"The Monkees" Rewatch: Monkees On Tour

Before we get into the episode I wanted to start this post with a “Monkees Primer,” of sorts, because it occurred to me recently that I did just jump into the show itself and never gave proper background for it. As I’ve mentioned before with regard to spoilers, I do tend to assume that anyone reading these posts has some knowledge of or familiarity with the show, but passing over that background entirely still feels like a huge oversight on my part. Plus, it’ll become even more important once the discussion turns to subjects like Head and 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, so it’s better to lay the groundwork now. And if you are familiar with the background, don’t worry, this will be a very, very condensed Cliffs Notes version of the series beginnings.

After being inspired by the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider (the filmmakers behind Raybert Productions) began developing a show about a fictional group. Eventually, production company Screen Gems bought the idea and auditions looking “for 4 insane boys” and “spirited Ben Frank’s-types” began in the fall of 1965. Out of the four hundred who auditioned, Micky Dolenz (drums), Mike Nesmith (guitar), Davy Jones (percussion), and Peter Tork (bass) landed the main roles. Micky and Davy had previous acting experience (Micky in the show Circus Boy referenced in “Monkees at the Circus” and Davy in musicals such as Oliver!), while Mike and Peter had focused on their music with Peter primarily being a folk singer and Mike pursuing singing/songwriting as well as publishing his work before The Monkees. One could argue that their musical history contributed to their eventual dissatisfaction with how the Monkees’ music was made and then perceived. Initially, that side of the Monkees was handled by music supervisor Don “the Man with the Golden Ear” Kirshner, a team of songwriters (such as Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart and Gerry Goffin & Carole King), and studio musicians while the Monkees shared lead vocal duties (again, like the Beatles.) There were exceptions to this, including their concerts and tracks like “Papa Genes Blues,” which was written by Mike and included Peter on banjo, I believe, after Mike argued for Peter’s inclusion. In addition, the mid-sixties saw a growing importance placed on the notion and appearance of ““authenticity”” and playing one’s own music (instead of simply covering pop standards as had largely been the case prior to acts like Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, the Beatles, etc.) as a result ““real”” musicians didn’t much appreciate the manufactured nature of the group. Hence, the “is it true you don’t play your instruments?” question in the interview segment that ended “Monkees At The Movies.” So, between the group’s growing frustrations and releasing material that had not been cleared, Don Kirshner was fired around March 1967 and the Monkees became the primary players on their third record, Headquarters, released in May 1967.

Which leads us to “Monkees On Tour,” an episode that documents the group’s January 21, 1967 show in Phoenix, Arizona and served as the finale for season one on April 24, 1967. And I’ll be honest here, part of why I chose to do a Monkees Primer now instead of waiting is because episode summaries tend to take up a big portion of these posts and that’s not really possible with “On Tour.” It’s pretty straightforward in terms of what happens and shows them on stage, backstage, with screaming fans, with calm fans, at the hotel, at a radio station and each of them roaming on their own. 

I like the chance to see them perform, but I can’t help but feel as frustrated as I do when I see Beatles performance footage. Like, I totally get being an excited fangirl, but when I watch this stuff I wish the damn seagulls would just shut. up. Keep in mind that I’m the type to get very irritated when audience members scream during a quiet moment in a song or when an artist talks in concert, so the constant stream of shouting utterly ruins footage like this for me. I want to hear the band, not the nonsense of an audience high on themselves, but that’s impossible because some people are just obnoxious. I don’t want to go off on a full rant, so I’ll stop here by saying that I will never understand the point of going to see an artist’s show if you’re not going to listen or have any regard for the artist and your fellow audience members. That’s all.

Another thing that sticks out to me is that while I love the silly moments, like Davy messing with a swan or them taking over a radio station, what stays with me the most is the sorta melancholy of the second half, like Mike’s “someday… someday,” Peter’s “a little green and a little quiet,” or Davy’s “it looked lonely.” I don’t know if it was necessarily meant to be serious or sad, but that’s how it makes me feel. Maybe part of why it does is due to these more personal, introspective moments being intercut with the very public, energetic, and loud concert and how that perhaps unintentionally highlights how isolating touring specifically and fame in general can be. Or maybe it makes me feel that way because “On Tour” is another episode that I haven’t watched very often and for the longest time my main memory of it was Micky talking about how he wants to build “something that’ll last” and “something I can say is my own.” I can’t really verbalize exactly why that particular moment made me feel sad. I guess the best way I could put it is that it made me sad to think that maybe he gave up what he truly wanted in favor of something else and I always hoped that he was able to realize that goal in some way. In fact, a few years ago he started a furniture company with one of his children, so maybe it fulfills that dream for him, at least I hope so.

And on that note, that brings us to the end of “Monkees On Tour” and The Monkees season one! Even though it’s taken me way longer than I wanted to get the project to this point it’s still been quite fun to reminisce and become reacquainted with the show. I’m really looking forward to diving into season two and those posts will start the week of January 8th. Until then!