Letters to the Editor
mynamehere
Published Letters: 190 Editor's Choice: 1
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I agree great thread, but
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]King says- I don't think Miles Davis had much influence on too many rock performers either. He's in.
I love your column and agree with most of your opinions, but wow, you gotta be kidding if you really think Miles didn't influence many rockers. I would have to list pretty much any of the prog rock bands from Yes to ELP, The Grateful Dead, Phish, Frank Zappa, pretty much any jam band.I would also guess many many more great bands would readily acknowledge Miles influence on their music.
King says- Rock and Also Roll Hall of Fame, but it's obviously the popular music of the 1950s and more recent Hall of Fame.
I agree. Even more reason why The Monkees should be in. And if you really want to pursue the "they didn't write or play on their own songs angle." (Which is bogus but whatever)the Ronettes are in and I'm sure other vocalists are as well who had their material and music arranged solely by other people.
Finally King writes-We loved "The Dolphin Song" (Davy swims with psychedelic dolphins!!)
Not to be too big a nerd King, but it's The Porpoise Song, and it's Mickey swimming with the dolphins. Head was actually the movie that got me looking in to their musical history and past. I highly recommend it. Great soundtrack produced by Jack Nicholson who also wrote the movie. I think all the songs from the movie hold up quite well. The great Neil Young plays on As We Go Along
It's cool to see there a lot of Monkee afficianados here. I just think they made a lot of good music and are unfairly maligned. Whether they get in the Hall of Fame really matters little to me, but it's a fun debate to have. One more piece of Monkee musical legacy trivia. Gave first North American exposure to at the time little known guitarist named Jimi Hendrix by having him headline one of their early tours.
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Redundancy
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry, was writing my letter before senor plaid's letter made it about the correct title of the song and my Hendrix trivia.
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@Brad
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[Read more letters about this article: Here]Brad says-I'll say I see a Madonna influence on Gwen Stefani, Courtney Love, Christina Aguilera, maybe even Pink and a little Kim Gordon. She's an icon
I agree totally. She is an icon. In the gay community definitely. In the rock community. Methinks not so much. Let's review your list.
Gwen Stefani.I think she is on first inspection, the closest to being Madonna influenced, but not really as it turns out. From a fan bio of her- "Growing up to The Sound of Music, Muppet Movie, and Annie movie soundtracks, it is easy to sight lead singer Gwen Stefani's earliest influences within her live performances of today." From Gwen herself. "When I was growing up my parents were folk musicians and I would have never listened to Bob Dylan by choice, but now I can honestly respect so many different ways of playing music and expressing what you're trying to say." Finally-and this is where the Madonna comparison would seem to be most valid though probably Cyndi LAuper is more her influence-One non-musical aspect of Gwen that is just as much a part of her as anything else is her interest in clothes and fashion. Admittedly a thrift store junkie, Gwen has been making her own clothes ever since her mom first made her a replica of Maria's dress from The Sound of Music to wear during a high school talent show.
Courtney Love-Punk rock and hard rock music- I see no Madonna there.
Christina Aguilera-Great voice but you know she's not a rock artist
Pink-Punk- Joan Jett
Kim Gordon- Don't know enough about Sonic Youth to say, but reading about her it seems a dubious claim.
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Alright
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I respect your opinion and research Brad. I think the interesting thing about both Madonna and The Monkees is that they both have a lot more fans than people know but because of their rep's a lot of people are afraid to admit it.
Mister Marker- a few things of note about your letter. It was Mickey Dolenz, not Mike Nesmith who Frank Zappa invited to be in TMOI. Don Kirshner didn't assmeble The Monkees. They were cast by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider. Kirshner assembled the writers and musicians that played on The Monkees first two albums.
You say Peter Tork remains "seriously weird."How did you form this opinin? Have you met him? I have, and he seemed pretty normal to me. He seems to also be very comfortable with his legacy as a Monkee as he regularly performs from their catalogue along with originals at the show I saw.
You infer Davey Jones was a stage musical hack. Shortly before he joined The Monkees he was touring the world as the original Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver. Don't see how that makes him a hack, but o.k.
Their "reunion" tour in '85 was a national joke- Really, I believe it was the top grossing tour that year garnering mostly positive reviews. I guess a lot of people weren't in on the joke.
You mention there was a "VERY popular t-shirt" around that time that I can tell you I have never seen nor heard about until you mentioned it in your letter. However since your so credible I'll take your word for it that it exists and that it was no doubt huge.
"The one thing you can say about The Monkees is that they are all still very much alive. And on a simply human level that's something to celebrate." Finally something we can agree about.
Monkees trivia- Davey Jones performed on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as the Beatles did their famous first time.