If the Monkees did their own tunes would you respect them more?

[HEyHEY]

Cause stuff like "Not your stepping stone, and Little bit me little bit you, last train to clarkesville" Are all good tunes.

[Deja Q]

1. Uh. They did do their own tunes.

"Headquarters" (Album #3) and the subsequent album "Pisces... Ltd" (full title longer than I can remember) were all their own. Both in terms of lyrics and playing their own instruments.

Mike Nesmith also penned Mary Mary and a couple others for their 2nd album.

I am aware of their artificial origins, but when they wanted to say "Fuck you" to the man, they did a smashing job. I can easily give respect the Monkees, far more than today's manufactured images who'd swallow a broomstick down their throats if it gave them a bonus paycheck...

[HEyHEY]

2. I stand corrected

[Deja Q]

4. No problem! It's a common misconception. I can also say

that by the 5th album, they kinda allowed others to help out with the music again...

The 7th and subsequent albums were a total waste though, with their final album "Changes" missing two of them and being nothing more than a stepping stone for the rather un-memorable Andy Kim...

[Kahuna]

3. They did the singing. They didn't play the instruments. The singing..

was so good, they can be forgiven for not laying the instrumentals.

[bbernardini]

6. But they eventually DID do the instruments.

My Monkees collection on CD is pretty weak, consisting only of the Rhino "Anthology" collection and the "Pool It!" album. However, a look at the liner notes of the anthology shows that after the first two albums, they played quite a bit, especially on "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones".

[CanuckAmok]

5. If a million Monkees wrote on a million typewriters for a million years...

...they'd still never have penned "Ace of Spades".

[Lefty48197]

7. Auntie Grezelda

Sweet young thing...

[ikojo]

8. They did some of their own tunes...take a listen to

Headquarters....COMPLETELY done by the Monkees. Good garage band type album that had the misfortune of being released around the same time as Sgt Pepper. NOTHING could compete with THAT.

I am an unabashed Monkees fan!

A pic from the '80s....notice the mullett on Davy!

[BigMcLargehuge]

9. they did all their own stuff from -

Pisces Aquarius Capricorn and Jones

Until they broke up

[kwolf68]

10. Monkeys

Hell yea I'd respect them more, but had they written their own stuff at the beginning we'd probably have never heard of them.

This was NOT a band...just 4 guys brought together to do a TV show.

[mac56]

11. The Monkees were vastly underrated.

Who cares how they first got together? Yeah, they used studio musicians. So what? So did the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, the Byrds - sometimes the same musicians as played on the Monkees sessions - and how about all those Motown groups?! It was the 60's, folks.

*End of rant*