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Monkeemania: The Story of the Monkees
Glenn Baker traces the Monkees' meteoric rise to fame, the adulation and hostility they faced at the top of pop's ladder, and their sudden decline. Illustrated with over 200 photographs, including Monkees ephemera and film stills, this guide offers a complete discography and coverage of the Monkees' 30th anniversary.
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 1961
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 12, 2023
They made nine albums, fifty-nine television programmes and a feature film in three years. It should have been a straightforward story of a production company recruiting actors to play the characters in a fictional band inspired by 'A Hard Day's Night'. When the fictional band's music began to outsell their inspirations' records though, the musicians in the fictional band revolted in order to wrest control of the music from the film-makers.
The orthodox Monkees story is told in terms of the music. From this perspective, Michael Nesmith invariably emerges as the hero, confronting the vested interests that conspired to sideline his undeniable talent and suffocate his visionary hybrid of country and rock music. By concentrating on The Monkees as a televisual phenomenon, however, the authors flip the convention on its head and from this story Nesmith emerges as an irksome eccentric, self-centredly wrecking a genuinely ground-breaking comedy show for the sake of his maverick muse.
The consequence of this spin is that the journeyman Davy Jones becomes an unlikely and unworthy focus of effusion. In this version of events, the legend of the open auditions that supposedly brought the Monkees together is debunked as little more than a marketing ploy to add background colour to Columbia's efforts to find a vehicle for Jones. The Monkees' struggle for musical integrity in 1967 is a derisible whimsy that diverts Jones from his main task of fulfilling his contractual obligations to Columbia subsidiary, Screen Gems - and on it goes. Nesmith's sublime work from 'Headquarters' to 'Present' is dismissed as largely dull and indulgent while Davy's doggedly determined tap-dance across the television screens of the 'sixties is lauded for its clause-fulfilling persistence. Yet it was Nesmith who created and sustained a career from the wreckage of the Monkees that enabled him to distance himself from the prefab four, while it was Jones who, when returned to the uncertainties of life as a jobbing actor, eventually made more money from retreading musical ground in Monkees nostalgia tours.
'Monkeemania' is a reasonable read with occasionally surprising perspectives - Nesmith being sprung from jail and spared from bankruptcy by Screen Gems before the pilot was even shot makes his subsequent ornery behaviour even braver or shittier depending on your predilection for Jones. Ultimately, though, its relegation of the Monkees' music to incidental status is its undoing, but then an author who describes 'Never Tell A Woman Yes' as "overlong and very ordinary" is plainly cloth-eared and compromised as a critic, so it's likely better that it toys about on the surface of the celluloid and keeps the music it barely appreciates at arm's length.
The orthodox Monkees story is told in terms of the music. From this perspective, Michael Nesmith invariably emerges as the hero, confronting the vested interests that conspired to sideline his undeniable talent and suffocate his visionary hybrid of country and rock music. By concentrating on The Monkees as a televisual phenomenon, however, the authors flip the convention on its head and from this story Nesmith emerges as an irksome eccentric, self-centredly wrecking a genuinely ground-breaking comedy show for the sake of his maverick muse.
The consequence of this spin is that the journeyman Davy Jones becomes an unlikely and unworthy focus of effusion. In this version of events, the legend of the open auditions that supposedly brought the Monkees together is debunked as little more than a marketing ploy to add background colour to Columbia's efforts to find a vehicle for Jones. The Monkees' struggle for musical integrity in 1967 is a derisible whimsy that diverts Jones from his main task of fulfilling his contractual obligations to Columbia subsidiary, Screen Gems - and on it goes. Nesmith's sublime work from 'Headquarters' to 'Present' is dismissed as largely dull and indulgent while Davy's doggedly determined tap-dance across the television screens of the 'sixties is lauded for its clause-fulfilling persistence. Yet it was Nesmith who created and sustained a career from the wreckage of the Monkees that enabled him to distance himself from the prefab four, while it was Jones who, when returned to the uncertainties of life as a jobbing actor, eventually made more money from retreading musical ground in Monkees nostalgia tours.
'Monkeemania' is a reasonable read with occasionally surprising perspectives - Nesmith being sprung from jail and spared from bankruptcy by Screen Gems before the pilot was even shot makes his subsequent ornery behaviour even braver or shittier depending on your predilection for Jones. Ultimately, though, its relegation of the Monkees' music to incidental status is its undoing, but then an author who describes 'Never Tell A Woman Yes' as "overlong and very ordinary" is plainly cloth-eared and compromised as a critic, so it's likely better that it toys about on the surface of the celluloid and keeps the music it barely appreciates at arm's length.
November 13, 2008
Very matter-of-fact, unadorned and non-sentimental look at The Monkees with tons of photographs. If you like The Monkees this is the one to get. Way better than all the autobiographies from the Pre-Fab Four.
September 8, 2022
Just finished reading Monkeemania today it's a very interesting book to read if you want to know everything about The Monkees I learned things I didn't know like Charles Manson auditioned for The Monkees .filled with tons of pictures and a lengthy discography this is the perfect book for fans of The Monkees
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2008
I picked this up while recording in Nashville in 1995. Being on what must be my 30th Monkees kick, I decided to reread it, and I have to say it's a fairly enjoyable, if sometimes inaccurate (there's no way Nesmith ever played pedal steel for the Byrds, is there?) read. If you dig the Monkees, you'll enjoy breezing through this puppy. Cool photos, too, especially of the various members post-Monkees.
September 6, 2008
Packed with info on the lifestyle the Monkees lived during the height of their popularity, including their touring at this time. For some unexplained reason it becomes clear that the author doesn't like Mike much and takes digs at him often. Still, lots of fun.
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August 5, 2016Again, even though the ISBN numbers are different, this edition and the original edition (with the yellow cover) are showing as the same book. I own both.
February 7, 2016
One of my favourite Monkees biographies. Very entertaining with lots of photos.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews