Growing Up with Davy Jones (Music Review week of 2/27/2012)

Well, here we go again.    Another death of a musical icon who defined at least part of my life.   It's becoming too commonplace, but I guess death is a fact of life, so to speak.

This time, it's Davy Jones, who died of a heart attack this week at the still young age of 66.  And it goes without saying that just thinking of him conjures up a childhood filled with memories, between listening the band he was key member of, The Monkees, not to mention the landmark TV show of the same name that started that whole phenomenon in the first place.

I saw Justin Bieber on Ellen DeGeneres' show this week as the current teen idol turned 18.    Those following my Facebook pages know how I feel about that guy, and I had learned that just a couple of years earlier, Ellen, discovered him on a You Tube video and the rest is "history" (as I hope he will be soon LOL).    But I digress.    I wonder what a 13 year old boy would think about Bieber and would he resent the idol because the girls would swoon all over him?

Well, that was me in the 1960's when all the girls in my class would go gaga over Jones and The Monkees.   They were it...you could not go to school without being exposed to classmates talking about their latest single, the latest TV episode, or bringing in their new album to school.

Coincidentally, and perhaps ironically as well, the first time people actually saw Davy Jones was on the Ed Sullivan Show, the night of February 9, 1964.    If that date sounds familiar, if you are a music fan, it most certainly should; it's the date The Beatles made their first live U.S. television appearance.  But that same telecast, there was a young Jones, who was playing the Artful Dodger in the Broadway show Oliver!, which was also featured on the show that night:   

As Jones was watching the Fab Four play from the side of the stage, he dreamed that he wished he could be a part of this someday.    I don't think he had any idea that he would exactly be in that position, as the fan reaction in 1967 was similar to Beatlemania three years earlier.     Davy himself would actually hit the music charts in 1965, with "What Are We Going to Do?", trying to get a piece of the British invasion pie that was prevalent in that year.   The song only hit #93, though.    He did appear on the TV show "Shindig" to perform that song.

1965 of course was the year that the infamous ad was placed in the industry trade magazines, and Jones went for it, and the rest is history.   The new show was patterned and inspired by The Beatles' first file "A Hard Days Night", and it debuted in the Fall of 1966, and took off like a rocket.   Six singles and several albums reached the top notches of the pop charts.  For the next two years, the group was on top of the world.   The timing was impecciable as well, as The Beatles had just stopped touring and were on hiatus, eventually preparing material that would become their landmark Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

I was just entering 5th grade at Aldene School in Roselle Park in the fall of '66, with Mrs. Hunt my teacher.    It went without saying that the girls in my class, and even the guys, would talk about nothing but The Monkees.    The teacher would even use Monkees references in some of her lessons.    With their debut album The Monkees, as well as their follow-up More of The Monkees, some classmate would be seen with an album or one of their singles while waiting for the morning bell.     One classmate,  perhaps disparagingly, told me that I "smelled like Michael Nesmith" (wool, perhaps?).      A telltale sign about the group's popularity, was the last day of school in December right before the Christmas break, where a makeshift group of classmates, led by lead "vocalist" Tommy Olson, lip-synched to the Monkees, namely "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone", "I'm A Believer" (the #1 song in the country at the time), and "She".

The following year, I was in Miss Halperin's Sixth grade class at the same school, and The Monkees popularity continued.    My school mates would still talk about them.    During this time, my Mom got a job at Ampeg in Linden, a company which made and distributed musical amplifiers to many performers of the day.    Jimi Hendrix, who opened for The Monkees on a tour earlier that year, was one of the artists that my Mom talked to (that IS a story for another time, though, and I promise I'll tell it!).  But another, more in line with the Pre-fab Four's demographic were The Cowsills.    That family group (which would inspire another music-intenstive sticom, The Partridge Family), just had a big hit with "The Rain, The Park and Other Things", and some members visited the office where my Mom met them.     In December 1967,  that song, was #2 to The Monkee's final #1 song, "Daydream Believer", and the girl sitting next to me, Joan Ulecka and I were arguing the merits of each group.    In the end, I don't think defending The Cowsills put a dent in the argument against The Monkees.

The band's final top five song, "Valleri", released in March, 1968, was another big song referenced at school, as the then-excitable classmate Wes Keefer would talk about that song, often in class during a lesson.    You gotta love it!     But, by the end of that year, the show would be cancelled, their popularity would wane, and all of us would proceed to Middle School, and while other idols such as Bobby Sherman, and eventually Donny Osmond and David Cassidy would become the "it" gusy with the girls, there was nothing like the innocent days of The Monkees.

Jones would have one mid-charting song in 1971, "Rainy Jane", and then the following winter a famous appearence on The Brady Bunch, singing to Marcia, the song "Girl".    A big 1980's comeback fueled by MTV, and several other reunion tours since, the most recent being last year, brought Jones' career to a close.

We'll miss ya, Davy Jones.

SNS:  We have another new #1 song this week, The Rapture's "How Deep is Your Love".    The infectious dance-rock song moves up from #4 last week as the song has permanently interfered with my brain.    The song, released last summer didn't make any noise anywhere else, however.    Rachel Allyn, a former chart topper slides back up to #2, while the two most recent #1's, The Cranberries and Tennis drop to #3 and #4.

Billboard's number one song this week is Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger" which returns to the top, and moves to #7 on my list; however there is some good news also for two Alternative Rock crossovers on the Hot 100.   Apparently, while I wasn't looking "We Are Young" by Fun is the #3 song this week, matching the peak position of "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People; the song is top 10 on the two Billboard alt charts, and finally breaks into my Top 20 in its 13th week.     The song has gradually grown on me, and combined with its popularity finally crosses the upper barrier.      The other biggie is Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know", at #5 on SNS, #1 on both of Billboards Alt charts, and #16 currently on the Hot 100.    There is hope for rock, after all.

The Top Debut is the fourth single by Cage the Elephant, from their Thank You, Happy Birthday set, "Always Something"; the first three were all top 20 staples on SNS.  It's followed closely by "California" by Delta Spirit, the band from San Diego that had one of my early hits, "Bushwick Blues", which reached #2 in December 2010.    Their new album, self-titled, is due on March 19.  They'll be at Webster Hall on March 29.

Two other debuts of note: Santigold's "Disparate Youth", and Arctic Monkey's "R U Mine".   Santigold is a female singer from Philadelphia, (real name Santi White), and has been around since 2008 when she was named "Breakthrough artist" by New Music Express.    Her new album "Master of My Make Believe" drops May 1.   She was the featured vocalist on The Beastie Boys' "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" which reached #40 on SNS last year.    She'll be coming to Randall's Island on June 23.   This is an artist to watch.     The Arctic Monkey's song is their new single from a proposed new album later this year; no current information is available on it. 

Scenes 'n' Soundwaves 100 for Week of February 27, 2012:

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	4	THE RAPTURE "How Deep Is Your Love" Album: In the Grace of Your Love	7
2	3	Rachel Allyn- Ain't No Fun	11
3	1	The Cranberries - Tomorrow	9
4	2	Tennis - Origins	8
5	6	Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know	6
6	5	Atlas Sound - The Shakes	12
7	8	Kelly Clarkson - Stronger	8
8	13	Wild Nothing - Nowhere	5
9	9	Sharon Van Etten - Serpents	11
10	7	Wilco - Dawned On Me	10
11	14	Pageants - Edible Rust	7
12	10	Grouplove - Tongue Tied	11
13	16	The Black Keys - Gold On the Ceiling	5
14	11	Adele - One and Only	14
15	15	Adele - Love Song	14
16	18	Snow Patrol - New York	9
17	21	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK: VERONICA FALLS "Bad Feeling" Album: Veronica Falls	6
18	22	Fun f. Jarelli Monee - We Are Young	13
19	12	Omnia- Change This Place	11
20	28	Caveman - Old Friend	5

21	17	The Kooks - How'd You Like That	10
22	19	Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk	20
23	23	Martin Solvag & Dragonette - Hello	18
24	24	Florence + the Machine - No Light, No Light	7
25	31	Sarah Jean - At Last	5
26	27	The Shins - Simple Song	7
27	20	Lady Gaga - Marry the Night	11
28	26	Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks	10
29	41	Bush - Baby Come Home	5
30	48	MOVER OF THE WEEK: NADA SURF "Waiting For Something" Album: The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy	4
31	40	Dr. Dog - That Old Black Hole	6
32	36	The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Heart Attack	7
33	32	My Morning Jacket - First Light	8
34	29	Red Hot Chili Peppers - Monarchy and Roses	17
35	52	E'lissa Jones - Best I Ever Had	2
36	25	Silversun Pickups - Broken Bottles	9
37	30	Fitz and the Tantrums - Breaking The Chains of Love	9
38	45	Sleeper Agent - Get Burned	12
39	51	Red Hot Chili Peppers - Look Around	3
40	33	Expensive Looks - Nothing More	13
41	34	Lana Del Rey - Video Games	11
42	35	M83 - Midnight City	12
43	42	R.E.M. - We All Go Back To Where We Belong	16
44	49	Coldplay - Charlie Brown	7
45	62	Anna Calvi - Desire	3
46	50	The Kooks - Junk of the Heart	33
47	37	Graffiti6 - Free	17
48	44	Blitzen Trapper - Love the Way You Walk Away	22
49	46	Two Door Cinema Club - Undercover Martyn	18
50	43	The Black Keys - Lonely Boy	17
51	38	Ellie Goulding - Lights	21
52	47	Real Estate - It's Real	19
53	39	The Knux - Razorblade	15
54	71	Young the Giant - Apartment	2
55	55	Florence + the Machine - What the Water Gave Me	27
56	76	Katy Perry - Part of Me	2
57	86	Gary Clark Jr - Bright Lights	5
58	66	Heartless Bastards - Parted Ways	6
59	67	Civil Twilight - Fire Escape	4
60	53	Foster the People - Don't Stop (Colors on the Walls)	17
61	77	The Ting Tings - Hang It Up	2
62	68	Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour	8
63	----	TOP DEBUT: CAGE THE ELEPHANT "Always Something" Album: Thank You, Happy Birthday	1
64	58	Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down	22
65	69	Frank Turner - If I Ever Stray	7
66	81	Islands - Hallways	2
67	57	Kathleen Edwards - Change the Sheets	17
68	----	Delta Spirit - California	1
69	73	Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless	4
70	78	James Durbin - Love Me Bad	3
71	54	Train - Drive By	7
72	61	Fleet Foxes - Lorelai	16
73	87	Ingrid Michaelson - Ghost	3
74	----	Santigold - Disparate Youth	1
75	60	Death Cab for Cutie - Home Is A Fire	12
76	63	Scars on 45 - Heart on Fire	23
77	64	Warren Haynes - River's Gonna Rise	15
78	74	Jack White - Love Interruption	5
79	----	Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine	1
80	----	That Ghost - Morning Now	1
81	65	The Big Troubles - She Smiles for Pictures	18
82	75	Bon Iver - Holocene	5
83	59	Phantogram - Don't Move	18
84	85	Bonnie Raitt - Right Down The Line	4
85	84	The Features - Big mama Gonna hip	5
86	----	The Wanted - Glad You Came	1
87	88	Flogging Molly - Saints and Sinners	2
88	90	Bruno Mars - It Will Rain	3
89	89	The Lumineers - Hey Ho	2
90	92	Bruce Springsteen - We take Care of Our Own	2
91	72	Sleeper Agent- That's My Baby	20
92	70	Mumford & Sons - Winter Winds	13
93	91	Blink 182 - After Midnight	4
94	----	Imagine Dragons - It's Time	1
95	56	Madonna - Give Me All Your Luvin'	5
96	93	Foxy Shazam - I Like It	3
97	----	Jason Mraz - I Won't Give Up	1
98	80	Adele - Set Fire To the Rain	33
99	----	Julia Holter - In the Same Room	1
100	82	Kasabian - Days Are Forgotten	19

TREMORS

101	94	Alabama Shakes - Hold On
102		Breath Carolina - Blackout