Saturday April 24, 2021 “It’s a Little Bit Me (It’s a Little Bit You)” The Monkees
I’m going to say it right up front and out loud, the Monkees were talented singers, musicians, and songwriters who made a handful of the finest pop singles in the 60s.
Forget the fact that they were not great actors who were further burdened by terrible scripts but those of us of a certain age loved them, and IMHO they deserved the adulation. Initially they were provided songs from legendary songwriters like Neil Diamond, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, David Gates, and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.
The Monkees were backed on their earlier recordings by the legendary session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew and before the purist in you says ‘so there you go, they never played their own instruments’ let me remind you that the Wrecking Crew were the studio band for the Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Mamas & the Papas, the Grass Roots and the Byrds among so many others artists during the 60s.
Here’s a few fun Monkees facts: Frank Zappa was a fan of the band and appeared in an episode of the show; the only Monkee movie, Head was directed by Jack Nicholson and featured among other actors Annette Funicello, Terri Garr, Sonny Liston and Dennis Hopper; Mike Nesmith’s mother invented Liquid Paper and sold the product to Gillette for millions; Mike Nesmith, before he was a Monkee, wrote the first big hit that Linda Ronstadt had, “Different Drum”; Mickey Dolenz was almost cast as the Fonz in Happy Days.
Stay safe and well...and don’t be reticent to say that you actually liked the Monkees, they sold 75 million albums/CDs so there are one or two other fans out there, including the late Frank Zappa.