Review:

on 2011-07-21 CharlesMartel Said:

Now I know that the Monkees were, what we would today derisorily call, a boy band. A rather obvious and doomed attempt to compete with the Beatles, they were thrown together by a record company to try to cash in on the popularity of fresh faced, clean cut boys with guitars. And lest they stray far from the Beatles, they even got an English vocalist. Doubts were there about their abilities (certainly Micky Dolenz was a guitarist and not a drummer) but they had their own TV show and a string of hit singles to their name. Oh it must have been so easy to write them off as a total fraud back then. And if something like them emerged today, say from the sordid depths of the X-Factor, written off by anyone credible they would be.

But let's be honest, who doesnt like the Monkees? For all their flaws, the Monkees produced some fine, pure bubblegum pop. Its not going to tax you, but it is guaranteed to get your foot tapping. And those melodies will worm their way into your brain and stay there, defying all attempts to force them out. "I'm a Believer" is probably their most well-known song. Innocence defined, it is teenage love sung by a clean cut, fresh-faced English kid (back in the days when the English were still cool in the US) which mirrors the sentiments of the teenage (largely female) audience straight back at them. If that isn't a formula for success I don't know what is.
Rating: 8/10