Even though it hasn't been shown yet, VH-1's "Daydream Believers: The Monkees' Story" has a nit (or two) in it. One commercial I've seen shows "the Monkees" performing what appears to be "Daydream Believer". This song was from the show's second season. Davy had short hair at that time. The commercial shows "Davy" with the long page-boy haircut. Also "Mickey" is shown with curly hair. In the series' first season, his hair was straight.

I've seen "Daydream Believers" and it was pretty good. However, it did have several nits (beyond Mickey's hair, which I did catch).

First of all, altho they did an excellent job matching most of the characteristics, and did a perfect job with mannerisms, there were two or three problems. 1. "Davy" wasn't cute enough. 2. I don't think "Davy" was short enough. 2. "Davy" and "Mike's" accents were atrocious. It really made it hard to watch sometimes, because the voice was so far off. It was like they were told, Do an English accent, Do a Southern accent, but the actors didn't actually listen to the originals.

They also tried to reproduce several things, but someone wasn't paying enough attention.
1. They show "Mickey" sliding down the bannister into the cake. However, I don't think he started far enough up the bannister.
2. They showed the guys producing their own album. This had two problems. They show the guys posing for the album cover - but in different clothes. Also, the whole scene is set to a song "Mickey" is singing - a song that isn't on that album.
3. They also recreated one of the videos. The guys did a pretty good job with the moves, altho the ending was a wee bit different. However, the prop man got the wrong piano and tamborine. The original piano was taller, so that Mickey was almost hidden behind it. And the original tamborine didn't have the skin on it. I remember that especially, because in the original video, Mickey, fooling around, puts his hand thru it at one point.

I did enjoy the movie, and learned a few new tidbits. I just wish someone had been doing their job right. (Or maybe not, because then I couldn't nitpick. Actually, I wish I could have had their job.)

mei, the song you're refering to is "All of Your Toys". It never saw official release until the late '80's when it appeared on The Monkees Missing Links album. It's the first song the Monkees ever recorded as a unit.

I know what you mean about the accents. I haven't finish watching it yet, but god, that's one of the more annoying parts of the movies.

Mike Nesmith had nothing to do with discovering Jimi Hendrix. Mickey and Peter saw him at the Monterrey Pop Festival and persuaded the others that the Experience should open for them.

The single that got Don Kirshner fired was "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" Neil Diamond's self-plagerism of "Cherry, Cherry". The original b-side was "She Hangs Out". (A different version from what appeared on the "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." album). The Monkees had wanted as the b-side a song Mike wrote and that they performed. The song was "The Girl That I Knew Somewhere". The "She Hangs Out" single was quickly withdrawn, and replaced with the version the Monkees wanted. The djs' copies were credited with being by "My Favorite Monkee, Davy Jones". That was Kirshner. He felt Davy and Mickey had best commercial sounding voices. While the others were fighting to gain control of the music, Davy slipped into the studio to record "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You/She Hangs Out".

If I see anything else, I'll let you know.

Benn-
In Davy's defense, especially judging by the movie chronology, at the time he really didn't see what Mike and Peter were so upset about. I suppose at the time he didn't see any problem with going along with Kirschner. The movie shows Davy and Mickey suddenly realizing, as it were, that this was really important to Mike and Peter, so they went along in solidarity, but they really didn't care otherwise (at the time).

I agree, mei. One thing, you also have to realize is that Mr. Jones was under the impression that The Monkees was to be his starring vehicle (I got this from his autobiography, They Made a Monkee Out of Me). As a matter of fact, Davy was under contract to Screen Gems at the time the show was being cast. It's also important to remember that Micky (I misspelled it earlier) and Davy were the actors of "the group". To them, it was only a role.

Actually, from what I've read, I think it's safe to say that each of the four had their own agendas where The Monkees were concerned. Davy as I've said, saw it as his show. (He was listed first in the opening credits after all.) Mike saw it as an opportunity to further his music career, particularly his song-writing. Getting his songs on the albums meant more money through royalties. Peter had (foolishly perhaps) hopes that the Pre-Fab Four would actually become a band. The Headquarters album is the closest that came to happening. After that, on subsequent records, the boys would actually adopt Don Kirschner's model, and hire their own outside musicians to perform each cut. It was almost like the Monkees were four seperate groups. Mike had his sessionists, Davy his, Micky his and Peter his. One reason I suspect Tork left was because his vision of the Monkees being a real band, just the four of them, was clearly not going come to fruition. (Another, is how little was allowed to contribute to the albums. The soundtrack to Head was a banner album for him. Two of his songs were used on it. He even got to sing one!)

Micky probably had the sanest take on it: It's just a job.

Some more nits with the movie:
Peter did learn of The Monkees job through a friend. The friend flunked out of the audition because he had bad hair and teeth. He was asked if he knew anyone who looked like him, but with better hair and teeth. Stephen Stills said he did and went to tell Tork about the gig. The "friend" in the movie, as I recall, looked nothing like Peter.

The movie showed all four Monkees in the studio to lay down vocal tracks during the Kirschner days. This seldom happened. As a matter of fact, rarely is there more than one Monkee's voice on any cut on the first two records. ("I'm Gonna Buy Me A Dog" is an exception.) Usually the one of them who was slated to sing the song was called into the studio, while the other three were occupied elsewhere. Background voices were often provided by Carole King, Boyce & Hart, and Neil Diamond (listen closely to "Little Bit Me, Little Bit You") among others. Incidentally, it isn't completely true that the Monkees didn't play on the first two albums. Peter is the fourth guitarist on Nesmith's "Papa Gene's Blues". It's his only contribution to the first record.(Papa Nez may be another guitarist on the track.)

During the screening of the movie Head, it sounds like "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" is playing. It should be "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?", one of Tork's songs. I know, I have Head on DVD. Believe it or not, I like the movie!

Tork, by the way quit the Monkees after the TV special, "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee". He probably should not be seen at the end of the movie.

Jack Nicholson (yes, the actor) was one of the co-writers on Head. That film frequently plays on "Flix," and other channels in the "Showtime" package.

Having seen head myself, I can see why it flopped.