Here are the facts. Forget what you’ve read before!
Ever since the Monkees’ television show was cancelled for next season, rumors that the group is breaking up have kept fans in tears pretty steadily.
You can’t deny that the thought of life without the Monkees would be terribly bleak and depressing. And without Monkee music, it would be downright awful.
However, despite the fact that hundreds of rumors have indicated otherwise, the Monkees are NOT breaking up. (Feel better already, don’t you?)
They’re changing Permalink
Now that the fact that the Monkees are not breaking up has been decided—they’ll stay together for more movies and television shows and of course, more records—we should find out what it is they’re doing. The answer is that they are changing.
Particularly, the Monkees are interested in progressing with their music. It’s like Davy said recently, “We have some different endings and different beginnings on our new album… some very weird chord changes and songs that are not ultra-commercial like they’ve been so far.
“I just hope that the kids all go into this new phase of music and accept it for what it is and as we are growing, they should grow with us and their tastes should change. They should grow up with us!”
In other words, the Monkees aren’t breaking up—they are just becoming more groovy. And it’s up to the fans to tag along.
In fact, the same day Davy explained that he felt people should grow up with the Monkees, he also let a secret slip which might mean that the Monkees will be even more like an ordinary rock group. They’re going to make special appearances on other shows/like variety programs and things that other rock groups appear on. But, he added, “We’ll always be the Monkees.” In other words, none of them will try for a special solo spot.
That means that the Monkees have decided to stay together so closely that they don’t want to do solo things for fear of breaking up the group—even unintentionally. For instance, Mike could solo on a show and be so overwhelmingly accepted that someone would want him to make a movie or a play—alone—and if he accepted, it would mean that the Monkees couldn’t work together for the time that Mike was out filming his movie. So the guys have decided not to even take the chance.
Monkees on TV? Permalink
Of course, everyone knows that the Monkees television series won’t be back next year except in reruns, but no one close to the guys is crying about it because something even better is planned: TV specials.
The Monkees are happy about this development and say they’ll be really groovy. “You see,” Davy explained, “we feel like we can offer more in specials than we can in doing 32 TV shows. We figure we’ll give our fans something else to think about. Our ideas have changed and we don’t want to do anything we wouldn’t be sincere about. We really want to go on to other things. You can’t hold a man back when he wants to do something and the fans should understand that.”
Own producers Permalink
A big part of the changes in the Monkees is that from now on, they plan to produce their own music. Peter explained that the reason they had decided on this big step was because “We couldn’t find a producer that we liked. I mean, I liked Chip Douglas on the first album. On the second album, it was a Monkee album but it was a Chip Douglas album more. I don’t think it was as groovy to listen to as ‘Headquarters’—though technically it’s much better—and I think it suffers for that reason.”
In their up-coming albums, the Monkees have planned lots of surprises and also a chance for each person to do his own things, his own songs, the way he wants.
Four in one Permalink
Also, Peter mentioned that they may have a really wild, outasite package on the record racks someday. It would be a four album set… The Peter Album, The Micky Album, The Mike Album and the Davy Album… and they’ll sell it as one package or individually. But that’s still in the planning stages.
Of course, an even wilder thought now that the Monkees won’t be tied to their television series is that they will have more time for touring. This comes as fantastic news especially in larger cities where lots of fans had to be turned away because there was simply not enough room to accommodate all the people who wanted to see the Monkees.
The Monkees have such a well-planned, groovy stage act that it seems like an unbelievably good thing that they will have time to do more concerts and tours.
So after taking a close look at the Monkees and their plans, it seems almost impossible that anyone could say that the Monkees are breaking up, when really, it looks as if they’re just beginning to get together like they never have before!
True Permalink
1—The Monkees will tour the United States this summer and present live concerts. Watch Monkee Spec for the exact appearance dates.
2—You’ll be able to see their TV show on television in the form of re-runs.
3—They will do at least three one hour specials next season on TV, plus appearing on other variety shows in guest shots.
4-They will spend more time recording so you can expect their albums to be better than ever before.
5—They will begin shooting their second full-length movie sometime next year.
False Permalink
1—They are breaking up for good!
2—Davy Jones is going to become the leader of the group and they will be renamed Davy and the Monkees.
3—They are fighting over what type of songs to sing.
4—Davy is leaving the group to star on Broadway in a musical.
5—They are all planning to turn hippie and grow beards.
