We all know what boy bands are, don’t we. Jim has invited us to play a boy band song for this week, in his post Not Called Man Bands. I have a real problem with this, as just about every one of the boy bands I’ve heard since the term was first coined in the Sixties has, to my ears, been utter crap. Take That, Boyzone, Westlife – need I go on? And those are the supposedly better ones from this side of the Atlantic! Many of these share the fact that they were created by record companies, rather than having evolved in a more natural way, like guys who knew each other at school forming a band, for example. I’ve seen it said that The Beatles were the first boy band, a statement that I find utterly ludicrous: they wrote, played and performed mostly their own music, and certainly weren’t manufactured to meet the needs of screaming teenage girls, though they did attract their share of those. But there was another band from their era that was deliberately manufactured who I have always liked – though I wasn’t a girl then (and never have been) I was very much a part of their target age group. They very kindly introduced themselves at the beginning of the TV show that was created around them:

And for what they are worth, here are the lyrics:

… Here we come
Walking down the street
We get the funniest looks from
Ev’ryone we meet

… Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down

… We go wherever we want to
Do what we like to do
We don’t have time to get restless
There’s always something new

… Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down

… We’re just tryin’ to be friendly
Come and watch us sing and play
We’re the young generation
And we’ve got something to say

… Anytime
Or anywhere
Just look over your shoulder
Guess: who’ll be standing there?

… Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down

… Hey, hey we’re The Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down

… We’re just tryin’ to be friendly
Come and watch us sing and play
We’re the young generation
And we’ve got something to say

… Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees
Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees

… Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees
You never know where we’ll be found
So you’d better get ready
We may be comin’ to your town

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bobby Hart / Tommy Boyce

That video is an extended version of how the song appeared in the TV show, made to match the track length, and it gives you a really good feel for what entertained 13 year olds like me at that time. The Monkees aren’t a band who have had a major influence on my musical tastes, but for a couple of years in their heyday they were everywhere, thanks in part to that TV show. This was broadcast here in the UK at teatime on Saturday, back in the days when we only had three channels, and they duly attracted a massive share of that captive audience, including my sister and me – and I think our parents quite enjoyed it too. The Monkees were assembled specifically to be the stars of that new sitcom, aimed at the youth market. It ran for a total of 58 episodes across two series from September 1966 to March 1968, after which the band continued making records until 1971. There have since been several reunion tours and a 50th anniversary album, Good Times!, in 2016. The band comprised Davy Jones (who died of a heart attack in 2012), Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith (who died of heart failure in 2021) and Peter Tork (who died of cancer in 2019). They have released a total of thirteen studio albums – only five of which were in their peak period of fame – and twenty two singles, the first eight of which were concurrent with the TV series. After the series was cancelled they began recording songs that they had written, or had chosen, and Mike Nesmith in particular had a solo career after leaving the band: you may recall his minor hit single Rio (#28 in the UK, 1977). For the TV series, many of the songs were, like this one, written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who contributed songs to subsequent albums as well. In total, they have sold more than 75m records worldwide, including a few I bought back in the day.

I’ve taken to giving you a bonus song with these posts and thought I’d do that again today, This is my favourite of all of their records, though as you’ll see it is a video especially compiled for the song:

That was only ever a single: it had been scheduled to appear on their Headquarters album but was dropped from the final pressing. I’ve no idea why! Like their previous hit, I’m A Believer, this was written by Neil Diamond, though by comparison it was a much more modest performer, ‘only’ reaching #2 in the US and #3 in the UK. It still sold well over a million copies though. This was the first time Davy Jones had taken lead vocal on a single: clearly they were playing to a large part of their market, as he was the cute little one that all the girls loved, as did quite a few of their Mums.

Some might think I’ve cheated a bit for this one. If you do, I make no apology: I really couldn’t bring myself to play anything by the more obvious names, as I make it a rule never to play something here that I don’t like! See you again for Tuesday Tunes – which will all be songs I enjoy 🤣