Television in the mid-1960s was nothing if not predictable. As we watched the shadows on the wall, behind us society was undergoing dramatic change. The old ways were failing, cracks formed in the smooth, comforting facade. Bit by bit it was revealed that whoever was in charge was not being entirely truthful. One of the first television shows to reflect our growing national cynicism was The Monkees: Four longhaired kids who respected neither the camera nor the situation comedy process. The Monkees broke the fourth wall so many times you felt like you were on set with them.
My favorite Monkee episode (because of the motorcycles) opens with Micky Dolenz singing Going Down. Micky was the drummer and the best singer in the band and he nails Going Down’s proto-rap feel. From there, the show falls apart beautifully with motorcycles, a chalkboard Hog reference, dust and pretty girls beating up The Monkees.
Amid typical Monkee chaos in walks The Black Angels biker gang featuring a leader who just wants to destroy somebody. 50 years ago the cliché biker image was so embedded in our culture that all it took was a black jacket to signify a hoodlum. Harley Davidson has mined that image right up to today, creating an entire sub-set of true believers. The rest of us modern motorcyclists with our high-tech, high-vis monkey suits look more like school crossing guards.
The monkees form their own biker gang called The Chickens and during a race between the bad guys more cinema magic is revealed. There is a plot to all this but it’s mostly there to keep the boys from walking off the set. At the end of the show peace and love is restored, Triumphs and Harleys get along together and you’re filled with hope for the future.
This was situation comedy television unlike any that came before. It was random. It exposed the fakery. Jack Benny’s old TV show was The Monkees spirit guide. After 2 years the Monkees show was cancelled. The Monkees became a real band and had many hits written and preformed by themselves. Which just goes to show you that living a lie sometimes leads to success.
Joe – I never saw thisEpisode. Although I can Imagine it being a cross between the Beatles hard days night and Eric von zipper. But there’s one glaring un truth In your story. Harley Davidson not only didn’t mine , as you put it , the outlaw image back then , they were dead set against it . It was perhaps another 20 years after the great Buy Back where hardly ableson embraced the Moto counterculture . Don’t listen to the “vintagents” total buelshit on this subject or his crap about the building of capt America. I can tell you with certainly HD wanted nothing to do with the outlaw image in the monkees era.
He’s right.
I think that Nesmith was a for real rider. That’s where the watchcap he always wore comes from. He supposedly rode his bike to the audition and that was a common piece of headgear at the time. He did the audition wearing it and the producers liked it and wanted him to wear it thereafter. In later years I think he rode Harleys. Don’t know if he still rides or if he hung it up.
Nesmith produced a dirt bike move with time travel. I’ll have to find it and review it.
Also Different Drummer (?) Linda Ronstat’s big hit was written by Nesmith. He was probably the most talented as far as music.
You’re right Hack. H-D has been pushing the Bad Ass image for so long I’ve forgotten when they didn’t.
Remember that episode, Butt just barely
I’ve not seen it but Mike Nesmith did the music for the movie “Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann”. A 1982 action film directed by William Dear and starring Fred Ward as Lyle Swann, a cross country dirt bike racer. Lyle Swann is a well-known dirt bike motorcycle racer who is in the desert competing in the Baja 1000, a multiclass vehicle cross-country race. Swann has a reputation for being a great rider but is plagued by technical problems from the high-tech gadgetry he incorporates into his C and J framed XT500 Yamaha. When Swann accidentally goes far off course, he stumbles across a time travel experiment that utilizes “maser velocity acceleration” to send objects (in this case, a simian subject by the name of Esther G.) back in time.
Given the “B” sounding plot it is now a must see on my list. OBTW I know I saw all their shows but that was last century and I barley remember 1990…. 😉
Nesmith’s mom invented White Out where in the stone age with a typewriter were one of essentials of the learned world. Unless you were a perfect typist, which I wasn’t, you really needed white out to cover up the mistakes and then re-type carefully right over the top of the mistake. I made his mom a rich woman and he inherited all of her money. This is what enabled him to be a lot more independent than the other Monkees because he really didn’t need the money. He was also credited for inventing the music video. All true you can check it out.
In the episode “Monkees Get Out More Dirt”, all of the boys fell in love with Julie Newmar (Me too!)
Mike pulled out all the stops and rode into the laundromat on a Honda 50 Cub, and did some impressive wheelie maneuvers in the folding area…. Needless to say Julie was smitten.