"Circle Sky" (The Monkees)

Like a lot of people my age, I grew up watching re-runs of The Monkees T.V. show on MTV as a kid.  Great thing was, I could appreciate the show for what it was: fiction.  I didn't have all of that "are they a real band?" crap overshadowing my enjoyment of it.  I got that they were comedic actors playing musicians in a struggling garage band.  And I also got that, although they might have been miming to someone else's backing tracks most of the time, each individual had musical talent.

Honestly, I've never understood the whole backlash against The Monkees.  Maybe that's because I grew up in an era where every cartoon character on Saturday morning T.V. had its own album, merchandising, and branding out the wazoo.  (I mean, you don't have to be in Mensa to grasp that "Papa Smurf" wasn't playing guitar on The Smurfs' album.)

Anyway, if you've never seen the movie Head (1968), it's worth watching.  The absurdist film by The Monkees creator Bob Rafelson and a young Jack Nicholson basically takes the whole concept of the T.V. show and puts a stick of dynamite in its mouth.  In short, the movie not only admits that the band is manufactured, but it also points out that everything else in pop culture is fake, too.  It's all a matter of how much of the lie you want to believe or buck.

In any case, the film has a damn good soundtrack that avoids any bubblegum filler.  Even the softer/sunnier fare has teeth.  (For example, the late Davy Jones sings the Harry Nilsson-penned "Daddy's Song," which is a poignant song about a man abandoning his family, disguised as an upbeat dancehall number.)

My favorite track, though, is Mike Nesmith's own composition "Circle Sky," an electric guitar-driven scorcher.  (It might even be the first, real instance of alt-country on record.)  Taking a glance at the lyrics, it's obvious the song is about The Monkees' career.  Using an economy of words, Nesmith paints a picture of studio executives calling the shots and the band having to sell the lie, over and over again.  At the same time, Papa Nez is asking listeners to suspend disbelief and simply appreciate the music.

Or as he told teen mag Flip back in December 1968, "It seems like we've gone full circle back to the beginning.  But I ain't standing for it.  I mean, I'm moving on.  I'm going to see what other career can happen."