This is the third in a series of guest articles that have been submitted to The Monkees Live Almanac in celebration of the group's 50th Anniversary. In the spring of 1967, The Monkees, ostensibly a make-believe band vilified as the antithesis of rock 'n' roll, turned around and committed one of the most rock 'n' roll acts in history—an astonishing act of mutiny against the manufacturing machine that gave them life. The monster had turned on its creator and stumbled out of the lab. "Once The Monkees took control of their recording career it got steadily worse," said Lester Sill, Don Kirshner's replacement as music supervisor, on the Headquarters radio show in 1988. "Mike [Nesmith] was the catalyst in destroying the group." On the surface, yes; sales figures do support this. Nothing after More of the Monkees (Nesmith's candidate for Worst Album Ever) met its dizzying total of 5 million records sold. Nor did any single match the astonishing success of "I'm a Believer." "That ain't no hit," Nesmith is alleged to have said prior to its recording. But can this be attributed directly to the group taking charge of their own destiny? It can be argued that the phenomenon had already peaked by the time Nesmith's fist met drywall, and a steady decline was inevitable no matter who was behind the wheel of the Monkeemobile. With a few exceptions, pop stardom generally has a short half-life; chart and radio success even shorter. The notion of "One Hit Wonder" is a snarky and unfair condemnation, as most artists who even manage to have one hit usually fade after the follow-up doesn't catch on. The Monkees achieved astonishing success in a very short time because all the stars were aligned. They were the right guys at the right time; they had TV exposure, the best writers, the best producers, and the Man with the (usually) Golden Ear. But putting money on the the group hitting anywhere near those More of the Monkees/"I'm a Believer" sales figures again, under continued supervision by Kirshner or on their own, wouldn't be tempting to even the most adventurous gambler.
"We can play 'Happy Birthday' with a beat and it would sell a million records," Nesmith claims to have told Kirshner during the palace revolt. And in January 1967 this was absolutely true. Kirshner's chosen follow-up to the "I'm a Believer"/"Steppin' Stone" knockout punch was "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"/"She Hangs Out." While the former is a decent song it is nowhere near the quality of its predecessor. Even Kirshner himself described the song as "ordinary." However, he had promised Diamond the follow-up to "I'm a Believer" without hearing it first, a case of loyalty clouding judgment. Despite its relative flatness, the single shot to number two well after Kirshner was escorted out of his office in the company of security guards, somewhat proving Nesmith's "Happy Birthday with a beat" declaration. In stark contrast, Nesmith's own "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," which replaced "She Hangs Out" on the B-side, proved that the group was capable of producing an excellent pop record on their own. It was more catchy, organic, and energetic than Diamond's offering. Though the playing was nowhere near as accomplished as that of the Wrecking Crew, the overall feel is one of the sheer joy of a group of boys creating something that is truly their own. One would be hard pressed to find someone who thinks that first rendering of "She Hangs Out" was a superior cut. Kirshner's last gasp of control came in a series of tracks cut only with Davy Jones in New York, and these are largely the epitome of what Mike (as Frank Zappa) would dismiss as "banal and insipid" in the legendary TV show bit. ![]() As if to ram the point home, The Monkees' later rearrangement of "She Hangs Out" also blew away Jeff Barry's original flat production. Barry may have had a chuckle at Nesmith's prediction regarding "I'm a Believer," but he himself was the one who produced those lifeless last Kirshner sessions, the worst tracks on More of The Monkees, and nearly all of the barely noteworthy Changes album in 1970. He infamously (and rather ridiculously) likened The Monkees' taking control as "a guy playing Superman thinking he could fly." But his own later Monkee productions never soared anywhere near the heights of "I'm a Believer." If there were any true mistakes in the history of The Monkees' recording legacy, they lie in who was in the producer's seat. Kirshner took the initial production duties away from Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart after one album, robbing the "fake group" of their original sound. This was ironically echoed later by The Monkees parting ways with Chip Douglas, which destroyed the somewhat cohesive sound of the now "real" group. That said, by 1969, with the TV show gone and their utter rejection by both their early fans and the "serious" rock enthusiasts they were trying to court, no decision good or bad was going to matter. The excellent likes of "Porpoise Song," "Listen to the Band," "As We Go Along," and "Someday Man" had little chance on the charts or the airwaves when you checked the 45 and saw the name of the band. And returning to the original sound and formula wasn’t likely to provide a miraculous resurgence of any kind ("Tear Drop City"). Nesmith's primary interest was having a group he could lead and control with the country-rock sound that he loved. And if rumors that he was actually verbally promised this by Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson after they saw him perform are true, his frustration was justified. Peter Tork was less concerned about autonomy and more about he and his bandmates actually being the musicians in the chairs. Jones and Micky Dolenz, the two that were happy with the status quo, joined in solidarity and rose to the occasion. The differing agendas of Nesmith and Tork really blended only twice, on Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. — ironically, the two albums that most fans and critics would point to as their best work. The album sales combined didn't reach the heights of More of the Monkees at the time. But 50 years later, they're the primary reason we're here talking about a group that was supposed to only be characters on a TV show. It's doubtful that Nesmith, Tork, or Dolenz had any notion at the time of preserving a long-term legacy, but as they prepare to come together on record once more with Good Times!, I'd like to think they know it now.
19 Comments
Dan
3/12/2016 20:52:01
Yet another guest article "home run"!!! Thank you for sharing!
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Monkees Live Almanac
3/12/2016 20:59:25
Dan,
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Dan
3/12/2016 23:03:47
Done!!! :)
Jcat
3/12/2016 21:20:55
Thanks Dan!
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Glenn
3/13/2016 10:05:25
Does anyone know offhand what discs have the two different versions of "She Hangs Out" referenced in the article? I know the song, but I guess I didn't know there were two versions with such a different sound.
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Monkees Live Almanac
3/17/2016 21:10:43
Hi Glenn,
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Glenn
3/19/2016 09:16:37
Thanks for the info!
Tom Czarnota
3/13/2016 22:57:09
The Monkees grab for creative control paved the way for a lot more diversity and progression in the band's material. I'd say the long term result was that this generated more interest in the Monkees phenomenon long term than immediate record sales and so called hits. Kirshner stuck hard to a narrow formula for The Archies that produced a grand total of one big hit in Sugar Sugar and nothing more. And you don't see anywhere near the interest and enthusiasm for the Archies catalogue as compared to the Monkees, so the extent that Kirshner never ever bothered to rerelease any of the Archies albums.
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John
3/14/2016 14:17:03
This article really hammers home one of the most bothersome aspects of the whole Monkees project. I have always found it irksome that "old-schoolers" like Kirschner and Sill always assumed that had they been left in control and the Monkees hadn't revolted that the records sales would have stayed in the upper stratosphere. They couldn't have been more wrong. What they could not or would not see is that the Monkees phenomenon was cresting in early '67; MOTM was the biggest beneficiary of this peak. Artistically it is perhaps the musical nadir of the recorded output, and probably undeserving of such high sales.
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Guy Smley
3/20/2016 18:37:05
I'm not aware that Kirshner or Barry had any connection to Neil Diamond in the '70s. As for "schlock," it's all a matter of taste but through the early-mid '70s Diamond did a LOT of great work.
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Guy Smiley
3/20/2016 18:41:13
Sorry for the typos... Should've said "one of the great songwriters of the pop-rock ERA"
Jim Catapano
3/29/2016 12:37:23
Yeah I'm down with Neil. I'd say that "Little Bit Me" was the weakest of his 4 contributions, although that's partly due to poor production. I do feel that Kirshner was very strange to promise him the next single without knowing what he was going to come up with.
Jim Catapano
3/29/2016 12:33:15
It really couldn't have been any other way. It's those snarky comments by Kirshner and Barry on the Monkees "Behind the Music Special" that most motivated me to write this. Kirshner even tried to bolster his position by claiming to have offered them "Sugar Sugar", which we know is impossible.
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Karen
3/15/2016 11:58:23
Thank you so much for this article! What also has to be mentioned is the fact Lester Sill chose DW Washburn as the single to follow Valleri. The downer Washburn stopped their momentum cold. And based on what we know of Jeff Barry's recordings with Davy in New York had those been released instead of HQ and PACJ this original fan would've been turned off that the Monkees were not evolving their sound along with the other music I heard on the radio. I was growing up, as was my taste in music. The Monkees went there... Sill and Barry did not.
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Karen
3/15/2016 12:05:41
Jim, I created an animated video that illustrates the rumours around Nesmith's early involvement. I believe there is good reason for Michael making a stink when Kirshner got involved.
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Karen
3/15/2016 12:08:29
Woops, sorry, follow up video:
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Jim Catapano
3/29/2016 12:38:40
Thank you Karen! Yes I adore your videos. They really put things in perspective.
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Sunny Nestork
3/19/2016 13:04:51
Great article! Plus, with "Headquarters", didn't the "powers that be" decide to not release any songs as singles? That is a great album...maybe not as "smooth" as when TWC played, it's still great! I have the CD...and found the actual ALBUM/VINYL in a vintage record/book store...along with PACJ. LOVE THE MONKEES!!!!
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Jim Catapano
3/29/2016 12:41:04
Yes they put on Pleasant Valley Sunday and Words shortly after instead. That's a pretty astonishing body of work just that summer alone! Randy Scouse Git came out in England to great success.
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