Feb 292012
Looks like this is just breaking: Monkees singer Davy Jones has died of a heart attack.
Oh boy, who would have thought Davy would be the first Monkee to go?
The New York Times checks in.
Looks like this is just breaking: Monkees singer Davy Jones has died of a heart attack.
Oh boy, who would have thought Davy would be the first Monkee to go?
The New York Times checks in.
RIP, Davy. He always seemed to be a true Nice Guy. Also, his influence can’t be denied – Axl Rose copied his dance moves.
That’s a most-unexpected influence!
Would we even have a Bowie without him?
Truth be told, Monkees reruns on MTV and Nickelodeon in the late ’80s were my gateway to rock nerdom. Thanks Davy, and RIP.
I was just a little too young to catch the Monkees in their first run but the records and reruns of the show (channel 56, Boston) were a constant in my childhood. Ok, so most of the Davy songs suck. Nevertheless, RIP.
His greatest influence on rock history?
Ha & Ha
Davy was a real good looking boy wasn’t he? I didn’t mind the occassional Monkees revival — but I guess this puts an end to all that. I thought Peter Tork would be the first to go.
My initial exposure was afternoons on reruns — except I was too young to know they were reruns at the time — and blissfully unaware of the backstory. My dad told me that TV show had been canceled and the band was kaput. Sort of like after I saw the original Parent Trap and fell in love with Hayley Mills — he told me my dream girl was born in 1946.
The girls in 7th grade thought Davy was dreamy. He was their pick of the Monkees.
Somebody posted this on USA Today’s website — don’t know if he really said it, but it’s funny.
“The Monkees are like the mafia. You’re in for life. Nobody gets out.”
Davy Jones
Unbelievable. That is just incredibly sad. The Monkees on TV were just about the only music I was exposed to when I was little and I’ve never grown out of them, saw them live on the tour Nez did with them in 97 and they were superb. Just gutted. RIP mate.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but I was just reminded of producer Roger Bechirian’s remembrance of “the short one” in his excellent RTH interview. He discusses his work on a 1987 Monkees reunion album here: https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/roger-bechirian-interview/5/
The first band I ever liked was The Monkees, and since then I never go more than a few weeks without listening to them.
I always believed that Mike was the brain, Pete was the soul, Mickey was the spirit, but Davy was always the heart.
Beautifully put, Cliff.
I remember watching the Monkees when I was 5 w/the Yardley commercials & I still listen to them & watch the show on DVD. Hearing about Davy’s death is like seeing another bit of your youth going by.
I think, more than the rest of them, he “got” the whole Monkees experience, and the show and whole concept would never have worked without him.
His parts in Head seem to back up the “getting it” thing, as he comes across the least angry and revolve around the idea of knowing that he was playing a role more than the rest of them. I think I said it here before, but I love the “Daddy’s Song” bit where you see him doing what he was meant to do, being a song-and-dance theater guy and it makes you realize that he knew what his real element was and how self-assured he was doing that kind of thing.
It’s kind of funny that he was essentially hired to be the TV version of Paul McCartney in A Hard Day’s Night after having made his TV debut in a performance of Oliver! on the same episod of Ed Sullivan as the first Beatles performance. It was meant to be, right?
Obviously, I’m a Nesmith guy and the Dolenz-fronted songs were stronger overall, but I’ll go to bat for his singing on (Look Out) Here Comes Tomorrow, A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You and She Hangs Out (all in that innocently creepy Donovan style that only a cute British guy could get away with), Valleri, You and I and Cuddly Toy. He and Nilsson really should have partnered up more.
Funoka, dude, that story is so Pictures of Lily.
Comment of the Month contender!
“She Hangs Out” is one of my favorite second-line songs by The Monkees.
Cool comic about one undergroundy artist’s experience at a 1986 Monkees reunion show: http://bit.ly/weNcsH
I bet I sing Here Comes Tomorrow to myself more than any other Monkees song. I like how he pronounces choose and shoes in there for some reason.
That’s great. I remember his comic strip.
For all these years I thought this guy was multi-talented, also having been the Ward guy in The Gun Club and the leader of The Liquor Giants. But no: that was Ward DOTSON.
Jeez, glad I looked that up for confirmation before trying to be a smartypants in this response.
cool stuff.
Great description of the old Carlton Celebrity Room in Bloomington, which was pretty close to the old Met Stadium. I was only there once — to see Spandau Ballet!
Sad to hear. Davy’s popularity can also be credited for the creation and hairstyle of another pop culture icon, the Star Trek character Pavel Chekov.
Nice! Who else is memorializing Davy and his legacy like us?
I enjoyed the Monkees, although Mickey was my favorite. Davey was so sunny, and that spot on the Brady Bunch was a classic. Was Davey ever a guy’s favorite Monkee?
What’s with all these celebrity deaths? Please don’t tell me that Fleegle had passed on.
I can’t speak for all guys, but as a big, thick-thighed guy who would never have been able to dance in a top hat and cane, Davy was probably the first little, lithe, cute guy I resented out of pure jealousy. A great asset to the Monkees, nevertheless!
Thus ends any chance for another long overdue supergroup reunion. We’ll never hear the 40th anniversary of Dolenz, Jones, Boyce, & Hart. Davy really came into his own when he got out from under Tork’s thumb.
Man, I hope Fleegle is okay. I have Snorky in my Banana Splits ghoul pool.
Seems like those guys do a head count before every show, he should be okay.
Any word about his locker yet?
Nice one.
Check out THIS cameo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n86gOQhrGtA
Well played, Squarepants.
Laugh of the morning!
Snork!
(This comment is interchangeable with my comment in #2.)
Ah, Channel 56. Batman, the Monkeys, F-Troop, Hogan’s Heroes. Hands down the best re-run station in town. Though Channel 38 did have the Warner Brothers cartoons and that awesome tune the Bruins used as their theme song.