Drawn in part from previous posts, this is not included in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
Come and watch them sing and play.
The best-known version of the '60s garage punk stomper "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" was recorded by the (originally) made-for-TV combo the Monkees. Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the Monkees' version appeared on the group's second album More Of The Monkees in 1967, and it was the B-side of their # 1 smash single "I'm A Believer," creating a two-sided 45 rpm winner that could rival the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Even as a mere B-side, the Monkees' "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" made it to # 20 on Billboard's Hot 100.
As "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone," the song was first recorded by the Liverpool Five, released on their 1966 album Arrive. I knew nothing about that version until, y'know, Wikipedia just told me about it. Beating the Liverpool Five to retail if not to the studio, Paul Revere and the Raiders cut the first released version of "Steppin' Stone," and there's ample rockin' reason why many consider the Raiders' take to be definitive. The Sex Pistols covered it in the '70s, certifying the song's enduring, surly cred.
Paul Revere and the Raiders were a terrific rock 'n' roll group masquerading as costume-party Revolutionaries, so of course their "Steppin' Stone" simmers with authority and swagger. They planned to release it as a single. When the Raiders were offered the Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil anti-drug anthem "Kicks," the Raiders thought (correctly) that was a sure-fire hit record, so they delayed "Stepping Stone" and released "Kicks" instead. Boyce and Hart, pissed off and convinced they were being yanked around, took the song to the Monkees.
As great as the Raiders' "Steppin' Stone" is, I like the Monkees' version best. Although they were still just a prefab entity at the time, the Monkees' machine somehow created a rendition with even more punch than the invincible Raiders, more power, more precision; it can't match the seeming abandon of the Raiders, but it matches and even slightly surpasses their intensity, and Micky Dolenz delivers a vocal that cannot be topped. Puppets with a chip on their shoulders? The Monkees would not remain puppets for much longer.
After More Of The Monkees, our assembled MonkeeMen--Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith--staged an unprecedented show biz coup that allowed them to become the functioning rock 'n' roll band they played on television. They began to play on their studio sessions. They played live--Micky, Davy, Peter, and Mike--closing their 1967 concerts with a savage pummeling of "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone."
For decades, the public had very little access to evidence of the live Monkees. There was nothing--nothing--on record. There were the live clips featured in "The Monkees On Tour," the final episode of the first season of their TV series. There was the in-concert performance of "Circle Sky" witnessed in their dark and brilliant 1968 film Head. The Head soundtrack LP used a comparatively tepid studio version of "Circle Sky" instead.
With lack of even an Exhibit A to support the claim that the Monkees could play, much of the general public concluded that the Monkees could not play. I remember being at a 1979 gig by my favorite power pop group the Flashcubes, chatting with 'Cubes drummer Tommy Allen before their set. In the course of that discussion, Tommy and I expressed our mutual interest in the Monkees' records. Guitarist Paul Armstrong overheard and quipped, "Yeah, especially the Monkees' live album." Tommy and I immediately gushed in perfect harmony, "Is there a Monkees live album...?!" Paul rolled his eyes in dismissal of our inability to get his joke. The Monkees playing live? Sure. As if!
Paul Armstrong knows as much about rock 'n' roll music as anybody. But even he bought into the myth that the Monkees couldn't play, because there wasn't much of anything to prove, nor even just suggest, that they could.
I think the live "Circle Sky" made its waaaay-belated retail debut on a 1979 3-LP compilation called Monkeemania, issued only in Australia and using a master presumably dubbed from a bootleg video of the film itself. I loved it. I wanted to hear more evidence of the Monkees in live performance.
Resurgent Monkeemania granted that wish in 1987, with the release of Live 1967, which I adored in all its rough 'n' ragged glory. It's not that the Monkees were ever at the level of technical proficiency of the seasoned studio cats who played on The Monkees and More Of The Monkees, nor that they were even as tight in concert as producer Chip Douglas managed to nudge them into being in the studio for the making of their 1967 hey-hey-we're-a-real band triumph Headquarters (the album the Monkees were hyping at the time of these live recordings). On stage, before thousands of screaming fans, the Monkees were THE biggest garage band the world has ever seen. Bigger than the Ramones. Bigger than the Clash. As punk as anything ever, and as legitimately DIY as a mainstream show-biz project could ever dare to be. Yeah, come and watch 'em sing and play, ya bastards!
The tracks on Live 1967 were patched together from three different shows, trying to choose the best representation of each song on the Monkees' set list. Like the concerts themselves, Live 1967 concludes with"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," because let's face it, nothing they did could hope to follow that. The live "Steppin' Stone" is a grungy, full-throttle leap into the air: Loud, messy, barely (if at all) tethered to the mortal plane, a noise that revels in its ability to just freakin' rock. Micky's vocal remains in his control, Davy and Michael nearly scream, Peter does scream, and the former puppets wail away on guitar, bass, drums, and tambourine, culminating in an absolute musical freak-out, all of it accomplished with the sure-eyed determination of a local rock group down the street trying hard to learn their song.
And succeeding. The Monkees were on stage, in their Heaven, and if all wasn't quite right with the world, they made enough noise to drown out the world's tsuris with a ferocity that would have made the Sex Pistols jealous.
I've been a Monkees fan since 1966. As steel is forged in the crucible, so my belief in the Monkees was hardened the more people tried to convince me they were no good, plastic, lesser. Bullshit. I know what I hear, I know what I see, and I know what I like. The Monkees TV series helped to form my sense of comedy, right alongside the droll British humor--er, humour--of the Beatles' movies, the broad schtick of Jerry Lewis and The Three Stooges, and the brilliance of The Marx Brothers. The Monkees' records were outstanding. If they'd all been assembled in a laboratory by Dr. Frankenstein and Don Kirshner, they'd still be great records. The fact that Michael, Peter, Micky, and Davy also took some measure of control, and became a band rather than just playing one on TV, just enhances the richness of the Monkees story. The Monkees are one of my favorite groups, and they always will be.
And they could put on a show. Trying to make their mark in society. Using all the tricks they learned from everywhere, from rock to blues to country to pop to the three chords and a chip on their shoulder celebrated by vintage garage-punk Nuggets afficionados all over the world. Walkin' 'round like the front-page news they were. Steppin' stones no longer. Punk, meet the mainstream. Mainstream, meet the goddamn Monkees.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.
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