Yet another research resource for Why The Monkees Matter
JB: What were some of your earlier influences musically?
RS: My first favorite song was “Daydream Believer,” the Monkees’ version. How’s that for guilty pleasure? I loved that song when I was 8 or 9 years old and I still love it. Of course, there was Dylan, we always had Dylan in the house all the time. We had Gilbert and Sullivan. We had the Beatles. Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger. For me, it was mostly the Monkees and the Beatles. Shortly thereafter, the Allman Brothers, and then shortly thereafter Genesis and then shortly thereafter Bruce Springsteen, which caused a horrible riff between me and my ‘art rock-prog’ friends. They couldn’t understand Springsteen. The early stuff really is probably Dylan and the Beatles.
JB: When did you know that music could really be your career?
RS: It was in Hartford, Conn., right after my first record came out. I still had some doubts if this could happen as an actual career. I went to a gig at WWUH and afterwards I sold $325 worth of CDs, which to me at that time was a ridiculous amount of money. After the gig they said this is the money for your CDs. I just not could believe that they’d give me $325 for 22 CDs. I thought it was the greatest thing that ever happened. Right then and there, a little switch went off in my head, “aha. I like this.”
JB: If you weren’t a singer-songwriter, what would you be?
RS: An editor.
Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
Previously in Out of Research Vault:
- THE MONKEES – Clive James Talks Back interview (ITV), 4th March 1997
- Making Sense of Cultural Studies: Central Problems and Critical Debates by Chris Barker
- I Make the Monkees Clothes, 16 Magazine, Ashman, Gene. (1967, October)
- Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart on The Dinah Shore Show 1976
- Micky and Peter on Nightwatch, 1986 [Video]
- Comedy Writer Treva Silverman Interview from the Emmy Foundation
- Micky Dolenz on Muppets Tonight
- Pre-Monkees Davy Jones sings “I’m Going to Buy Me A Dog” on Farmer’s Daughter TV Show
- Previously on CBS Sunday Morning: Davy Jones in 1993
- What is it? It’s the Monkeemobile! – August Chronicle, November 7, 2014
- Micky Dolenz & Peter Tork on Nightwatch – 1986
- The Monkees In Melbourne, Australia 1968 [Video]