Monkee Music

by Andrew Hickey

Here they come...
In Monkee Music, Andrew Hickey, author of The Beach Boys On CD, and California Dreaming: The LA Pop Music Scene and the 60s, examines the music of Micky, Mike, Davy and Peter from their early bubblegum pop hits with "Last Train To Clarksville" and "I'm A Believer", through their reinvention as a self-contained band with songs like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "Daydream Believer", and their psychedelic masterpiece Head, and on all the way into their 2016 album Good Times!

This book contains analysis of every track the Monkees ever released, and is a must for any Monkee Maniacs. The second edition is significantly revised and updated and nearly twice the length of the classic 2011 version, and now includes analyses of the Dolenz, Jones, Boyce, and Hart material, Davy's first solo album from 1965, Good Times! and more.

Genres: Music

375 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2018

About the author

I had a biography here but it was very out of date. Currently my main work is my podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. The New Yorker compared that to the Bible, Oxford English Dictionary, and the works of Gibbon and Pepys, and said it "will eclipse every literary project in history". So that's nice.

Reviews

[Michael Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd say that Andrew Hickey's "Monkee Music" is the book a lot of fans of the musical aspect of the Monkees' phenom have been waiting. No more speculation if Mickey played drums on this or that, etc. Song for song it will tell you who did what within the group. There are some gaps, especially with the early material (but then again, they really only sang on those songs for the most part.) Peter Tork is given a great deal of credit for his musical versatility on "Headquarters" (the only full Monkee album.)

My only issue is that it is written with a heavily opinionated hand and those opinions seem to guide the amount of information about a particular song (for example, the author's dislike of "Shades of Gray" does rather undermine its production description to a mere few sentences.) However, with that in mind, this is the book that fills in those gaps.

[Terry Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A discussion-provoking examination of the Monkees music catalog on a track by track basis. Author's bias is on display, but he admits it (i.e. Davy - a true professional, but often a music hall hack; Peter - undervalued and underrated as a musician in all respects; Mike - country rock genius, but often lazy; and Micky - if left to his own devices, might have eclipsed the rest of the group in terms of sheer wasted potential in terms of songwriting and performing skills). Highly recommended for Monkees fans - which makes sense, 'cause if you're not a fan, why on earth would you be reading this in the first place?

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much exactly the kind of book I wanted to read on the Monkees, giving a good overview of their career through the lens of each recorded track. Information about studio personnel and behind-the-scenes politics cleared up some questions about the songs and album track lists that had come up for me while listening through their discography.

[Mark Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed Andrew's volume on the Beach Boys music from 1970 to 1984 a few weeks ago. I want to echo the comments I made in my previous review. The five stars are for Monkee fans. Or fans of the 1960's Pop and Rock. There is some, but not a lot, of music jargon. Now me, I can't get enough of this stuff. But it is not for everybody.

Five stars if you fall into the target audience!

[James Gent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very authoritative and comprehensive guide to the Monkees' recordings (including bonus tracks). A very easy read.

[Neil Sarver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I really knew when I picked this up, that it's the same concept as Long Title: Looking for the Good Times; Examining the Monkees' Songs, One by One, which I just read.

I feel similarly like this would have been a great blog - and something made me think it originally was - but that it lacked something I want to justify it as a book. I feel like this one dug in more often on the songs, so I probably enjoyed it ever so modestly more. Not to mention, the thoughts on Good Times!, while still enthusiastic, seem a little more sober.

My own personal disagreement is with his take on the anti-suburban themes. As someone who grew up in the suburbs, I'm always fully behind all attacks on it. Except to the extent his criticism of Justus's "Regional Girl", whose message is either confused or awful, although I can't help still liking it and Hickey seems to be able to help it.

[Ward Whipple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of books (often extended from blog posts) have focused on the music credited to the Monkees, but Hickey's analysis is both concise and comprehensive. While he's certainly an unabashed fan, he does not take the angle that they were underappreciated geniuses, nor does he balk when describing various examples of dreck throughout the albums. And there is dreck, I assure you.

[Jarret · Rating 3 out of 5]

now that I know who Andrew Hickey is…

…I don’t mind buying a second edition of this book :) (check out his “500 Songs” podcast — I wondered why the Monkees episodes were so well done)

[James Mcafee · Rating 5 out of 5]

You should get it



Great book
Great band and tv show
I have those albums in my CD collection
And the songs are great too

[Citri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history given for every track. Some come down to authors opinion, like:

"Absolutely no redeeming features at all"

Ok not too much on Gonna Buy Me A Dog!!!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

**#25 of 120 books pledged to read/review during 2017**