Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/12/when-jimi-hendrix-opened-for-t.html
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Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down…
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“This sure ain’t the chitlin circuit.”
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Always love me some Monkees, can’t imagine the day when I don’t enjoy queueing up a few tracks.
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i’m pretty certain that one of my older sisters saw hendrix open for the monkees on this tour when they played in denver (red rocks?) – i’m not certain. but that’s the story i remember from her.
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Ditto. And if you are not familiar with the full discography, go seek it out immediately. There is some good shit there! Their best song evah, ‘Goin’ Down’ was not on any of the major albums, but was a b-side, I think to ‘Daydream Believer’.
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Me too, but wanting Hendrix to leave the stage for the Monkees? Geeze! The Monkees were a fun band (nothing exceptional, but still good quality pop), but Hendrix was a rock god. I mean, I know Hendrix had a reputation for hating his audiences and frankly everyone, but he was still the greatest rock guitarist of all time. What sort of philistines boo such a virtuoso?!
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The Monkees attracted teenyboppers who could not have given a fuck for some unknown (at least in America at the time) weird-ass black dude. I think Nesmith invited Jimi on the tour just to give the Monkees some legitimacy; it did not go well.
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Yeah, I’d have been chasing kids of my lawn even back then. Ain’t no accounting for lack of taste I guess.
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I once saw Eric Burdon (essentially as a solo) open for Peter Noone (as a solo). Burdon was completely wasted, and nearly fell off the stage a few times. Noone was pretty good, mainly doing excellent impressions of other rockers, in keeping with the fact that beneath the still-boyish charm he is, um, not the nicest person in the world.
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Seek out ‘Porpoise Song’. Very trippy.
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Lesson here is that corporate rock, The Monkeys, was incompatible with actual rock, Jimi Hendrix. This same kind of lame corporate pairing appeared when the Beach Boys were paired with the Grateful Dead. That didn’t last long either. Although I can’t imagine Jerry flipping off an audience. Pigpen perhaps.
Although I just found Bobby flipping the bird so, I guess it was possible one of them did.
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I remember reading an account of this ill-fated tour by Noel Redding (Jimi’s bass player), in which he claimed The Monkees were shit musicians and required guitar and drum players positioned backstage who performed the actual music, while the Monkees sang the vocals and mime-played their instruments.
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My Mom took my Sister to see "Herman’s Hermits"
The backup band was “The Who”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who_Tour_1967
Sister relates the story as Mom saying “Oh no…that little boy dropped his guitar…oh…what’s happening here…what are they doing? Oh my…oh my”
But the biggest take away from that was my Sister saw the WHO on their first American Tour.
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My favorite Monkees tune.
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I’m sure that Nesmith’s Grammy Award winning Elephant Parts made up for that though. 
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Rock snobs are hilarious!
Given how both of these bands were amazing in their own way, this would definitely be on my list of stuff to do with a time machine.
I saw The Monkeys, yeah, they weren’t very good. Better on record I guess.
The Box Tops opened though. They were exceptional.
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Hey, hey! I’ve seen ‘Head’ many a time, once in a (college) theater while tripping. But, still, I am most fond of ‘Goin’ Down’, a very Newawlins rocker written by all four of the Monkees that is a tongue-twister to try to sing.
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