Today in Monkees History
This Monkees fact courtesy of Andrew Sandoval's book, The Monkees: The Day-by-day Story of the '60's TV Pop Sensation
September 15
On this day in 1967, production wraps on episode #39 of The Monkees, "Hillbilly Honeymoon." Also on this date, Micky takes delivery of his Moog modular keyboard synthesizer system and in the next few weeks will likely add it to the Monkees' recording of Michael Nesmith's song "Daily Nightly."
Peter Tork: "I went to a party at Micky's house once with a friend and we were standing there and I said, 'And there is the famous Moog synthesizer, Micky's one of the better Moog players around.' Micky came by at that moment and he said, 'Yeah, but it's even better if it plays itself.' He pushed a few knobs and turned the thing on and then walked away from the thing. It honked and did things on an absolutely random basis, never repeated itself. It was so interesting. You know he was really out there, Dolenz. One of my great regrets is that he wasn't able to credit himself for his own creativity. That to me is one of the great tragedies of the history of the Monkees. Maybe the greatest single tragedy, aesthetically anyway."
September 16
On this day in 1968, the Monkees arrive in Sydney, Australia and are greeted by some 500 fans with fireworks and sparklers. Shortly after their arrival, the Monkees conduct a television interview in the press room at the Sydney airport. The group is then driven to Miller's Brighton Hotel at Botany Bay where an hour-long press conference is scheduled (some of which still exists on film, an audio portion of which is later released on The Monkees Talk Downunder album). After the press conference, Peter Tork speaks to DJ Baby John Burgess. Tork explains that the Monkees have no say in what records are released by them, but they can record whatever they like. Tork says the person responsible for selecting their single and album releases is Lester Sill. Meanwhile, Nesmith tells radio station 2UW's Ward Austin that he plans to publish a book in three months. (A portion of both these conversations is featured on The Monkees Talk Downunder).
At 11am, the Monkees are scheduled to fly to Melbourne, where another press conference is slated and a few days later the first concert appearance of their tour is due take place. In Melbourne, the Monkees will stay at the President's Motor Inn.
September 17
On this day in 1968, the Monkees hold a press conference at the President Motor Inn in Melbourne, Australia (a portion of which is later released on The Monkees Talk Downunder). The event is also telecast live on station HSV7 and repeated again at 6pm.
After the conference, Davy is interviewed by the NME's David Lillicot, who asks Jones what Head is all about. "It's about life," explains Davy, "society and the way four people, namely Mike, Micky, Peter and myself try to get out of the clutches of the establishment. My way is to fight my way out, because I'm a fighter. Peter loves his way out, because he's for love and peace - as we all are - but Peter is a little more extreme. Mike cons his way out and Micky goes along with anything. Oh, it's so very hard to explain, it's just about four ordinary people and we play ourselves for the first time ever, our true personalities come over. After you've seen it, you'll understand why I can't really tell you about the film. It's a very involved, very complicated thing."
As for music, Davy says that "Broadway Rock" will be the next trend. "I think it's going to be the next thing," claims Jones. "Broadway Rock is coming in all the time in America with Jose Feliciano and also Harry Nilsson and a lot of others doing it. It's the type of music your mum and dad can listen to and not be offended. I think pop music has to go this way to be accepted by adults who won't listen to, 'Hey, hey, we're the Monkees.' You've got to have roots to a song and I think Broadway music has a lot of roots. If only we can get it into our rock and roll music. I think the industry is dying for some kind of trend, it's my feeling that it will have to move to Broadway."