1 of 1- aflem
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Who Was The Real Lead Singer For The Monkees?
This is a ridiculous argument, I admit, but it goes all the way back to the day Davy Jones passed away. An article by The Associated Press listed Jones as “the lead singer of the Monkees.” I disagreed and contacted the author of the piece to argue that it was really Micky Dolenz.
Fast forward several years and this same dumb argument came up when I was chatting with a friend of mine. He insisted it was Davy. I still maintained it wasn’t. Either way, this is probably the stupidest dispute you’ll read about today.
That said, here’s my argument: Although it wasn’t always that way on every one of their early albums, if you judge it strictly by the number of songs that made it to the Billboard chart as big hits, Micky Dolenz is singing lead on most of them.
Micky Davy
Last Train To Clarksville A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
I’m A Believer Daydream Believer
Not Your Steppin’ Stone Valleri
The Girl I Knew Somewhere
Pleasant Valley Sunday
Words
As you can see, Micky’s vocal hits far outstrip those of Davy’s, although both got a lot of exposure on the LPs. It didn’t matter to my friend. He still maintains Davy was the one most associated with the group’s output. (By the way, my friend’s totally disinterested wife weighed in on this, insisting because it was a group, there WAS no lead singer. Neither of us agreed with that assessment.)
Whose side would you take in this otherwise completely pointless discussion?
- Roman
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Re: Who Was The Real Lead Singer For The Monkees?
Well, as far as big hits go I don't recall The Girl I Knew Somewhere being a chart-topper around these parts, so that narrows things to 5-3 and Nevada's still in the mix. Looking at the big picture, however, I would tend to agree with your friend's wife. Hits aside, the Monkees had a lot of great deep tracks, none better than What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round with Nesmith on vocal and the fan favorite Your Auntie Grizelda featuring Peter Tork.
- gopher
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Re: Who Was The Real Lead Singer For The Monkees?
i don't know what being a group has to do with it. lots of groups settle on one lead singer, and write songs or adapt covers specifically suited for that person's range or style. others choose to let the person who wrote the song sing it, or whoever's voice seems best tailored to the tune sing it. other groups, like the ventures, choose no singer at all... do any of these situations exclude a group from being one? i don't think so.
'groups' , regardless of oldies perspective, will probably continue to present themselves in any configuration they desire, near as i can reckon. what does or doesn't best work for them may, however, be another consideration altogether.
Last edited by gopher (November 8, 2020 1:53 am)
- It's me Karen
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Re: Who Was The Real Lead Singer For The Monkees?
I guess during the time they were hot, I would have said Davy because, well, he stood in front banging a tambourine, whether he sang the lead or not. He was positioned to look like the lead singer.
Now when you ask me, I'd say none of the above. They were like the Beatles. Everybody shared lead at one time or another.
- Lorne
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Re: Who Was The Real Lead Singer For The Monkees?
It's me Karen wrote:
I guess during the time they were hot, I would have said Davy because, well, he stood in front banging a tambourine, whether he sang the lead or not. He was positioned to look like the lead singer.
Now when you ask me, I'd say none of the above. They were like the Beatles. Everybody shared lead at one time or another.
I was hesitant to answer this, because I was too young when the Monkees were popular to know anything more about them other than the fact that I generally liked their records. However, as I have become more aware of the contributions of the various members over the years, I would have also said that none of them should be regarded as the lead singer of the group. I checked on Wikipedia and found that there were plenty of songs where Nesmith and Tork sang lead as well, so much so that to me it offsets the fact that their hits were generally sung by Dolenz or Jones. Like you, it made me think of the Beatles and the fact that all of their members did lead vocals.
Conversely, an example of a group where I wouldn't say the same thing would be CCR. Even though on their last album Stu Cook and Doug Clifford did sing some lead vocals, that was only because of John Fogerty forcing them to do so on their songs due to tensions within the group -- but overall, Fogerty was clearly their lead singer. But in general, if there are a significant number of lead vocals provided by more than one member of a group, I wouldn't refer to just one of them as being the lead vocalist. I wonder if that's what your friend's wife was trying to say with her comment, but was too disinterested to elaborate on it the way that I just tried to do. ☺
- Roman
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Re: Who Was The Real Lead Singer For The Monkees?
I guess during the time they were hot, I would have said Davy because, well, he stood in front banging a tambourine, whether he sang the lead or not. He was positioned to look like the lead singer.
Now when you ask me, I'd say none of the above. They were like the Beatles. Everybody shared lead at one time or another.
A girl who lived across the street from our house in my old neighborhood went to see the Monkees when they played Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens in 1966, and somehow she managed to snag a piece of Davy Jones' tambourine. I would have preferred a discarded guitar pick from the opening act...Jimi Hendrix.
I saw The Monkees in 1986 when they were on their 20th anniversary tour (without Mike Nesmith). Despite the criticism they received early on about not being a real band, they sounded great and put on a terrific show.