The concept of pop acts landing their own TV shows, cartoons
and films is a well-worn tradition, much of the inspiration for which can be
traced back to one place. Eric Lefcowitz’s accessible read details the
formation of the Monkees, the brainchild of producers Bob Rafelson and Bert
Schneider, and their somewhat about-face transformation (in comparison to many
of those who followed them) from a manufactured, made for TV band with limited
control over its own output to a ‘proper’ group destroyed by ego and a changing
cultural climate.
Of particular interest is the description of the techniques
used in the stringent and gruelling selection process (auditionees including
Harry Nilsson, Stephen Stills and Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks) by
which messrs Jones, Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith were chosen, the legacy of which
can be seen in programmes such as the X Factor. Rafelson and Schneider receive
much credit for channelling the feel of the Beatles film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
into the TV series and realising that as the Beatles attempted to leave behind
the innocence of their early releases, and the fans that attracted, towards a
more psychedelic sound, a gap had emerged in the market. The groundbreaking
combination of aggressive marketing and artificially assigned ‘personalities’
to each of the four also laid the foundations for the blueprint used on many
manufactured acts, The Spice Girls being an obvious example.
Where the Monkees differed from these acts however was the
speed at which Tork and Nesmith in particular, as professional musicians before
the band, resisted the efforts of larger than life music publisher Don Kirshner
– brought in to oversee the music side of the operation – to maintain a
vice-like grip of creative production. A central theme running through the
book, right up to its conclusion, is that all four to a greater or lesser
extent felt disrespected by their peers and hamstrung through their career by
the genesis of the Monkees and the inference that they were essentially puppets
due to the use of session musicians and much of their music being written by
others (as the book points out, an unfair stigma to bear when scrutinising the
working practices of The Beach Boys, various Motown acts and others). Greater
freedom in all areas, following Kirshner’s sacking, ultimately exposed the
various musical differences and gave the impression of the group being four
individuals pulling in separate directions. As much as this led to output of
varying quality, culminating in the film Head – now considered a cult classic,
then a vaguely offensive mess that represented the final nail in the coffin – a
sense of artistic integrity at least prevailed.
The four complicated personalities and their contribution to
the initial success, downfall, brief resurrection in 1986 and ultimate fracture
are examined in length, Jones particularly coming across poorly as a
money-fixated, jealous and petty individual, possibly explaining the other
three’s slightly lukewarm reaction to his death earlier this year. Possibly
just to this slightly cynical mind Nesmith emerges as the most likeable
character; the least happy to accept mediocrity and, post Monkees, someone who
quickly realised the potential of music as a visual medium – ironically his
production company was prominent at the birth of MTV, whose later decision to
re-screen the band’s TV show in some ways acted as a curse in his efforts to be
known as something other than just an ex-Monkee.
Ultimately this is a decent read, although I would have
welcomed greater musical scrutiny of the late 60’s albums, which contain some
of the more interesting records the Monkees made. The use of multiple chapters
with just a few paragraphs in each was also a random irritation. Nonetheless,
as a case study of the way a non-organically formed band could be selected,
marketed and achieve almost instant success (and an almost as rapid descent
back again), sowing the seeds for many imitators across the world, it is a worthy
musical biography.
