The Beatles vs. The Monkees

[spartacus53]

There was a time when these two groups went head to head. The Beatles were usually ahead of the Monkees, but there was one year when the Monkees popularity surpassed that of the Beatles.

What I find great about the bands of the 60's was their ability to incorporate different sounds and instruments into their music. Listen to Mike Nesmith's banjo playing on the first song. Of course George Harrison was working on music from India, adding the sitar to his music.

IMO opinion today's groups have no ability, or desire to experiment with music and see what new combination's can be created. Groups from the 60's incorporated various instruments, melded rock, blues and jazz for different sounds. Today's artists for the most part stick with the standard instruments of guitar, bass, keyboard and drums.

I actually appreciated both bands. Although not too many took the Monkees seriously, they did make some great and memorable songs.

 

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[RGINN]

I thought the Monkees had some good songs. Pleasant Valley Sunday was cool. I used to watch 'Circus Boy' which starred a young Mickey Dolenz. I considered Mike Nesmith the only real musician. I lost faith in both groups when I found out that Paul was dead and Peter Tork had both hands cut off by a power saw.

 

[spartacus53]

You are correct, Mike was the only true musician in the group although Peter Tork did know some keyboards. With the exception of Mike, they produced the 1st two albums with session musicians. They were able to finally play by the 3rd album Headquarters and that is a really good album. If I am not mistaken, Mike did write several songs, but the majority were written by Boyce & Hat, Niel Diamond & Niel Sedaka also wrote several hots for them. It was an interesting time for music.

 

[RGINN]

Boyce & Hart released some songs on their own. I remember seeing an early day video of them on American Bandstand for 'I Wonder What She's Doin Tonight'. All that was slightly a cut above Bubble-Gum, but it had a good sound at the time.