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Who is behind the great rock’n’roll ripoff? How Ticketmaster swallowed the live entertainment scene
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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I get that, but my wife and I are huge fans of The Monkees. The only one of the 4 alive is Micky Dolenz, who is still touring at 80 years old. How much longer will he be doing concerts? I don’t want to miss out on seeing him perform when he’s near in what, at any time, could be his last concert just to make a stand against Ticketmaster.
Understand, we don’t go to multiple shows a year, but when there’s something that we really want to see, they’ve got me by the short and curlies. Either pay up or don’t go. There are times when its more important to pay up than to prove a point, but that doesn’t make me hate them any less.
The Prefab four. Who couldn't play their own instruments until their 4th record. A fool and his money....
The Monkees aren't about music. They're about rebellion! About political and social upheaval!
Yeah completely, which is why they continued to have reunion tours and re-release the same majority manufactured Bubblegum pop for the next 60 years. Totally, raging against the machine.
Alright now, let's not get into an argument about The Monkees. In 1967, they outsold both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, so they're not nobodies. And just to clear up a few fallacies, Mike was an accomplished guitarist and bassist, Peter could play banjo, bass, and keyboards, and Davy was a drummer. (They didn't want to put Davy behind the drums because he was short, and they were afraid he wouldn't be seen.) They were not allowed to play their instruments or even have any input on the songs they recorded on the first two albums by Don Kirshner, the person hired by Colgems as music supervisor for the TV show. It was their 3rd album (not 4th) that they were finally able to get control. The resulting album - Headquarters - Rolling Stone magazine called one of the 500 you should hear before you die. They went on to make six more albums up to 1970 where they had complete control over the songs and played on them. They even had a top 20 album in 2016 on their 50th anniversary called Good Times, with all four members contributing (a previously recorded vocal track by Davy, who was deceased at the time, was digitally cleaned up and put over new music).
Yes, they were the Prefab Four, but Micky likes to use the metaphor that Pinocchio became a real boy. They were put together to act like a band, but they actually became a real band.
Also, You're wrong Nemesth made up that he outsold The Beatles and The Stones.
Source: https://flashbak.com/in-1977-mike-nesmith-fooled-the-world-when-the-monkees-sold-more-records-than-the-beatles-and-rolling-stones-combined-386535/
Yeah, no. They were entirely a product, based on The Beatles Success. Drummer couldn't even play any instrument before they went on tour.
Yeah and Justin Bieber's early music outsold Outkast.
You can like corporate produced slop, targeted to get mass mainstream appeal. That's what it's for that doesn't make it good though. Case and point, approach a stranger on the street and ask them to name as many songs by The Beatles, or The Stones, or The Kinks and then the Monkees and see what has actual staying power because I guarantee you it's not The Monkees. Music is the most invasive artform in the world, you don't get a choice, out in the world if people are playing something you don't like. That's why people galvanise so strongly around likes and dislikes. It's not I don't care for U2, it's I hate U2 and vice versa. You subconciously redirect your emotional state at the time, onto the music you listen to. Why do you think so many dudes wind up listening to the music their Parents liked as they get older, it reminds them of better times. Mass appeal in the short term is strictly for profit. That's what The Monkees were for. We don't have to debate this, we all know this and record companies have been buying their own songs to make them number 1 since the beginning of Tin Pan Alley. So, they outsold The Beatles one year, means nothing. There are people born within the last 20 years that can sing along to the entire tracklist of Sgt. Pepper's. Which came out 50 years before they were born. But you're a Monkee, so of course you'll Monkee around.
Oooh, retirement-age gossip. And debunked gossip at that.
From The Wikipedia Page: The Monkees were originally a fictional band created for the NBC television sitcom The Monkees. Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork were cast to portray members of a band in the sitcom. Music credited to the Monkees appeared in the sitcom and was released on LPs and singles beginning in 1966, and the sitcom aired from 1966 to 1968. At first, the band members' musical contributions were primarily limited to lead vocals and the occasional composition, with the remaining music provided by professional songwriters and studio musicians. Though this arrangement yielded multiple hit albums and singles, the band members revolted and, after a brief power struggle, gained full control over the recording process in 1967. For two albums, the Monkees mostly performed as a group; however, within a year, each member was pursuing his own interests under the Monkees' name, rendering the Monkees once again a group in name only. With widespread allegations that the band members did not play their own instruments—followed by the cancellation of The Monkees TV series, diminishing success on the charts, and waning popularity overall—band members began to leave the group. The Monkees held a final recording session in 1970 before breaking up.
Nesmeth Lying about outselling The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1967: https://flashbak.com/in-1977-mike-nesmith-fooled-the-world-when-the-monkees-sold-more-records-than-the-beatles-and-rolling-stones-combined-386535/
Bubblegum pop band has marginal success as a TV show, turned band. Take control of their recording and arranging, careers fall apart. Hey Hey you're a Monkee