Davy Jones Remembered: The Monkees

[mickeymouseclubfan]

A year ago last February, a piece of my childhood died when Davy Jones, beloved as a TV Monkee, died of a Massive Heart Attack at age 66.

For those of you friends unfamiliar with him & his series, The Monkees was a hit TV show about an out-of-work rock group who supported themselves by taking various odd jobs; the show was created by Bob Rafelson & Bert Schneider.

The show was first pitched in early 1965 to Schneiders father, Abe, who at the time was the head of Columbia Pictures; on April 16, 1965, Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia, gave the go-ahead to shoot a Monkees pilot.

The following Fall, nearly 500 applicants auditioned to become Monkees, among them Danny Hutton, Steve Stills, Harry Nilsson & Paul Williams. Those 4 boys (plus several others who auditioned) would go on to greater fame.

A rumor developed a few years later that future Murderer Charlie Manson auditioned for The Monkees, but the rumors have since been proven false, as Charlie was in jail at the time for Kiting Checks and would not be released from Prison for another 2 years (BIG mistake, jailers).

Of the 500 auditionees, 4 were hired--22-year-old Mike Nesmith (born on December 30, 1942 in Houston, Texas), 21-year-old Peter Thorkelson (born on February 13, 1944 in Washington, D.C.), 20-year-old Micky Dolenz (born on March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, California), and 19-year-old Davy Jones (born on December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England).

Davy was the first of The Monkees hired, and the only one who NEVER auditioned.

All 4 boys had careers in showbiz before becoming famous.

Mike was a songwriter under the pen name Mike Blessing (among other songs, Mike had written the song Until Its Time For You To Go in 1965 that was a hit record for Buffy St. Marie), Peter was a folk singer in Greenwich Village, Micky was a child actor who already had a hit TV series, Circus Boy, and Davy was a jockey in England.

The Monkees released their debut single, Last Train To Clarksville, in August 1966, more than a month before the series debuted.

The pilot episode, Here Come The Monkees, was filmed in November 1965.

Less than a year later, on September 12, 1966, The Monkees debuted on NBC at 7:30 P.M. ET/PT, airing every Monday night on NBC stations across the United States.

An interesting tidbit: with the lone exception of the Monkees Headquarters album, the stars of The Monkees NEVER played their own instruments on records, supplying only the singing & backing vocals of each tune; despite that fact, however, The Monkees group had 11 Top 40 hits over the next 2 years, 3 of which made it to #1.

The music was primarily written by singer/songwriters who had already established themselves in the music business, among them Neil Diamond & Carole King.

The Monkees was very popular, both on TV and on the record charts; however, the popularity in both cases was very short-lived, as NBC canceled The Monkees.

The final original episode, Mijacogeo (written/directed by Micky Dolenz), aired on NBC on March 25, 1968.

After the TV series was canceled, The Monkees made a feature film, Head; however, when the film was released in November 1968, it flopped at the box office.

After 2 years, 58 Television Episodes, 6 Successful Albums, and 1 Feature Movie, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones faded into oblivion--until the 1980s, that is, when reruns of the original series began airing on MTV.

MTV showed an all-day Monkees Pleasant Valley Sunday marathon on February 23, 1986; that September, sister network Nickelodeon began airing The Monkees every weekday afternoon, during which the series made occasional appearances on MTV.

MTV, after its Pleasant Valley Sunday marathon, occasionally aired The Monkees by way of marathons after the marathon aired.

The MTV reruns of the original series led to several reunion concerts plus 2 reunion albums--Pool It in 1987 and JustUs in 1996, both released by Rhino Records.

The JustUs album was a first for The Monkees, as they not only played their own instruments but also wrote all of their own songs.

[Schmoopie]

That was just awful when he died. So sad. I was never a big fan of the Monkees, but my favorite episode of the Brady Bunch is the one where Marcia gets Davy Jones to sing at her Filmore Junior High School prom. I love that episode so much. He seemed like he was a very nice man and I would have loved to have met him.

[MickeyMac]

Too bad Davy is gone. The Monkees is not only a great show, but what a great band.