Do you consider The Monkees a hippy band?

Sorry i don't consider them as a hippy band. Their songs were just copies from the beatles one ...

 

on the first 2 or 3 albums, yes, they did not play their instruments...but unlike milli vanilli, they really wantd to, because they could...they did have live shows, and made other albums as well, after their TV career was shot...they had tours in the 80's and in the 90's as well...

mike nesmith [or "Wool Hat" as he is somtimes known] and peter tork were acctually musicians first, but they also acted...

mike and peter did write some songs off their earlier albums, then off thier latter ones, wrote more...i also prefer thier self wrtten stuff..

pete still tours with his band, and mike nesmith just finished writing a novel [i think its a sci fi one]...davy jones is a jocky now, and i think micky is doing somethign or other...

 

Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees so that makes them with the elites plus they still make music like Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork but hippie because they thought about life so I agree with it.

 

They had some good stuff. They never hid the fact they were prefabricated. They had a run of good albums, from Headquarters to Instant Replay.

 

Every now and then I have seen this topic come up, and alot of folks have assumed things about the Monkees that just arent true.


They did play their own instruments, the did write their own songs, and were an influence on society.

If you havent seen it, I suggest HEAD, a Monkees movie. But then, if you arent a fan of Easy Rider, you might not enjoy the appearance of Fonda and Hopper. Hopper is even wearing the Easy Rider coat. Also, its directed by Jack Nicholson, and it was filmed the same summer as Easy Rider.

Although they might not get any credit for their work, this film includes other non-hippies such as Frank Zappa. The soundtrack is mostly their own, and has songs with Neil Young, Carol King, and is as much psychedelia as can be had.

The fact that the Monkees had a show, people assume they were pre-packaged all the way. The Monkees were pissed they didnt get their songs promoted, and had plenty of original material. Most of it is decent to very good, and there is certainly worse bubblegum music out there.

Peter Tork thought it was a band audition, and brought his guitar.
Peter still performs, and often with older hippie musicians the likes of County Joe, Big Brother and the Holding Co, and others.

Their show brought hippie culture into the living room, and if you think it didnt have any effect on society, may I point out that it was replaced with "Gunsmoke". The list of hippie shows on TV during the 60s is a very short one, the LSD episode of Dragnet was the social view of hippes at the time.

Sure, they didnt sit around and say, hey lets be a band, but once they knew what was expected of them they did some decent music. That the whole thing was orchestrated by the music biz guys to sell cheesy songs wasnt their fault, and they fought it tooth and nail.

I'm sorry if you have only heard the two songs on the radio and formed an opinion based on false rumors that are 35 years old. They arent THAT bad!

 

The Monkees are really a difficult case
In 65 & 66 They were probably too pop and commercial (and they don't wrote even themselve the songs).
But since The Beatles release Revolver, by the end of 66 The Monkees wanted to have more control over their music...they wanted to write more and play more their songs (let's play "session man" by the kinks !).
And by early 67 they recorded what many people say it's their best album (for me it's not a great one ...but it's just correct!) called "Headquarters" but slowly they will loose their commercial success ...the end of their story is too long to write...

But well their not as bad as some hippie and actual rockers said...
The Best thing to 2 is too buy their Best of ...personnaly i have their best of and "Headquarters" and it's enough!

Are They hippie?...i think by mid 67 they were probably real hippie but hardcore westcoast hippie will never accept them... it's like let enter a commercial demon in a fragile cage of flowers...

 

i dont know if i would call them a hippie band, head is pretty trippy though. peter was a hippie though. he lived in the village and when his car broke down he hitch hiked the rest of the way to califorina. peter and mike both thought they would get to play the music, but it turned out they couldnt and they were stuck. eventually the guys won and it resaulted in headquarters. i sugest everyone watch the movie about the monkees called, daydream believers.

 

whats hapnin chuck?

 

Yes, I knew that they eventually started playing they're own instruments. Mike Nesmith was my favorite Monkee. After the Monkees broke up Mike went on and did some really good solo material. I knew that Peter currently has a band called 'Shoe Suede Blues" but I didn't know what the others were doing now. Thanks.

 

i'm in ohio.. playin at a coffee house tomorrow evenin'.

 

Well it's true that Tork was maybe the more hippie of the band and it's the question of the forum...but if we talk of the best songwriter and talented member...it's without a doubt Michael Nesmith

 

far out man... prolly gonna try and do the same, again... no one to jam with...

 

and we all know that automatically makes you a hippie

 

why yes it does... apparently

 

At least 'The Monkees' could play their own instruments!.Not like that Fab Four lot who needed session musicians to fill in.

 

heh heh

 

and here it comes the fat defend... cut/ action ....and here it comes the fab defender...... uhm...something tell me that i'm a little ridiculous superhero...in this affair...



NB: ...but it's actually true that monkees have more brains that beetles !?



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there one of those 60's buble gum bands that where around during the early 60's and were pre drug.

 

i never listened to the monkees so i don't know.

 

The Monkees were definitly NOT pre-drug!

On the set of HEAD, they had to build a room soundproofed so the partying didnt muck up the shooting sound. All the southern california notables came by to sample their fave intoxicant, and during the TV series you can see several scenes that show them obviously blazed out of their gourds.

I mean, these are guys that did shows with Hendrix, hung around with Lennon and Clapton, toured everywhere.... its not like they were strangers to the scene.