The Monkees‘ first album, where they had full control, Headquarters, was significant for more than just the first real collaborative effort between band members Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz. It also contained songs that found a prime real estate on The Monkees television series.
‘Headquarters’ was released in 1967 and was the first real collaborative effort between The Monkees as a band
In an interview with Peter Tork for Guitar World, the musician revealed just how much influence the group’s members had with Headquarters. It was the first time they worked together as a real musical group instead of separately, as they had done on their first two albums.
“We arranged Headquarters ourselves in the studio, pretty much. I’m not over-blowing my own horn when I say I had the broadest view of a good arrangement,” Tork admitted. “If a song fell into a traditional format if it came to us that way, we didn’t have any arranging to do, except maybe what’s going to be the opening lick.”
“But ‘Do we have an instrumental hook?’ or ‘Do we skip a hook and make the hook a vocal tagline?’ Those kinds of questions we solved amongst ourselves,” he said. “By the time we produced the music ourselves, we were using songs we liked.”
Why was ‘Headquarters’ significant to ‘The Monkees’ TV show?
Per The Monkees Live Almanac, Headquarters took on a bigger meaning. Other than just the first album, Peter, Micky, Davy, and Mike had creative control over it, and was also presented prominently in their eponymous television series.
In the United States, no single was released from Headquarters. However, Micky’s “Randy Scouse Git” (renamed “Alternate Title” in England) peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom in July 1967. It also hit the charts in Germany and Australia.
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The songs from Headquarters were prominently featured in the series’ second season. Peter’s composition, “For Pete’s Sake,” became the closing theme of the TV show during its second season.
Also, when episodes from season one of The Monkees aired in reruns in the summer of 1967, the show’s original soundtracks were tweaked to feature songs from Headquarters. The second season also placed the tunes “Randy Scouse Git,” “No Time,” and “Sunny Girlfriend” prominently in episodes.
‘The Monkees’ producers regularly changed the series’ songs to promote the band’s new music
Between 1969 and 1973, The Monkees was syndicated on both CBS and ABC. The soundtracks were revised to promote the band’s later albums, The Monkees Present and Changes. Some of these changes begin with the first episode titled “Royal Flush,” originally broadcast in 1966.
Original songs featured in “Royal Flush” included “This Just Doesn’t Seem to Be My Day” and “Take a Giant Step.” Upon reruns in 1967, production had changed the songs to “You Told Me” and “The Girl I Knew Somewhere.”
Finally, that same episode was tweaked to include the tune “Apples, Peaches, Bananas and Pears” from the album Missing Links and “Good Clean Fun” from “The Monkees Present.” This commonplace practice by producers kept the show relevant and drove fans to continue to purchase the band’s new songs.
Fans can find a complete listing of the music changes on each episode on a forum by Steve Hoffman.
