happening at the time and then once they’re tired of doing it and it doesn’t feel good to them and they’re not good doing it, then they leave. It’s not everybody’s choice. You hear from many, many people who say the same things I did. As you get typecast into a certain thing, people only see you as that. But my Fagin [in the musical OLIVER!] was as good as any Fagin, as good as Alec Guinness or as good as Ron Moody or as good as Clive Revill or any of these people. You just have to see that to believe what I’m saying.

AX: A lot of people who came up in the Sixties who are still around have a kind of longevity that a lot of people who’ve come up since then haven’t had. Do you have any theories as to why that is?

JONES: It’s attitude. It’s attitude. If you want to have longevity, you’ve got to have the attitude and desire. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing at the Holiday Inn, or you’re playing at the Ritz. As long as you feel good about what you do, that’s who you are. I don’t have to prove anything any more. I only have to have to say to myself, “Am I having a good time? Yeah. Do I feel healthy? Yeah. Am I enjoying everything that I should be enjoying? Am I comfortable in what I’m doing? Yeah. I am comfortable in what I’m doing.” I don’t care what anyone says about my performance or whether I’m good, bad or indifferent. I’m who I am and I can’t change that.

Davy Jones On Music, Monkees, and Embracing the Legacy
By Mindy Peterman
The Morton Report
December 2, 2011

The '60's teen heartthrob is hosting a new PBS special featuring the cream of AM radio's hitmakers.

In the ‘60s, with the possible exceptions of David Cassidy and The Beatles, there was no bigger teen idol than Davy Jones. During his years with The Monkees, he sang lead on many of the group’s chart-topping hits and his face graced the glossy covers of every teen magazine on the stands.

On December 3, PBS will premiere 60s Pop, Rock and Soul: My Music, a program devoted to AM radio hitmakers of the era such as Paul Revere and the Raiders, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and The Ventures. Jones will handle co-hosting duties along with another ‘60s heartthrob, Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits fame.

Jones took some time out from working on his Pennsylvania horse farm to talk with me about '60s Rock, Pop, and Soul, and was not at all reluctant to discuss his feelings about today’s music and the entertainment business in general.

The special was made about a year ago, Jones explained. “It took about a day and a half. I met a lot of old rock and rollers, people I’ve admired and enjoyed over the years. It was a great experience. I got to sing a couple of songs and just generally socialize. That was the beauty of the whole thing. I think maybe that feeling will come across when people start to look at the collection of artists PBS put together for this particular project. It’s a wonderful thing that people still admire and enjoy the music that we’ve all been making for years.”

He attributes the enduring quality of the songs to the fact that people relate to music as a "comfort, a recognizable time in their lives." He is not fond of the music of Jay-Z and many other current popular artists.

“I always make comments when I see them and my daughters tell me, 'Oh, shut up, Dad.' I say, 'Oh, yeah, they’ll be playing that one in 20 years.' I just think it’s so hilarious. It’s brutal, you know, their pants hanging down. How attractive is that? I find it very, very distressing to watch a lot of the artists that are out today. Lady Gaga and entertainers like Bette Midler and Cyndi Lauper dress up to go onstage. They just don’t walk out in their street clothes and the same underwear they’ve had on all day."

So what do his kids think of their dad’s legacy, especially his years with The Monkees? “The kids were babies when the show started. I got a comment at one point, which I thought was great. I asked my oldest, who’s going to be 43, I remember, I asked her [pointing at the TV screen] who’s that? She said, 'That’s my other daddy.' It’s kind of interesting to see. Now the grandkids are watching it but the grandkids are more interested in seeing me on Spongebob or one of those rerun shows.”

Rudeness is not something Jones tolerates and he becomes enraged as he recalls Kanye West stealing Taylor Swift’s thunder on the 2009 Video Music Awards show. “If I had been there when that guy got up and started mouthing off at the young country artist, I would have knocked him on his ass! I just find it ignorant and rude. I can’t let it go by. I just cannot let it go by. I see a woman pulling a kid around in a supermarket, I’m right in there. 'Excuse me, don’t do that. Do not do that.' People harassing children and men talking down to women. Oh, my god, come on, man. What is this world about here? I just say, if I was six feet tall I’d be knocking people out all over the place.”

Jones has no problem performing the songs that brought him fame. “What we’ll see on December the 3rd will be a fun, music-filled evening with song after song that’s recognizable, with artists who are there because they can sing the tunes that people enjoy. It’s not just good music and not just good vocals but confident, successful people who have no problem at all [singing their hits]. I’m sure Tony Bennett at some point was disturbed about singing 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco' and then he realized it was a major part of his repertoire.”

His memories of his years with The Monkees are fond ones, and he is happy to embrace that part of his career. “I enjoyed every time I went in the studio and every time I was on the TV set. I was working with great guys: Mickey, Mike, and Peter. We collaborated, we cooperated, and we put out a product people enjoy through today, 45 years later.

“The music? Some of it was not really made for record. It was made for the TV show as the theme for what was going on at the time. But then they got smart. 'I’m A Believer' was a hit and it was the theme of the show that week. 'Daydream Believer' got recognition, they put that into the show. 'Pleasant Valley Sunday,' they adapted the show to that particular song.”

The Rhino Handmade re-issues of Monkees albums such as Head, Instant Replay, and Headquarters, with their alternate tracks and unreleased material, are fans’ dreams. Did Jones have a hand in putting these collections together? “No, and I don’t get paid for it either. It’s not about dollars and cents at the end of the day. I’m not going chasing after money. I just wait for a little while and every ten years you audit. That’s about where that’s at. I’m not a fool. I know they have good people doing these things.

“We went on a tour recently and Rhino took 60 percent of the merchandise, 25 percent went to the venue, and the rest of it went to making the product. And I still haven’t seen a check. I’m not very, very friendly with record companies and people who are holding on to my old material. I haven’t done anything about it. It’s not a sore point because that would be a contradiction. I don’t go chasing after money. But there has to be some satisfaction for the artist. Not just the writer or the publisher or the record company. They’ve taken advantage of artists. That’s why Arista is closing down now. They’ve been sold to RCA. And some of the other big record companies have been sold to RCA. Eventually they’ll come up with something else. They said that DVDs and CDs were the ultimate but now they’ve gone back to vinyl. Nothing is forever.”

In general, Jones is happy with his lot and satisfied with his performance on the PBS special. “I enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be with my family in California. I’m going to see my little granddaughter in The Nutcracker. She’s playing the snowflake. Maybe that’s where my reality begins or continues. I’m very happy to have done what I’ve done, enjoy the music I sing, enjoy the company I keep, and I have time to be with my family, my friends and I still love a good fight.”

It was all Monkee business, Dolenz insists
By Bernard Perusse
Postmedia News
December 1, 2011

Spotlight:

Davy Jones co-hosts '60s Pop, Rock & Soul: My Music on PBS Saturday, 9 p.m.

Micky Dolenz is quite adamant about it.

By the tone of his voice, he has patiently explained it far too often to puzzled interviewers: The Monkees, he insists, was not a real band.

It's hard to wrap your mind around. After all, out of the 11 albums the group (unfortunately, it will be impossible to avoid that term) recorded, there are a couple on which no one outside the quartet played a note. The four can also take credit for some of the most memorable pop records of their era. And outside the studio, they played live, just like their charttopping contemporaries.

But ask Dolenz about concert recordings and whether they saw themselves as the garage band they sounded like on stage. The premise of the question, you will find, is quickly rejected.

"First of all, there wasn't a 'yourselves,' " the friendly and talkative Dolenz said during an interview. "The Monkees was a television show about an imaginary band living on the beach, getting into all these adventures and making music."

Dolenz is performing at a fundraiser in Montreal next week. Meanwhile, fellow Monkees icon Davy Jones co-hosts a TV special Saturday on PBS called '60s Pop, Rock & Soul: My Music.

Dolenz likens the Monkees concept to the imaginary glee club in the imaginary high school that forms the backdrop of the TV series Glee.

The cast members of that show, he said, were chosen for their singing, playing, dancing and acting abilities. And by his reckoning, it was more or less the same with the Monkees, thrown together at a casting call for a weekly comedy show that ultimately lasted only two seasons.

A child actor on the TV show Circus Boy, Dolenz had also fronted or played guitar in bands for years before he was cast as the zany drummer of what has been derisively called the Pre-Fab Four. Approaching his new role as an acting assignment and not a musical vocation, he immediately started taking lessons and practising obsessively. Before long, the four actors and musicians from the overnight-hit television series were playing their first gigs before 15,000 people. And as they tried to bash out Last Train to Clarksville, I'm a Believer or (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, they couldn't hear themselves for the screaming.

Dolenz, who sang lead on most Monkees songs, couldn't even make out his voice or his drums.

"There were no monitors back then," he explained. "And no click tracks, of course. The only thing I'm hearing is what's coming off the back wall, two seconds later."

Dolenz said he would close his eyes and hit his leg at the same time as he hit the snare drum, to keep pace. Eventually, he said, guitarist Michael Nesmith, who could hear the whole group from his position near the amplifiers, would click his heel at the right tempo and Dolenz would use that visual cue to stay in time.

"It was crazy, but God, what fun!" he said.

Dolenz still likes one of Nesmith's lines. "Mike once said the Monkees becoming a real band - which we certainly did, to some degree - was like Pinocchio becoming a real little boy," he said.

The Beatles, all four of whom went on record with positive words about the Monkees, really got it, Dolenz said. "John Lennon was the first who said - before I even thought about it - 'the Monkees are like the Marx Brothers,' which was exactly right. It's much closer to accuracy to say the Monkees were television's answer to the Marx Brothers than the United States' answer to the Beatles."

But it's more complicated than that. Nesmith and bassist Peter Tork were working musicians before they were on TV. Both, especially a disgruntled Nesmith, fought to have the group members play their own instruments on record instead of having hired guns do the job. Nesmith, the only Monkee to bring original compositions into the studio at first, was coming up with material as good as the contributions of professional songwriters submitting hits for the band. In short order, Dolenz and singer Davy Jones caught the bug and wanted to come up with their own contributions, Dolenz said. The third Monkees album, Headquarters, a Dolenz favourite, was a product of that rebellion against what Dolenz frequently referred to as "the powers that be." The 1967 record featured only their playing - an accomplishment that would not be repeated until 30 years later, with the reunion disc, Justus. And Headquarters is a gem that stands comfortably beside just about anything released in that heady year of psychedelia.

Dolenz, reflecting on the album, had to give in - just a bit.

"It ended up that there were really two groups: one was the group on the TV show, the imaginary one that lived in the beach house. And then when we went on the road, a new group was invented," he said. "That group became another Monkees. To this day, when we get together, that's the group that gets on stage. When we did Headquarters, that's the other Monkees."

The group's definitive cult moment was the 1968 movie Head, a deeply weird film that was co-written and co-produced by a then-unknown Jack Nicholson. A flop when it was released, it lampooned the group, Hollywood cliches and pop culture, ascending to hip credibility in several second lives over the ensuing four decades. A deluxe version of the film came out on DVD and Bluray last year, as did an expanded edition of its soundtrack, which featured some of the group's strongest performances.

"I loved it then and I love it now, although I'm not sure what it was about," Dolenz said, laughing. "I loved the work I did in it, the acting. I was very proud of that."

The film coincided with the departure of Tork, who, Dolenz said, was disappointed that the group hadn't followed up on the selfcontained, real-band musicality of Headquarters. Nesmith exited in 1970 and Jones called it a day a year later. Around that time, Dolenz said, Frank Zappa called and invited him to join the Mothers.

"I thought, 'No way in hell I can play some of that music, with its complicated time signatures,' but I was very flattered," he said. Dolenz's record company at the time would not release him to work with Zappa. "I couldn't do it legally, but I don't know - it would have been a hell of a stretch for me."

Occasional reunion tours have brought Dolenz, Jones and Tork back together, with Nesmith invariably declining to take part.

(Dolenz, however, expressed nothing but praise for Nesmith's songs during our interview.) A critically acclaimed 45th-anniversary tour this summer was the most recent regrouping, but some shows at the end were abruptly cancelled.

"I can't tell you a lot, because it's in the hands of my lawyer," Dolenz said. "There were some improprieties, shall we say, in the financial, the fiduciary world of the tour. Peter and I are currently trying to sort it out."

Dolenz, an avid golfer and gardener, has added relentlessly to his CV since the group called it quits the first time, after what was a deceptively short lifespan. One night, while Dolenz was part of the Broadway cast of Aida, he realized he had worked longer on that production alone than he had with the Monkees the first time around, he said.

He has also appeared in Hairspray; written the children's book Gakky Two Feet; tried his hand at hosting an AM drive-time show in New York, Micky in the Morning; and gone out on package nostalgia tours with contemporaries like Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits. His latest disc, King for a Day, in 2010, is a tribute to the music of Carole King, who co-wrote such Monkees favourites as Pleasant Valley Sunday, Take a Giant Step and Porpoise Song (Theme from Head).

In spite of Dolenz's frequently expressed affection for musical theatre, he said he turned down a recent offer to appear in a production of 42nd Street. "I've been on the road for almost three years.

I'm kind of beat up. They pay me to travel. I sing for free," he said.

"I'm kind of enjoying just hanging out at home and planting my string beans."

Hey, Hey We Aren't the Monkees
Head killed the Pre-Fab Four, but the soundtrack still puts out
By Adrian Mack - TheTyee.ca
November 7, 2011

A paragraph of snark appeared over at Rolling Stone on Monday commemorating the abysmal box office failure of the Monkees film, Head. They always get it wrong over at Rolling Stone. Head was a mother of a flop, reportedly bringing in a lousy $16,000 on its first limited run, and it was savaged by the critics. Pauline Kael wrote, "The doubling up of greed and pretensions to depth is enough to make even a pinhead walk out." But she hated A Clockwork Orange, too, and Head has long since passed the point of knee-jerk ridicule by the likes of RS.

Over in the slightly better informed world of Pop Matters, Jason Henn (almost) concurrently produced this fantastic piece on the film and its soundtrack, which just received the deluxe reissue treatment by Rhino.

It's well worth reading, whether you dig the Monkees or not. Lots do. Good people, of sound mind and sterling good taste. It seems dishonest to marvel at the panorama of quality pop music in the '60s and not include the Monkees alongside all the other acts of wonder the decade produced -- cynical cross-platform marketing exercise or not.

Frank Zappa was getting it before anybody else, and he shows up in the 1968 film pretending to chastise Davy Jones for his lack of musical integrity. The film is full of that kind of ambiguous loathing. The band more or less commits suicide in the opening scene, and moments later they're chirping, "Hey hey, we are the Monkees, you know we like to please, a manufactured image, with no philosophies..."

But everybody involved in Head also appears to be having a blast dismantling the Pre-Fab Four, as if the film's creative team -- including the band, producers Bob Rafelson and Burt Schneider, plus the film's writer, Jack (yes, that Jack Nicholson) Nicholson -- had giddily forseen that Head would signal the end of everything, which it did. The plot (such as it is) was conceived, as legend has it, in a mammoth pot and acid session, so it's not such a far-fetched idea.

If Rafelson and Schneider -- two dilettante rich kids -- pioneered a monstrously successful way to hijack, neutralize, and sell the counter-culture to children, they also bowed out two years later with an outrageously entertaining mea culpa, and possibly the first post-modern critique designed for recently graduated teeny-boppers. But all that aside, Head was graced with an outstanding soundtrack. That might be all you need to care about.

The competition is stiff for best track. Davey Jones gives a boisterous music hall kick to Nilsson's "Daddy's Song"; Peter Tork weighs in with two dizzyingly good slices of Laurel Canyon pop -- "Can You Dig It" and "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?"; and Mike Nesmith's "Circle Sky" is an incredibly punchy and characteristically weird garage rocker.

But it's likely "The Porpoise Song," a plush bit of cod-psychedelia from Carole King and Gerry Goffin complete with wall-of-organ that grabs most people up front. There's a reason it's been covered over the years by those in the know. Significantly, it's the song that opens the film, and a failsafe for those who are receiving Head for the first time.

Added November 3, 2011

Monkee Business - the musical using the songs of 60s band The Monkees will premiere in Manchester next year

Following on from the phenomenal success of the world premiere of Ghost the Musical, the Opera House, Manchester is proud to reveal the next major new musical to be launched at the theatre will be Monkee Business the Musical, a landmark new production for the whole family featuring the hit songs of the iconic band The Monkees.

Monkee Business is premiering at the Opera House as part of Manchester Gets It First, Ambassador Theatre Group’s commitment to making Manchester the UK’s official city for launching theatre’s biggest and best new musicals, a scheme which has won the backing of the city council.

Ghost the Musical was the first Manchester Gets it First show, with almost 100,000 tickets being sold during its seven-week run earlier this year. Now Manchester audiences will again get the chance to enjoy a brand new musical here before anywhere else in the world.

With a cast of 20, a live band of eight, fabulous costumes and sets, a madcap ‘Austin Powers-style’ plot featuring all new characters and a score packed with iconic hits of the swinging sixties, Monkee Business, from the producers of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Spamalot, will premiere in Manchester March 2012.

Made instant world-wide stars by the famous 1960s TV series, The Monkees, made up of Manchester’s Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith, became one of most successful bands of their generation – at one time even outselling The Beatles and The Rolling Stones - releasing 121 songs on nine albums and influencing many future artists.

Monkee Business will pay homage to both the crazy chaos of the Emmy Award winning TV series and the brilliant music of The Monkees featuring hit after hit including I’m A Believer, Last Train to Clarksville, My Boy Lollipop, You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, Hey, Hey We’re The Monkees and the smash hit Daydream Believer alongside many more iconic songs from the era.

Monkee Business follows four normal young lads who with the help of a few sexy Russian spies, nonsensical nuns and the odd tambourine, unwittingly get caught up in a memorably madcap adventure!

With a hilarious mix of groovy adventure, dreamy romance and zany comedy, Monkee Business is the ultimate feel-good family musical which will have audiences of all ages twisting and monkeeing in the aisles.

Howard Panter, ATG’s Joint Chief Executive & Creative Director, said: "Following the incredible success of the world premiere of Ghost the Musical at the Opera House earlier in the year, we’re delighted to be premiering yet another landmark new musical, Monkee Business, as part of our Manchester Gets It First campaign. This major new stage musical will be packed with iconic hit songs from the Sixties, Austin Powers-style zany humour, romance and adventure, which Manchester audiences will get to enjoy before anywhere else in the world. Manchester is the ideal place for the original creative process necessary for developing large-scale new musicals like Monkee Business, as it is a city with a great foundation in music with knowledgeable and sophisticated audiences who love and understand fantastic musical theatre.

Michael Rose said: "I am so excited that Michael Rose Ltd together with ATG are premiering a brand new musical at the Manchester Opera House as part of Manchester Gets It First. Monkee Business the Musical is a real feel-good night out for all the family and I am so pleased we are getting to share it with Manchester first, having seen what great audiences the city has when we brought Chitty Chitty Bang Bang there in 2006 and 2010. It is a real privilege that EMI have given the production musical access to some of the greatest songs of the 20th Century. I can’t wait to hear the Manchester response."

Welcoming the news about Monkee Business, Councillor Mike Amesbury, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure at Manchester City Council, said: "These are exciting times for Manchester, and this is yet another world first which has come to Manchester before going to London's West End or Broadway. Manchester has become an artistic powerhouse, bringing thousands of people into the city who will also spend their money in our hotels, bars and restaurants.

"This is added to the success of last summer's Manchester International Festival (MIF), a world-class event which was hosted in the city and drawing massive audiences. As well as their huge economic benefit, events such as MIF and major musicals like Monkee Business, also boost the production capacity of Manchester, using our expert creative skills and creating further jobs in the industry."

Care to Romp, Once Again, with 'The Monkees: Season 1 and Season 2'?
By Christel Loar - PopMatters Assoc. Music Editor
November 1, 2011

In 2003, Rhino Home Video released DVDs of The Monkees. Those are long out-of-print, but now Eagle Rock has released The Monkees: Season 1 and The Monkees: Season 2 in all new packaging.

This would be a much more exciting event were it not for the fact that these are the exact same discs that Rhino put out. This means that all 58 episodes-32 for the first season and 26 for the second (though the packaging for Season 2 erroneously says 25)-are here. However, it also means that all of the footage, edits, and extras are the same. As are the frustrating menus and the annoying out-of-order episodes, but more on the negatives of the re-packaging later.

First, let’s explore the positives. The best thing about The Monkees: Season 1 and The Monkees: Season 2 is, of course,The Monkees. Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork were thrown together in the mid-‘60s as an American answer to the Beatles. Originally intended to simply be four young guys playing a manufactured pop group on a musical comedy aimed at kids and teens, Nesmith, Jones, Dolenz and Tork instead became a real band.

The show itself was mostly wholesome, often silly, and sometimes slyly subversive in its social commentary. It employed all of the hallmarks of earlier forms of comedy like slapstick, wordplay and visual gags. It combined the sitcom (the situation being four boys in a band living in a house on the beach) with variety (guest stars, set pieces, musical performances), and even vaudeville (recycled sight gags, the “romps”, which are basically comic chases set to songs).

Each one of the Monkees was playing to a very basic archetype character that the show’s initial young audience could recognize and identify with: Mike was the intellectual, who often fulfilled the leadership role; Davy was the Romeo, many of the stories revolved around the trouble his romantic entanglements caused the group; Micky played the clown, and he was usually the wild card in any scenario; and Peter was the sensitive, sweet one, the most childlike of the four.

That the episodes, largely, still hold up almost 50 years later is a testament to those characters and to the timelessness of the comedy. Sure a lot of the humor is absurd and obvious, but I’ve been watching it with people of all ages, from toddlers to senior citizens since I first began seeing re-runs in the ‘80s, and everyone always enjoys a laugh or two during the show, sometimes despite themselves. So the characters are still easy to relate to, and the comedy is still working, but what really makes The Monkees last is, naturally, the music.

Though The Monkees were often derided for being a band assembled for television and assigned instruments, and although many of their biggest hits were written by others, they did write and play their own songs, as well. The music featured in the episodes is, as it was on broadcasts, mainly prerecorded, and occasionally, monotonously repeated (The band’s first hit, “Last Train To Clarksville”, is featured in Season 1 at least five times).

Indeed, it’s the songs that stick in the mind the most and make The Monkees more than just some comedy show, whether it’s the Neil Diamond-penned “I’m A Believer”, a Boyce/Hart number such as “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” or “She”, or one of Mike Nesmith’s originals like “You Just May Be the One” or “Mary Mary”. There are plenty of great, memorable songs scattered across these two sets, both as “performances”, and as accompaniment to the romps and other montages.

The songs might be what will help fans forgive the shortcomings of The Monkees: Season 1 and Season 2. Earlier, I mentioned negative aspects of the DVD reissues, but perhaps they are more missed opportunities. The seemingly random order of the episodes is a personal pet peeve of mine, one that could have easily been remedied as we have the episode’s individual air dates. However, it’s not necessary to watch The Monkees in any particular order. Still, it would have been nice to have the option, which we don’t because the menus are the same clunky menus from the previous releases.

Another annoying fact is that there is no “Play All” function from each disc’s main menu, viewers must select a title, and then the individual episode menu will appear. This is where the band/director/composer commentary tracks and the still frame trivia pages for each episode can be found, but they are also not well-organized and are a pain in the ass to use. There’s also the option to access some of the discs’ special features from the main menus, but this, too, is not necessarily an easy interface. (There’s an option to play all the romps in a row, which can be overwhelming, because the same song is often repeated several times, sometimes consecutively). These complaints may seem minor, but there are 11 discs and 58 episodes here. The menus could have been-should have been-very easily fixed.

On the subject of fixing things, it’s worth noting that because the discs are the same as the Rhino releases, the episodes are taken from the censored Saturday-morning versions rather than presented as they were originally broadcast. This means they include the same edits, such as the blurring of Fern’s neckline in the “Too Many Girls” episode.

As for the sound and picture quality, it’s doubtful that could have been improved much. The broadcasts were mono, so the choice between 5.1 Dolby and 2.0 Stereo is a bit pointless beyond personal balance preferences. Other than that, the audio is clean throughout, and clearer than you might expect. The picture quality is a little more uneven from episode to episode, and even within some episodes, but it’s not too bad, especially for its age. All the episodes are in their original full frame format.

In addition to the commentaries, trivia pages and continuous romps features, The Monkees: Season 1 includes the 16mm version of the pilot, vintage Kelloggs commercials, and a discography. The Monkees: Season 2 has all of that, as well as a clip ofThe Monkees at a press conference in 1967 and on TheGlen Campbell Goodtime Hour after Peter Tork left the group in 1969. It also features the 1969 television special 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee (which also stars Brian Auger and includes a bit withJerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Fats Domino.) with commentary by Micky Dolenz and Brian Auger, a photo gallery and an interview with editor Gerry Sheppard.

The Monkees: Season 1 and The Monkees: Season 2 DVD sets don’t feature anything new beyond their packages, which are trifold digipaks with overlapping disc trays. However, if you’re a fan of The Monkees, and you don’t already own the earlier Rhino sets, these are well worth picking up.

"Getting" Head...The Monkees' Last and Greatest Album
By Jason Henn - PopMatters
November 1, 2011

Obsessed as we are with anniversaries (see: the building crescendo of grunge retromania), 20-, 30-, and 40-year marks reliably bring new seasons of re-analysis. And as the latest wave of ‘60s pop retrospection continues to limp into the new decade, the artisanal re-hashers at Rhino have given us one more (last?) excuse to revisit a most criminally neglected album of the rock era, the Monkees’ 1968 suicide note, Head.

This month, Rhino will reissue Head on LP for the first time since 1986-the first time ever at an audiophile weight, and on clear vinyl at that. Head is also notably the only original Monkees album getting such treatment in 2011, perhaps a measure of its critical reputation within a growing hardcore sect of fans. The latest reissue will make this writer’s ninth copy of the album-including an original pressing; several copies of the 1986 Rhino repress; the 1994 deluxe CD; last fall’s immense three-disc Rhino box set; and an obsessively compiled 100-track fan bootleg. Add to the list Head’s inclusion in last year’s Criterion survey of BBS Productions (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show), and you might think that it has already been plenty reconsidered.

But for whatever reason, much of the press on Head is general, focused primarily on the quirkiness of the film (“it’s, like, A Hard Day’s Night... on acid!”). Perhaps none of it has made the simple, reasonable assertion that the Head soundtrack is more than just a curiosity, it’s simply one of the greatest pop albums ever made. In fact, Head represents a unique variety of the essential album that doesn’t always make top albums lists, but is arguably a rarer achievement than the mere masterful collection of well-written songs. It’s in that class of albums that, in addition to being an absorbing listen front-to-back, are situational in the extreme, documenting a unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable set of circumstances, frozen in the amber of a pop record. One could claim that many great albums come from rare or unusual circumstances, at least rare or unusual talent, but albums such as Head, more than most others, are almost wholly products of fantastic conditions.

Briefly consider a pair of albums that also fit this description. On Syd Barrett’s first solo album, The Madcap Laughs, the listener is witness to a real-time audio documentary of a pop genius’s plunge into LSD-assisted madness. Just over a year before the album was recorded, Barrett was lucid, articulate and in full command of his substantial talent (check Pink Floyd’s 1967 interview on BBC 1’s The Look of the Week). Within the period of recording his two solo albums (1969 and 1970), his friends Roger Waters and David Gilmour reportedly had to help him use the bathroom. The Madcap Laughs is a shocking freeze-frame of Barrett’s mental segue. The music on it is simultaneously deeply flawed and flawless.

You could also pick, say, any of the first four albums by the German group Faust, whose early ‘70s recordings are the result of a pretty harebrained gamble by a major label to cash in on the prog rock boom by giving a large budget and a country house to a rock critic charged with assembling an arty music collective. With money flowing in and a field of pot growing out back, highly volatile weirdness ensued, and it coalesced into crystalline perfection on the group’s 1971 self-titled debut.

Head is among the first and best in the canon of situational masterpieces and the events that led to its creation even more complicated. In 1966, NBC green-lighted a pilot for a TV show intended to capitalize on an opening in the post-British Invasion American teen market, basically a serialized version of the Beatles movies. The series’ developers, Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson were neither insiders from the show’s target demographic, nor were they NBC suits (though Schneider was the vice-president’s son). The two were actually cynical, budding McLuhan disciples who envisioned the Monkees project as a gateway to making more serious feature films. This outlook made for some very weird decision-making. For example, when the four Monkees protested a power grab by the show’s music supervisor, Don Kirshner, Schneider and Rafelson actually fired the multi-million selling producer and let the actors (who had varying degrees of musical ability and little musical common ground) record their own album (1967’s miraculously coherent Headquarters). This set the scene for progressively more eclectic, genuinely ground-breaking, records.

By early 1968, the Monkees were on pace to sell more albums than the Beatles and Stones combined, and although it was number one in its timeslot, everyone involved decided to kill the TV show. In spring of 1968, the directors and the show’s stars began shooting a feature film, the script for which had been entirely written in a collective stream of consciousness during a weekend pot binge at an Ojai, California, golf resort. Producers Schneider and Rafelson brought their friend onboard to direct, a then-struggling actor, Jack Nicholson.

With the shooting wrapped up later that year, the compilation of a soundtrack album was almost an afterthought. De facto bandleader Mike Nesmith helmed it very briefly before passing it on to Nicholson. With only the handful of songs featured in the movie, and no real oversight, Nicholson was free to build a lot of filler material from scratch. The album’s skeleton became a series of musique concrète assemblages of film dialogue, a sort of aural mortar that holds together six incongruent musical bricks. Of the six actual songs on Head, the strongest are a pair of sophisticated, psychedelic tunes by the recently divorced Carole King (she of “The Loco-Motion” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” fame). The album’s Davy Jones showpiece is an early Harry Nilsson track called “Daddy’s Song” that describes the plight of an absentee father against an inappropriately jaunty Broadway backdrop; Mike Nesmith contributed a slicing, inscrutably lo-fi rock song with muddy organ and nearly inaudible vocals. Peter Tork, who had been almost entirely cut out of the creative process of the band’s earliest recordings, pitched in two surprisingly mature, Eastern/existential-leaning songs of his own.

The album is a little over 28 minutes long, roughly the length of an episode of the show. Of the more than 50 session musicians who play on this mess, highlights include a delicate guitar duel between Ry Cooder and Neil Young (on King’s “As We Go Along”), Nilsson sitting in on piano for his own tune, Hendrix drummer Buddy Miles backing Tork, arrangements by Jack Neitzche and Shorty Rogers, an extended philosophic monologue by a swami in a sauna, and an orchestral climax by Ken Thorne (the guy who scored Help!). The resulting mosaic resembles the sort of irrational chunking-together of information that one sometimes experiences in the moments between consciousness and sleep, a hypnogogic hallucination of a 60’s pop record, a record that could only have been made as part of an out-of-control major studio project with money to burn, steered by a team of indifferent directors who were already thinking about their next film (the script for Five Easy Pieces was on deck). Rafelson and Schneider wanted to be done with the Monkees and showed seemingly zero interest in Head’s commercial or critical success. The film played in select cities and grossed just over $16,000 (about two percent of the film’s budget). The soundtrack album peaked at #45, the firstMonkees LP to peak lower than #3 on the Billboard chart.

From this point, the four Monkees slowly disbanded. Tork fulfilled one last contractual obligation by appearing in the 1969 TV special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. With Tork gone, Nesmith spent the next year trying to turnthe Monkees into an odd C&W-soul hybrid before leaving to record a string of cosmic country records better than anything by the Flying Burrito Brothers (another argument for another day). Dolenz and Jones, seemingly content to do whatever was asked of them, released one final awkward Monkees record as a duo. Head, however, remains distinguished from the rest of the band’s later output. Just as the early Monkees albums are underappreciated gateways for young listeners to sophisticated pop, Head is an almost accidental youngster’s gateway to the avant-garde; there is a clear line for clued-in pre-teens leading from Head’s “Opening Ceremony” and “Swami-Plus Strings, Etc.” to the Beatles’ “Revolution 9”, and from there to Yoko Ono, Stockhausen, Krautrock, postpunk, and a million other directions.

DVD Review: The Monkees - Season One
By Dusty Somers
Blogcritics.org
October 25, 2011

The origins of The Monkees can be found in the 32 episodes of their eponymous television show’s first season - a consistently entertaining collection available again on DVD after a stint in out-of-print land. Created by New Hollywood figures Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, TheMonkees remains a groundbreaking show in terms of its freewheeling aesthetics even if its storytelling is undeniably creaky and repetitive.

It also helps that the four members of The Monkees - brought together for the television show before they became a successful band in their own right - possess charms both in individual and group form. Dry wit Michael Nesmith, mugging joker Micky Dolenz, stupid but sweet Peter Tork and British heartthrob Davy Jones are archetypal without fail, but manage to remain interesting characters despite the increasingly familiar scenarios the first season runs them through.

There’s a lot of the same in these 32 episodes as the group’s struggles to find an audience and book a gig are matched by their run-ins with all manner of baddies from nefarious foreign royals to corrupt boxing kingpins to mad scientists to shady dance studio operators. Most episodes find the boys running up against some form of traditional establishment or older group of people, and seeing their counterculture youthfulness eventually come out on top.

But far more than the plotting, the style of the show signifies a significant undercurrent of youthful rebellion, with Rafelson and Schneider embracing plenty of French New Wave-inspired techniques, including jagged editing, loose improvisation and a narratively disconnected anarchic spirit one can especially see in the musical romps that take place in each episode.

Rafelson and Schneider would go on to be vanguards of the radical changes to American cinema in the 1970s with their production company BBS Productions (part of which includes the gleefully out-there Monkees movie Head), but the genesis of that aesthetic can be seen here. That they were able to create something like TheMonkees and get it aired on a major network (albeit for only two seasons) is a remarkable accomplishment, and these episodes certainly stand as more than just curious TV artifacts.

Initially released by Rhino in 2003, the Monkees season DVD sets have been out of print for some time, but fortunately, they’ve been resurrected by Eagle Rock Entertainment. Rhino presumably still owns the rights, and these discs look to be direct ports of the original releases - although at a much lower price point than the OOP discs were fetching.

All 32 episodes of season one are spread out on six discs, with each episode having the option of 2.0 or 5.1 sound. Each episode is also accompanied by extensive textual trivia notes within the onscreen menus. Episodes also have the option of skipping directly to the musical romps. Twelve commentary tracks are available for seven different episodes, with Rafelson, composer Bobby Hart, director James Frawley and all the Monkees except for Dolenz represented.

The rest of the extras are situated on disc six and include the original 16mm pilot of the show, some of which was reproduced in later episodes, Kelloggs commercials featuring TheMonkees, a memorabilia gallery and an interview with Hart.

Soon every band wanted the kind of shots Henry Diltz was taking. Even the Monkees, formed as an imitation-Beatles TV band, wanted the Diltz touch, as Henry recalled:

"One day in 1967 I got a call from a guy asking me to go down to The Monkees’ TV show at Gower Gulch. He said they’d pay $300. And that’s what happened–I’d shoot, and then they’d take the rolls of film, undeveloped. And kept them.

"To this day I don’t have the rights to those. What happened is they used to have older guys shooting photos – like newspaper photographers – and the Monkees weren’t comfortable with them, they weren’t’ hip, they weren’t part of the scene. So they brought me in.

"I’d go there in the morning, spend the whole day. You couldn’t shoot when they were shooting, because the click would be audible. So I would shoot when they were rehearsing the scene or lip-synching songs. I used to hide among the light stands cause I knew they would never look at those with cameras, so I was safe."

PTsigrl comment: I found this photo by Henry Diltz of Micky somewhere on the internet. I've been waiting to put it on my web site. Now that I've seen this article about Henry Diltz, I thought I would place it with the article.

I love this picture of him.

Micky Dolenz : Photo by Henry Diltz

Criterion Files #544: Bob Rafelson, The Monkees, and Victor Mature Give You ‘Head’
By Landon Palmer
Film School Rejects.com
June 29, 2011

For the rest of the summer, Adam and Landon will be focusing on films included in the Criterion Collection released by the legendary BBS Production Company whose anti-establishment films rocked the world of Hollywood in the late 1960s and early 1970s. So dust of your old LPs, set out on the highway, and embrace your countercultural sensibilities with one of the most eccentric and essential stories of New Hollywood.

When rummaging through the Criterion Collection’s available box sets, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the serious and traditional role that authorship has played in forming both the Collection and its reputation. Whether it’s five films by John Cassavetes, Sergei Eisenstein’s sound years, or Truffaut’s cinematic adventures of Antoine Doinel, the Collection places the director as the primary author of the text, just as they do when ascribing possession to individual titles (“Orson Welles’s F for Fake,” for instance).

Then came the BBS set, which frames authorship to a group of films not because of the signatures of the directors who made each individual title, but as a group effort through the umbrella of a production company. BBS may refer specifically to Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, but the talent pool that determined the artistic output of this company was hardly exclusive to them, incorporating the then-young talents of Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Jack Nicholson, and Henry Jaglom. None of these figures solely inhabited clear and exclusive occupational signposts like “writer,” “director,” “producer,” or “actor,” but a combined contributions to the collective therein.

The BBS Set perhaps simultaneously represents best what is most celebrated but also what’s most ignored about New Hollywood. The short and much-honored revolutionary period that witnessed the countercultural switch away from the aesthetic, narrative, and business conventions of accessible genre formulas and enthralling but often innocuous stars is typically remembered through the individual artistic voices that spoke most loudly as the era’s authorities of reinvention. With the variety of talents that include Bogdanovich, Nicholson, and Hopper and with the inclusion of the era’s canonical, defining works such as Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), and The Last Picture Show, the BBS set not only encapsulates what countercultural Hollywood cinema looked like, but the important individuals who gave it that meaning.

However, the BBS set also highlights the complex and selectively framed history of that era. Evidence of the persistence of New Hollywood from the late 60s to the mid-70s constantly relies on the routine circulation of now-“classic” titles ranging from The Graduate to Taxi Driver, but this is a history that’s often romanticized, the kind that’s repeated ad nausem until it becomes common knowledge. While the fact that there was indeed a “New Hollywood” is undeniable, the history of it is far more complicated. Hollywood, after all, did continue to release what we would typically think of as “studio films,” which were often more successful than the countercultural fare, even if they perhaps don’t retain the same timeless sustainability. More importantly, BBS reminds us that for every Easy Rider there was a King of Marvin Gardens, movies that also took chances but didn’t penetrate the cultural zeitgeist, find inclusion in the annals of cinema history, or bring success to a company that required commerce in order to continue its boundary-bushing (which, after all, is the reason why New Hollywood, as evidenced by BBS’s short run, didn’t last longer than it did). That several titles in the BBS set have met their first commercial home video release and are being rediscovered because of the Criterion Collection points to how we still have a long way to go in order to fully understand this important time in American cinema history.

That’s why it’s more than fitting that the BBS set start off with a curiosity piece like Bob Rafelson’s debut feature Head.

The Monkees, of course, signify everything ‘inauthentic’ about the counterculture. In fact, they weren’t considered part of the counterculture at all, but were a cynical co-optation of what the counterculture looked and sounded like for little more than the sake of commercial benefit. As a band they weren’t formed organically but by television producers, they didn’t write their own songs, they were cast for their looks rather than their musical skills, and, most evidently of all, they were an unapologetic attempt at banking off the success of the Beatles.

Yet the only feature film about The Monkees is how BBS got its start. It’s the film that was released right before Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, and The Last Picture Show, and was made mostly by that same company of talent. As Rafelson co-produced the band’s popular TV show, BBS as an essential component of the New Hollywood narrative is indebted in many ways to The Monkees. But how can this be? Easy Rider and those latter films represent all that is sincere and challenging and mind-opening and boundary-pushing and revolutionary about New Hollywood, and The Monkees, which their legion of teen fans who don’t understand the plastic lie they’re buying into, represents the status quo, the mainstream, everything that New Hollywood was reacting against.

Well, not exactly.

Head, even without the production-related historical context in which it was released, is a great film all its own. It was released in a time where the band members decided to start writing their own lyrics and music (and the music became all the better for it), but while Head is decidedly psychedelic and anti-narrative in a way that only the late 60s could deliver, it’s not a desperate grab for authenticity either for the band or the creators behind them. Despite moments such as when the band disingenuously engages in Eastern philosophy and religion after meeting an inspiring Indian guru or the overall sentiment here that The Monkees are attempting to cinematically out-Beatle the Beatles, Head can’t even be accurately described as a parody of the Beatles, or of anything in particular. The self-effacing tone throughout can perhaps be best summarized in one of the film’s opening numbers:

“Hey, hey, we are The Monkees/You Know We Love to Please/A Manufactured Image/With No Philosophies…”

Perhaps The Monkees had to wait until postmodernity could catch up with them in order to be truly appreciated. As products of television, the film’s schizophrenic and hyperactive narrative can only be described as televisual. Just as a faceless finger clicks a remote early on in the film, we as viewers channel-surf through narratively disparate episodes that have enough generic resonance to be familiar but not enough direct engagement or transparent satire to be parody. The film is a pastiche of the genre conventions that would be subverted by New Hollywood as a whole elsewhere at this time, but it locates these conventions as pervasive in television rather than cinema, for television often contains cinema. Are we watching a film as Micky traverses through a wide desert landscape, or a commercial as he suddenly encounters a Coca-Cola machine? Do we even know the difference anymore? Rather than the modernist retooling of genre that would characterize the rest of New Hollywood, Head is more Tarantino than Coppola in its appropriation of media to make more media.

Perhaps to signal the shift to New Hollywood and the entertainment that would lie beyond, Old Hollywood movie star Victor Mature suddenly shows up in several bizarre, wordless cameos whose comedic appeal can only now be described as “Internet humor,” and I don’t even want to open up the Pandora’s box that is the film’s implication that it all takes place on Mature’s scalp. If Head sounds like a mess, it’s surprisingly not (though it was an astonishing failure upon release). Rather than postmodern chaos, the film surprisingly wraps things up in a way that displays astute structural order when dealing with such mayhem, a testament as much to the admirable artistic control of BBS as it is to the notion that postmodernism is not entirely synonymous with meaninglessness.

But what’s important and essential about Head in terms of what this box set does is that it reminds us that the New Hollywood story was never as simple as we made it. Behind challenging art was the commerce necessary to bring it to light. And just as Head itself is a difficult movie to make any sense of, the history of New Hollywood cannot be so easily divided into bifurcations of mainstream vs. counterculture, or convention vs. art. Just as Head, being neither a Beatles parody nor an attempt at recovering authenticity, is a celebration of what others would dismiss as “co-optation,” the history of BBS shows that “authenticity” itself is as much of a misleading romantic notion as our selective history of the period.

The Agency Group Announces 45th Anniversary Tour For The Monkees
Mi2N.com
March 23, 2011

The Agency Group, one of the world's leading entertainment booking agencies, is announcing it handled all of the booking for The Monkees 45th Anniversary Tour. The renowned pop rock trio of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork will reunite and celebrate its 45th anniversary with shows in the UK and North America, marking the group's first live performances in more than a decade.

The Monkees tour kicks off in the UK on Thursday, May 12th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool and wraps in Nottingham at the Royal Centre on May 25th. The Monkees will then embark on the North American leg of their tour hitting more than 30 cities in the US and Canada. The North American leg starts June 3rd in Atlanta, GA and comes to a close in Los Angeles on July 16th. Highlights include a June 16th performance at the Beacon Theater in New York City and multi-night stops in both Toronto and Minneapolis.

Neil Warnock, CEO of The Agency Group, booked the UK shows and agents Bruce Solar and Andy Somers in The Agency Group's Los Angeles office booked the North America shows.

"It's been over ten years since The Monkees performed live together and the timing was absolutely perfect for a reunion tour to celebrate their 45th anniversary," said Solar. "Our booking strategy was to start the tour in Europe to generate buzz and then bring The Monkees to the US for a six week tour playing shows at a combination of venues including performing arts centers, casinos and hard ticket venues."

Solar added, "The Agency Group is exploring a potential second leg of the US tour starting in late September along with shows in other parts of the world through the remainder of 2011 and heading into 2012."

The Monkees were assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968. The musical acting quartet was composed of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith. The group sold 50 million records worldwide with major international hits including "I'm a Believer", "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", "Daydream Believer", "Last Train to Clarksville", and "Pleasant Valley Sunday."

Don Kirshner interview: Monkees maestro lends perspective on retrospective
By Jerry Krupnick - NJ.com Star-Ledger TV Critic
Jannuary 19, 2011

Editorial note: The following is an interview with Don Kirshner by late Star-Ledger TV critic Jerry Krupnick from January 1997.

For Don Kirshner, tonight's retrospective television look at The Monkees (The Disney Channel at 8:30 p.m.) is not quite how it happened.

Kirshner, the Livingston resident who has always enjoyed the reputation as the Man With the Golden Ear, should know. As the president of the Screen Gems music division in those Monkees business days, Don was directly responsible for the music that made the group a huge financial success during the two short years they came and went in the halcyon `60s.

What he didn't do, Don carefully pointed out the other day, was put The Monkees together in the first place.

"They were the idea of the studio," Don said, "who wanted to capitalize on the Beatles' `Hard Day's Night' with a weekly TV show built around the same kind of high-spirited hi-jinks."What they did was hold a cattle call and selected the four guys out of a thousand or so, based on their appearance, rather than any musical ability. The group was thrown together from scratch and then the studio gave them to me with full creative control to supply the music."

At the time, Kirshner had a stable of young, just-getting-started musicians working for him, including Neil Diamond, Carole King, David Gates and Neil Sedaka. Two of his writers, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, were picked to do the theme song, "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees" and then he selected another of their songs, "Last Train to Clarksville," as the feature piece of the first show.

"I had the feeling that this could be a number one song," Don says in tonight's special. And he was right. Even before the TV show hit the air, the single was a chartbuster and provided the impetus for The Monkees to go on to nearly instant fame.

"The problem, however, was that only Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz had any professional musical talent," Kirshner pointed out, "so we had to back them up with studio musicians." And, eventually, that became the bone of contention for the foursome.

In 1967, "The Monkees" TV show won an Emmy, but was heavily criticized by the press and other performers because, although their kooky antics were funny enough, the guys didn't write or perform their own music.

"That wasn't exactly so," Don told us. "We used Davy and Mickey in many of the lead vocals and the others eventually got better and we used them as well. But we still needed the backups to get the proper sound and we had a TV show to get out every week. We couldn't wait for them to grow up."

Two albums were quickly put out by his company, "The Monkees" and "More of the Monkees," and "both went to number one, outselling the Beatles albums of the same period. We were on a roll."

When Neil Diamond wrote "I'm a Believer" for Kirshner, Don said he knew Dolenz, who had a certain charm with the bobby soxers, would have a super hit with it. Again, he was right and the song quickly went to the top.

By that time, however, the group members were unhappy with their musical roles, particularly Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork. "Mike wanted to be a country singer," according to Kirshner, "and Peter thought he could write better songs than those we provided for them."

The studio also was displeased with the negative publicity, even though, according to Kirshner, his division "was earning four times as much profit as all the other Columbia Pictures entities combined."

And he was ordered "not to use ringers anymore."

Don said the situation came to a head when he thought he had another big hit for The Monkees with a song called "A Little You, A Little Me." However, they came to him and said, "We've just lost our voices, we can't sing."

Kirshner told them, "Forget about it, I'll use my backup singers, instead." Which he did and got himself still another major hit.

He also was bounced by Columbia. "It was the only time I ever was fired," Don said. And, he added, it resulted in one of the largest contract settlements in Hollywood history at the time.

Meanwhile, The Monkees went on their own for a second year and, as Jones said, "when Donnie left, we plummeted." By the end of that season, the show was canceled because of lack of interest.

The Disney Channel retrospective tells some of that story, with commentary from The Monkees themselves as well as the producers who put the group together from whole cloth and Kirshner. It also is loaded with clips from those `60s shows, which demonstrate the in-your-face style of the humor and the Beatles-like reaction of the teenybopper fans when the guys initially took the show on the road.

Among the songs performed during the hour are "Last Train to Clarksville," "Daydream Believer," "I'm a Believer" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday." And they still stand up.

Meanwhile, Jones, Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork are back together again, on tour and seeking to regain the impetus and popular appeal that at one point made them America's hottest musical group.

"We weren't ready," Tork ruefully concedes tonight in looking back at those hectic two years.

Kirshner - who's been there, done that many times before - fears that it now may be too late.

Upon Head’s Blu-ray Release, Two Monkees Disagree on Its Worth
By: Joseph Brannigan Lynch
New York Mag.com - Vulture
November 24, 2010

When one thinks of the crucial canon of the sixties countercultural film movement, certain movies come to mind: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show. And they're all collected on Criterion's new Blu-ray collection, America Lost and Found: The BBS Story, which assembles seven movies from Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider's influential and innovative studio. But the set also includes one film that sticks out among the classic dramas: Head, the Monkees' first and only film. On first glance, it's jarring in the same way that it was jarring in its failed 1968 release, which came out shortly before the band broke up: The Monkees were known for their goofy, family friendly TV series, and yet this movie was a psychedelic, stream-of-consciousness satire on fame, war, and their own prefab fame. How incongruous was this movie with the band's image? Imagine a Jonas Brothers movie directed by Lars Von Trier. It tanked when it opened because it was too surreal for kids, and, says singer-drummer Micky Dolenz, "A lot of the hip people, the intelligentsia, wouldn’t see the movie anyway because it was the Monkees.” More than 40 years later, many consider Head a cult classic, though, as we discovered, that contingent still doesn't include all of the Monkees.

The film came to be as the group's 1966–68 series was ending; Rafelson (who had directed several episodes, and would go on to make Five Easy Pieces) introduced the quartet to Jack Nicholson, who was going to write the screenplay. Singer-drummer Dolenz remembers that Nicholson "had done a couple B-movies and wanted to get into production. He was funny, charming and had a ton of charisma — we got along great.” The band, Nicholson, and Rafelson retreated to an Ojai Valley hotel with a tape recorder (and, one would guess, given the era and the finished product, some pot) to discuss the film. “We sat around all day long and part of the night talking about what we wanted to do, what we didn’t want to do, and what kind of a movie it would be,” Dolenz recalls. “At the end of the weekend, we ended up with hours of tape that Jack took away, and out of those conversations and the experiences we had hanging out, they came up with this movie, Head.”

When Head arrived in theaters, the fans who actually saw the movie were expecting comedic, zany fun and feel-good hits — not a surreal film that touched on everything from Vietnam (including actual footage of a Viet Cong execution) to the exhausting, superficial nature of fame. In the opening ten minutes, the band made the tone clear: They chant a biting recasting of their TV theme, which includes the lines, “Hey, hey, we are the Monkees, you know we love to please / A manufactured image, with no philosophies.” Even John Lennon waited until the Beatles were broken up before deconstructing their public image.

Peter Tork (widely believed to be the most musical Monkee, sticking mostly to keyboards and bass on the show) today expresses mixed feelings toward the film. He enjoys the surreal, nonlinear quality of the film — "We liked to think of ourselves as a bit avant-garde," he says — but he finds the overall tone of the film to be oppressively pessimistic. “Rafelson’s movies are extremely bleak,” he suggests. “They all say life is not much, and it ends with random and gratuitous idiocies and violence. Out of the blue, people die for no direct cause, aside from just being interesting people.”

In fairness, it should be noted that Tork admits to not getting along with the director: “I didn’t enjoy working for Bob Rafelson, so [filming] was difficult for me.” Still, Tork’s distaste for the film stems more from his philosophical reaction to what he perceives as the film’s message of hopelessness, which seemed to be directed specifically at the band. “The movie begins with us being chased and jumping into water, and it ends with us in a tank of water which we can’t escape,” Tork points out. “In Rafelson’s view, that’s your story if you are the Monkees. You are chased and trapped and there’s no getting out of it. There was no room in Rafelson’s thinking that there was any place for the Monkees to go. It was, ‘You’re doomed.’”

Dolenz, on the other hand, is much more of a believer in the film. “We were always the victims in the movie, which is interesting” he says. “[Head] is sort of a deconstruction of the Monkees. But more than that, it was also a deconstruction of the Hollywood system at the time.” Nevertheless, Dolenz admits much of the film may have been odd just for oddness’s sake. “Me jumping off bridge [in the film’s cold open] may mean jumping into the unknown,” he opines, “But who know what it means? Maybe nothing. Like Sigmund Freud said, sometimes a cigar is only a cigar, and I think there may be a little of that going on [in Head].” Tork voiced a similar opinion: “Some things were entirely just for the funny of it," he says citing a Lawrence of Arabia parody where Dolenz wanders the desert, only to end up assaulting a malfunctioning Coke machine.

Even though it followed on the tails of two enormously successful TV seasons and numerous hit singles, theater attendance was abysmal. Partly to blame was the marketing campaign that was almost as avant-garde as the film itself, but even worse was the fact that many theaters (successfully) demanded the film’s G-rating be turned into a Mature rating, simply because the film structure allegedly resembled an acid trip. The dissolution of the band followed soon after the flop, but both Tork and Dolenz deny there was any cause/effect. Tork, the first to leave, explains that although he still got along with the other Monkees, he “wanted to be in a pop-rock band … ultimately, it began to dawn on me that the other three weren’t interested in that.” He continues, "I don’t think the Monkees would have gone on [even] had the movie been more conventional. The movie was in some ways a last flicker … We were headed into our decline and in order to rejuvenate we would have to have done a lot of hard work and stuck with it, and I don’t think we had the energy. I don’t think you can blame it on the movie.”

Dolenz agrees that the movie didn’t end the Monkees, pointing out that when Head was released, “The TV show was off the air, so in a sense there was no Monkees. The Monkees was not a group or a band. The Monkees was a television show about a band, an imaginary band that didn’t really exist and still doesn’t exist in that sense.” He likens the Monkees on tour to the actors in Galaxy Quest suddenly forced to battle real aliens.

Still, the movie’s initial failure must have been somewhat bothersome, because Dolenz admits he “feels vindicated to have the Head get such a great reception and cult following” over the years. “When you think of the films and television shows about the hippie sixties culture, most of them — not to name any — look a little corny now,” Dolenz says. “People weren’t really wandering around in bell-bottoms, smoking a joint, and riding around in VW buses with flowers all over them and going, ‘Far out man, coooool.’ People didn’t really behave like that on the whole. Head is not like that. I think it is one of the movies that really did capture the feeling and sensibility of the time.”