Jackie Richmond hits out
All the Monkees are popular! Polls don’t reveal the real truth!
Have you seen all those big headlines shouting about “Results of the Monkees Popularity Poll”? Several papers have been doing it and though it’s lovely to read things about the boys, there are a few facts that ought to be pointed out about these “little elections”. So stand by for some plain speaking from yours truly, Jackie Richmond.
Pinch of salt Permalink
First point is that a lot of them really are a load of rubbish. Take one recent poll. It has Davy Jones way out in front, with Micky second behind… only just in front of Peter and Mike at the at the [sic] end of the poll. Great for Davy fans—but you must take this sort of thing with a pinch of salt.
Supposing, like us, you dig all the Monkees pretty well equally. You go along for ages, buying all their records and watching all their shows and finding out all you can about them in “Monkees Monthly”. Then, suddenly, you’re asked to vote which one you like MOST. You think: “Well I like them all. But I don’t want to let anyone down by not voting at all, so I’ll plump for Davy, or Mike, or Peter, or Micky.” You have only one choice so the others don’t get mentioned. Even though you probably like them ALMOST as much as the one you choose.
Then the votes are counted and one Monkee comes out way ahead of the others.
One-man band Permalink
And some people try to suggest it’s really a one-man band. Or that the others are just make-weight. Or even worse, they suggest that the poll-winner will probably go solo in the near future!
That’s because most of these polls are run the wrong way—which is why I say they’re rubbish. If you voted the four boys in order of preference, giving four points for your first choice three for second, two for third and one point for your fourth selection… then you’d get somewhere near a fair reflection.
Which one? Permalink
Think of it this way. You’ve got four or five real friends at school or work. Suppose you had to decide, suddenly, which ONE of them was your real favourite—but not say a single word in favour of any of the others? Could you do it? I know I couldn’t—and it’s just as hard when it comes to four fabulous boys like the Monkees.
It’s the same when people try to hold polls to find out what is your favourite Monkee recording. You might like “Believer” best of all, but you might like “Clarksville” very nearly as much. Or you might like twenty numbers all about the same, including the LP’s. But if you only get one vote, then you can’t say anything about the runners-up.
About the Monkees: you might like Micky for his sense of humour, Mike for his voice, Davy for his looks, Peter for his smile. All equally high in the list. No, you just can’t split up a successful GROUP of people in this way… and really it’s unfair to the boys to even try. Of course, if all Monkee fans decided not to vote at all, that’d be even worse. Because then the critics would think nobody even liked the boys any more! And I can tell you that the boys themselves don’t like being played off, one against the other.
Interest Permalink
Of course, it’s the same with all these polls in pop music. Maybe they create a bit of interest, but the results don’t matter much to anybody except perhaps the winners. Who is your favourite girl singer—and name only one! It’s hard, unless you get several votes allowed and put in order. And in some polls, you get sections where you have no favourite. Like “best girl vocal group”. No name comes to mind, so you look up the current Top Thirty, find a girl group—and slap that one down as YOUR personal choice. It does happen. Anybody top of the charts during any popularity poll always pulls in a lot of votes.
Lots of fun Permalink
So what I’m saying is this. These polls are lots of fun just to read and argue about. But they don’t really mean anything at all—and in many cases are sheer, pure, nothing-but rubbish! To have Peter, say, miles down at the bottom of a Monkee poll doesn’t mean that he’s nowhere near as popular as the other three. So don’t worry if YOUR personal fave rave isn’t at the top in all these Monkee polls.
For a start, HE won’t be worrying. And for a second start, it doesn’t mean anything. As all REAL Monkee fans know, we love ’em all. Don’t we?
