Rip Davy

[metalmariachi]

sad to see another icon gone.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0, ... 93,00.html

The Monkees gave a taste of pop rock n roll to mainstream American TV.
The show also was essentially music videos with a stupid story thrown in, pre dating M-TV by 2 decades.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUdIKdRuYc4[/youtube]
MM

[Tigerbass]

Yeah that's a bummer for sure. I used to watch that show when I was little. I remember when he guest starred on Scooby-Doo even.

[MSUsousaphone]

The only way my mom could be sadder would be if it had been Sean Bean or Peter Noone that kicked it.

[dubkitty]

everybody hated on the Monkees back then, but how were they any less manufactured than any typical pop-rock group of the early/mid 60's? auditioned by a producer, songs written by the crack Brill Building/LA writing teams and records overseen by top LA engineers and sessionmen. and they could sing, and play, as they proved when given the opportunity. people LOVED the Monkees, because they did stuff that made people happy. ain't nothing wrong with that. so R.I.P, Davy...you did good. they're STILL trying to figure out a way to rip off "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for the salad-dressing ads without paying, so your work meant something.

[metalmariachi]

Interesting to note during that period, ages 5 to around 18 or so were considered to be the same demographic. Younger didn’t watch TV and those older were serious.
Rock n roll was for kids who would instantly outgrow it when they became adults.
The show had sexual innuendo, young people with little or no adult supervision and hints about drugs (whisper). True it was “Lucy” with 4 Lucys and no Ricky. But aren’t all sitcoms basically “Lucy” anyway?
This lead to shows like Banana Splits and H.R Pufnstuff.
There was Hullabaloo, Shindig and later Midnight special so it was actually a fun time for the period. well; Batman but we’ll try and over look that.
Funny the news would come on with distorted visions of Viet Nam and then the Monkees.

[dubkitty]

and given that the Monkees themselves were pretty "hip"--Jones and Dolenz had been in professional theatre since they were kids, and Nesmith and Tork were accomplished enough in the folk-rock scene that Tork had worked in NYC with Stephen Stills, who recommended him for the job after allegedly demurring because Stills wanted to do his own material--they worked as much countercultural stuff as the network would stand into the show. they even had Frank Zappa do a cameo on one episode, which was pretty damned unusual for a ostensibly kiddie-oriented show in 1967-68. and they famously hired Jimi Hendrix as their opening act, admittedly not even so much to expose him to their teenybop audience as so they could listen to Hendrix every night.

[jumbo_steelie]

A dude I work with is a MASSIVE Monkees fan, and played them so much I grew an appreciation for the pop sensibility and innocence. Sad news indeed...

[darthbatman]

this is a great thread it's good to hear what people besides my parents have to say about this.
i just remember watching the monkees tv show on like tv land or something when i was pretty young.
there was one where they went to a ghost town. and always a mid-episode recap, "for those just tuning in."

Davy was on one of the brady bunch movies or something wasn't he? also i seem to recall one
of the members was kinda rich because their mom had invented some popular household item.

[dubkitty]

Mike Nesmith's mom invented Liquid Paper.