As we all continue to dig Good Times!, the fabulous new album from The Monkees, we also remember the Manchester Cowboy Davy Jones, the departed Monkee to whom Good Times! is dedicated. Here is our playlist and commentary for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl the week of Davy's passing in 2012.
Hello again from This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl, your self-appointed source for The Best Three Hours Of Radio On the Whole Friggin' Planet. Last Sunday's show was dedicated to our Davy, the late David Jones. We played a plethora of Davy-sung delights, including solo tracks and a track by Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart (and even one credited to Mickey [sic] Dolenz & Davy Jones), but focusing primarily on Davy's work with one of our all-time favorite pop combos, The Monkees.
(I am tempted to launch into a full-blown diatribe about myopic cretins who still stubbornly, stupidly refuse to give The Monkees their just due in rock 'n' roll history, but I'm just too tired and cranky to form the words right now. The Monkees should be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. And The Monkees will NEVER be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, ever; never mind the group's enormous and prevailing impact on rock 'n' roll and pop culture, the enduring appeal of their terrific recordings, their unparalleled role in bringing 1960s counterculture to the mainstream via their own weekly TV hijinks, and their pioneering use of rock video. In the minds of the hipper-than-thou, The Monkees are forever tainted, unworthy, because they were a made-for-TV, manufactured pop group that didn't even play their own damned instruments.
Please.
Why not apply some of these bogus litmus tests to a few other pop icons? Let's see: a teen idol that doesn't write the songs or play on the records? Fine--no reason for Elvis Presley to be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, either. A manufactured band, assembled by management with little regard for musical ability? Dude, that's The Sex Pistols. A group sold to the public via shrewd marketing and image manipulation? The Beatles AND The Rolling Stones, and that's just for starters. Let's also dismiss all the vocal groups who neither wrote nor played on their recordings, including every Motown act except Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, along with groups like The Yardbirds and The Animals who wrote next to none of their stuff. Man, it's starting to get lonely in here!
And then toss out all of the above nonsense, and consider the fact that The Monkees transcended all these petty quibbles anyway. They did write songs (especially Michael Nesmith). They did start to play on their records. They did exert some control over their destiny. Like Pinocchio before them, the puppets became real: The Monkees became a band. And, for one final exercise in absurdity, remember that Pet Sounds--rightly considered by many to be the greatest album ever made--was recorded by Brian Wilson and...studio musicians. The Monkees were more of a real band on their Headquarters album than The Beach Boys were on Pet Sounds.
I would say more, but I'm too busy singing to put anybody down. RIP, Davy.)
THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana & Carl streams live every Sunday night from 9 to Midnight Eastern, exclusively at www.westcottradio.org.
TIRnRR # 619: 3/4/12
THE RAMONES: "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" (Rhino, End Of The Century)
THE MONKEES: "Kellogg's Jingle" (Rhino, Missing Links, Vol. 3)
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DOLENZ, JONES, BOYCE & HART: "I Remember The Feeling" (Varese Sarabande, VA: The Songs Of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart)
THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS: "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" (MCA, All The Leaves Are Brown)
THE SWEET: "Fox On The Run" (Capitol, The Best Of Sweet)
THE GRASS ROOTS: "Let's Live For Today" (Rhino, Anthology)
THE MONKEES: "Every Step Of The Way" (Rhino, Pool It!)
METHODIST BELLS: "Undercover" (www.methodistbells.com, A 1000 Miles Of Turpentine)
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THE MONKEES: "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (Colgems, single)
THE MONKEES: "Iranian Tango" [from THE MONKEES TV series]
HERMAN'S HERMITS: "There's A Kind Of Hush" (Abkco, Retrospective)
LAURIE BIAGINI: "A Go-Go Girl In a Modern World" (n/a, A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World)
JACKIE LOMAX: "Sour Milk Sea" (Apple, VA: Come And Get It)
THE MONKEES: "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (Rhino Handmade, Summer 1967)
THE BEATLES: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (Apple, Anthology 1)
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DAVY JONES: "Girl" (Bell, single)
THE SEEKERS: "Georgy Girl" (EMI, Ultimate Collection)
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS: "Love Is Pain" (Blackheart, I Love Rock 'n' Roll)
THE SMALL FACES: "Lazy Sunday" (Snapper, The Definitive Collection)
THE MONKEES: "Love To Love" (Rhino, Missing Links, Vol. 3)
PETER NOONE: "Oh, You Pretty Things" (EMI, HERMAN'S HERMITS: Singles Collection)
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THE MONKEES: "You And I" (Rhino, Instant Replay)
THE SMALL FACES: "Song Of A Baker" (Snapper, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake)
THE MONKEES: "Star Collector" (Rhino, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.)
THE SONICS: "Have Love Will Travel" (Norton Busy Body!!!)
FREDDY MONDAY: "I Want To Be Your Davy Jones" (iTunes)
TROLLEY: "I Woke Up" (Easter, Things That Shine And Glow)
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THE MONKEES: "I Never Thought It Peculiar" (Rhino, Changes)
THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK: "Incense And Peppermints" (Rhino, VA: Summer Of Love)
THE MONKEES: "Daddy's Song" (Rhino, Head)
R.E.M.: "Begin The Begin" (IRS, Lifes Rich Pageant)
THE MONKEES: "I'll Be True To You" (Rhino, The Monkees)
THE BEACH BOYS: "Sloop John B" (Capitol, Pet Sounds)
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THE MONKEES: "Forget That Girl" (Rhino, Headquarters)
THE SMALL FACES: "Get Yourself Together" (Snapper, The Definitive Collection)
MICKEY [sic] DOLENZ & DAVY JONES: "Do It In The Name Of Love" (Rhino, THE MONKEES: Changes)
THE YARDBIRDS: "A Certain Girl" (Rhino, Ultimate!)
DAVY JONES: "Who Was It?" (MGM, single)
BENNY SPELLMAN: "Fortune Teller" (EMI, VA: Crescent City Soul)
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THE MONKEES: "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) [TV version]" (Rhino, More Of The Monkees)
THE BENT BACKED TULIPS: "Sweet Young Thing" (eggBERT, Looking Through...)
DAVY JONES & CHARLIE SMALLS: "A Girl Named Love" [from THE MONKEES TV series]
SAM COOKE: "Chain Gang" (RCA, The Best Of Sam Cooke)
THE MONKEES: "Looking For The Good Times" (Rhino, The Monkees Present)
THE COASTERS: "Poison Ivy" (Zoom, Rollin' With The Coasters)
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THE MONKEES: "Look Down" (Rhino, VA: Missing Links, Vol. 3)
BILLY J. KRAMER & THE DAKOTAS: "Bad To Me" (EMI, The Definitive Collection)
THE MONKEES: "Cuddly Toy" (Rhino, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.)
THE SEEDS: "Pushin' Too Hard" (Rhino, VA: Nuggets)
THE MONKEES: "I Wanna Be Free" (Rhino Handmade, Summer 1967)
THE KINKS: "Susannah's Still Alive" (Sanctuary, The Ultimate Collection)
THE MONKEES: "Early Morning Blues And Greens" (Rhino, Headquarters)
BIG STAR: "In The Streets" (Big Beat, VA: Thank You, Friends)
THE MONKEES: "Valleri" (Rhino, The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees)
THE MOPTOPS: "Christine" (Not Lame, VA: Full Circle)
THE MONKEES: "Daydream Believer" (Rhino, The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees)
BIG STAR: "September Gurls" (Big Beat, VA: Thank You, Friends)
THE MONKEES: "Outro" [from THE MONKEES TV series]
THE MONKEES: "The Girl I Left Behind Me" [backing track]
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