What is instrumental music about?
And Jones was partly the inspiration for adding Ensign Chekov to Star Trek. So we can thank the Monkees for that.
Even though the Monkees were a manufactured band it’s still unfair to compare them to Milli Vanilli. Milli Vanilli was not only a fake band in the sense that the performers were just lip-syncing but it was a scam as well. Everyone knew what the Monkees were and they turned out to be more talented than the TV show producers had planned on. Milli Vanilli’s producers kept secret their lack of singing ability and it was an enormous scandal when that was revealed. Not that anyone should have cared, but bands as a product aren’t just about the music.
“Eight is Enough” was inspired by the late Tom Braden, who was later the long-time liberal co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire.” He had 8 kids.
They also did a lot more with their teenage fans than just plain old adoration, KWIM?
That was an 80s show though. They were trying to make a more realistic show dealing with real life issues, that they occasionally did well but it was still just a TV show. Braden’s real family would have made much better entertainment but they were nothing like a typical American family, Braden was a former CIA operative, political operative for the Democratic party, his wife was a well known Washington DC hostess who reveled in the rumors about her affairs with powerful men, and his kids were friends and rivals of their counterparts in the Kennedy clan.
Let’s not forget the element of “camp” here. The Monkees debuted nine months after Adam West’s Batman, which opened the floodgates of camp for the rest of the television industry. The more outrageous the show, the better (or so the networks’ reasoning went).
The reason that people cared so much was that they accepted a Grammy award!
Whoa! Whoa. Whoa. I said Whoa. WHAM. When I say whoa, I mean WHOA! What the fuck you talking about?
Everybody knows this. It’s not controversial.
Whoa! Whoa. Whoa. I said Whoa. WHAM. Are you saying Burgess Meredith would’ve shown up on The Monkees as The Penguin? 
THAT would have made a great episode! 
Davy might have been the cute one, but Mike had “the wink”.
Because the monkees were reasonably talented, and they had great songs written for them performed by the worlds greatest pop musicians. And they performed those songs with aplomb and grace like many other acts since. The Beatles were big fans of the Monkees.
Burgess Meredith even appeared on the Monkees, greatly resembling his Penguin character, complete with tuxedo, top hat, monocle, cigarette holder, and umbrella.
http://batgirlbat-trap.com/omake/monkees.jpg
ETA: I see I’ve been ninja’d, but I brought pics. 
Awesome! I did **not **know this, since I’ve only ever seen snippets of the show. Never watched a complete episode, not ever.
I do like the Monkees’ music, though.
In the video of the recording of “A Day in the Life” sessions, Mike Nesmith can be seen amongst other rock legends like Donovan, Mick and Keith, Maryanne Faithful, etc.
I’m useless on Tapatalk, sorry.
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The Monkees are on Antenna TV. I’ve seen the episode a few times. Meredith even did the Penguin’s iconic “waugh-waugh-waugh” laugh.
A few months back, I was on a Monkees jag and listened to several albums on Amazon Prime. What really struck me was not only how good they actually were, but that they were done straight. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for them to have done funny, jokey songs, like the Ruttles or something. Their songs were as good as anything of the period.
People forget that the Beatles were somewhat of an anomaly. A handful of bands wrote their own material, but most the the 50s and 60s bands were just fronts for producers using session musicians and singers and hired writers. My favorite example is Tony Burrows. He was a session singer who ended up topping the charts five times with five different “bands” as a five time “one hit wonder”. The White Plains, “My Baby Loves Lovin”, Edison Lighthouse, “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes”, The Brotherhood Of Man, “United We Stand”, The Pipkins, “Gimmie Dat Ding” and The First Class, “Beach Baby”. He appeared on Top of the Pops 4 times fronting two different bands each show!
They’re apparently still singing, too. They had a 50th anniversary tour earlier this year: https://www.mapado.com/en/united-states/the-monkees-the-50th-anniversary-tour-lincoln-city-or I saw the signs for this on a local highway for months.