The special aired on April 14, 1969 on NBC, and would be the Monkees last new TV appearance under that name until their first reunion tour in 1986. The loose plot of the special involves two strange villians who plan to take over the world by brainwashing the population through the music of the Monkees, who in turn are brainwashed themselves. The band members then try to fight for their own identities throughout the special through their music. Guest stars include Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, and Little Richard, among others.
I've known of this special almost as long as I've been a huge fan of the Monkees (about 25 years now), but have never seen it before. Enjoy it with me, won't you?
The special is also notable for two reasons: it involves the idea of the boys trying to overcome their image as pre-fab creations rather than legitimate artists, which is the same theme as their lone theatrical film, Head; it also is the final Monkees project involving Peter Tork (until the '86 reunion), who left the band immediately after the special was created. Michael Nesmith would leave less than a year later.
Speaking of the film Head, it's airing this week on the digital TV network Antenna TV. Look for exact air times here. I highly recommend it. Thanks! For more great Tuesday's Overlooked entries, please visit here.
2 comments:
Wow. I'm going to have to wait till I can watch as well as listen to this one...typical of the strangeness in which they loved to engage as they were taking up their own reins, and the Heavication of "I'm a Believer" is a pretty solid indication of how good a singer Dolenz was (is?). Shall also enjoy knowing who the Eve-surrogate singer is.
I've only seen the first portion so far, but am very interested in watching the rest. Dolenz definitely has quite a vocal range.
More info about "Eve" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Driscoll
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