Now there's a thought - the revised Monkees; the grinning drummer, the chirpy Brit, the pretty thick one, and Lou Reed in a wooly hat. My childhood would have been quite different.

comeback but the Monkees were great, the tv series an integral part of my childhood as were the Monkees cards packaged with gum - 'twas my holiday treat when I was young and smiley.

that you don't necessarily have to be in a group to write great songs.

That's all it is.

Does it make it a bit worse if a band doesn't write their own material? Generally, it does a bit.

I would suggest that among groups who are viewed in a similar way to The Monkees include; The Hollies, The Searchers, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Manfred Mann, all the Kasanetz Katz bubblegum bands, and Herman's Hermits. They wrote some of their own material, and produced some fantastic singles that summon up visions of the golden era of the 1960s, but because of a perceived lack of credibility explained in part by a lack of autonomy in the song writing department.

Similarly, these are the kind of bands that have since the 1980s, at least, been performing "Cabaret Sounds Of The Sixties" around the country.

The production values of these shows tends to be, in my experience, not really in the spirit of the 60s. Perhaps I'm picky, but tribute bands tend to get the look and sound of the old records far better than any of these Square Crisps (i.e. - partially reconstituted) groups, who almost always embrace the technology of the day and sound horrible in comparison.

I saw the Square Crisps Zombies a couple of years ago and Colin Blunstone was great. Rod Argent was alright - he played well, and he sounded fine. But they'd got in some horrendous guitar player with a generic 'Miami Vice' sounding guitar - you know, the incidental music on that abominable TV show. He took every possible opportunity to play as incongruously as he could possibly manage. Extended widdling guitar solos straight out of 1985 all over whatever he could manage.

I need to point out that I was clearly in the minority with this opinion. The crowd were lapping it up. The more 80s shit he vomitted at them, the more they lapped it up and re-vomitted it back at him. It was a bit like the Human Centipede, but with a 1980s soundtrack and the emphasis on barfing as opposed to pooing.

In the cases of more credible bands taking the Square Crisps route, they can still be tarnished by it. The Velvet Underground reformation in the early 90s was pretty crappy, wasn't it? Lou Reed could write good songs, but didn't have a band before about 1965. Not a proper band, anyway - The Primitives don't really count. His songs were just for cash in compilations sold in Supermarkets with pretend bands playing surf/drag racing/dancing craze music. Did this lose him credibility? No. Because whilst he was selling his soul to the devil, or something, he was still being creative.

The Monkees lack of playing their instruments (on their early records) and their slapstick schtick on the tv series were all damning in an era in which kids listened to kids music and adults (up to 25ish) listened to their own music.

Nowadays, the old farts who know who Gong are/were are the niche market. Otherwise, the kids and the adults (up to 25ish) in the main, listen to exactly the same music. Adults won't grow up and kids (think they) want the trappings of adulthood. All of which is to make sweeping generalisations, isn't it?

The Monkees real problems are (to me) - Davy Jones - Doesn't really do anything. Too stage school. Mickey Dolenz - Fantastic singer in the 60s at least. But his head is turning into a cuboid and nobody's really forgiven him for Metal Mickey. Peter Tork is a sweetie and he needs the money, having bought himself out of The Monkees after Head. He has credibility, oddly enough. Not having Woolhat in the reconstitution process means that they miss out on that particular credibility cupboard.

In fairness to Lou Reed, I can't think of many people less suited to being in their number. Too pug nosed, probably. If they didn't want Stephen Stills because of his manky teeth, I can't see them going for Loony Lou Reed. Although it would have been potentially even better. Especially the reunion.

And I tend to agree with Nicky Campbell. Sure, he was clearly trying to whip up a bit of debate (sound familiar?) but he also made some valid points.

As Campbell correctly said, The Monkees were little more than ersatz Beatles, shrewdly created in the image of A Hard Day's Night. They didn't write many (most?) of their best songs and they changed nothing of value in rock/pop music (unless you want to credit them with kick-starting the entire X Factor/boy band epidemic).

That's not to say The Monkees weren't great fun. Their TV show was enjoyable enough and their singles were admittedly fine pop records for the time. But how much of that was down to the band itself?

Mike Nesmith realised their shortcomings early on and tried his hardest to deconstruct their glossy teen image and bring some cred to the proceedings - cue the appearance of Frank Zappa not once but twice in the TV show and again in the Head movie.

History has been kind to the Monkees (perhaps rightly so), but let's not get carried away with an inflated sense of their importance.

It's not very good is it?

An almost unwatchable dated film and an album with only 4 or 5 songs on it with some 'whacky' dialogue making up the running length.

I repeated the urban myth that Charles Manson had unsuccessfully auditioned for The Monkees.

A good yarn, but not true sadly.

Mickey Mouse outfit. Don't write any of their own stuff.

They deserve their place in the RnR Hall of Fame. I'm going through a big Monkees revival at the mo' because I've just got the 3CD Head and Birds, Bees… reissues. So many good songs and Headquarters is an album that should be in everyone's collection. 9 records, 56 tv shows, a movie, a tv special, a lot of gigs all done in 36 months. Not too shabby.

First group to use a synth too:

Country rock pioneers:

One of my favourite things. There are so mnay great tunes I could mention, but "Listen to the Band" alone is one of the most brilliant singles of the 60s, and beats anything (say) L*d Z*ppelin ever recorded. So there.

Oh, and... Nicky Campbell... "bit of a tool"? "both feet"?? Well, who'd have thought it...

Mickey Dolenz

Charlie Chuck

Hey hey we're the Monkees

Trapped in this simian themed Disneyland morass

And people say we monkey around

Flailing aimlessly in a wilderness of eternal nothing

But we're too busy singing

Singing a hymn of despair into the Godless void

To put anybody down

Down, down, to where the oppressed dwell forever in torment and hopelessness.

Etc...

We were recently handed free tickets to a Davy Jones show in Niagara. We didn't expect much other than a free night out, but we were thoroughly impressed by the man and had a terrific evening.

Neither of us were big Monkees fans, but the songs sounded great (fairly big band of top pros, good vocals) and he whipped up the crowd of tourists of all ages with plenty of singalong bits. Despite his age he bounded round the stage like a whippet and performed for almost two hours without a break. There was some fun banter about his past and the Monkees themselves, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Good luck to him.

'Head' has its moments of sheer brilliance.

The groovetastic vibe of this party, the terrific song (written by Tork), and Nesmith's 'WTF' demeanour add up to 3 minutes of great fun.

How about this: A 1997 TV special staring all four Monkees, written and directed by Nesmith, based on the premise that they're still living in that house and being the Monkees. Only the middle bit is up on YouTube, it's pretty... odd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey,_Hey,_It's_the_Monkees