Pop #2: Fan of the Also-Rans...

Before you start, YouTube doesn't like me tonight, so the boxes link to YouTube but won't play from the post.

How I would dearly like to pretend that I went straight from the novelty records of childhood to the music that has retained my love for the past twenty plus years - hard rock. Unfortunately, it just ain't so, and my greatest shame is that in my real pop phase, I was the fan of the also-rans.

For lo, there was the Jackson 5, who made records that stand the test of time. And then there were the white cash-in group, The Osmonds. Who did I love?
Why, the Mormon boys with the Latter-Day-Elvis-influenced costume designer of course.
And what song did I love best? I think we can all guess this one...



And then?
Well, in the beginning, God made man. Later, God made The Beatles. America then made The Monkees in order to compete. Me? I loved the latter group as if I had been created from one of Davy Jones' skinny little English ribs itself; more, Mike Nesmith looked just like one of my brothers and shared the same taste in hats.

Interestingly, The Monkees came into existence because a television series had been proposed that featured a band. First thoughts were to use a real band, until it was quickly realised that a real band with pull would already be signed to a record label, thus losing profits for the originators of The Monkees project. So adverts were placed in the entertainment newspapers to cast the band (and how prescient was that, I hear you say...) and Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones were found.

And here's something lifted from Wikipedia that I didn't know:

'In assigning instruments for purposes of the television show, a dilemma arose as none of the four was an actual drummer. Both Nesmith, a guitarist, and Tork, who could play several stringed and keyboard instruments, declined to give the drum set a try. Jones tested well initially as a novice drummer, but the camera could barely capture him behind the drums because of his short stature. Thus, Dolenz (who only knew how to play the guitar) was assigned to become the drummer. Tork taught Dolenz his first few beats on the drums and the producers hired a teacher for him.'

So the television series was filmed, first shown in 1966 and was an instant hit, as were the band. They released their first two singles that year, and both went straight to number 1 in America.

Now, I did not get my love of The Monkees from my brothers' record collection this time.
No, it came from the television, because The Monkees seemed to be endlessly shown on British television when I was around nine or ten years old. I loved all their songs and in truth, listening again I would still buy them. Which I can't say for The Osmonds, I'm afraid.

So here's The Monkees first release, and first number one hit. You would have thought that only in America could a band be created in order to star in a television series...



True Popstars!