Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Davy Jones (1945 - 2012)

I'm saddened to report the news that Davy Jones, singer for the Monkees, has passed away at the age of sixty-six.  He apparently died of a massive heart attack.

I believe this terribly sad news is going to hit many folks of my generation (and a little older) pretty hard. Young Davy Jones was one of the earliest of the pop-culture/teenage "heart throbs," immortalized not just on The Monkees (1966 - 1968) and in the film Head (1968), but in a popular episode of The Brady Bunch, "Getting Davy Jones" (1971) as well.

I remember watching The Monkees religiously in reruns as a kid, well after the initial Beatles and Monkees crazes had died down.  And yet the series was still popular in the mid-1970s when I watched, and I remember owning at least one Monkees album.

Like Star Trek, Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, The Twilight Zone, The Brady Bunch and I Love Lucy, The Monkees remains a Generation X touchstone, and Davy Jones was a crucial element of it.  Today, I still remember Ben Stiller's 1990s riff on The Monkees, called "The Grungies," and how it satirized the offbeat stylistic/humorous flourishes of the 1960s series.  I suppose certain people will always consider The Monkees a TV-cash-in on The Beatles, but the great thing about television is that it offers you the opportunity to get to know characters in a series more intimately than a film does, over a period of weeks, months, and years.

That's what happened with The Monkees.  The group -- Mickey, Peter, Mike and Davy -- came into our living rooms and quickly become friends.  They never left us, at least not in our memories, and we never forgot them.

One thing is for certain, Davy Jones brought a lot of joy into the lives of my generation as it was growing up, and losing him now is a difficult proposition.  My sympathies go out to his family for the loss of a tremendous talent.

Below I've embedded some of Mr. Jones memorable musical performances.

Rest in peace, Davy Jones...












3 comments:

  1. Davy Jones certainly was the charming Brit of the commercial TV construct that Bert Schneider built in response to The Beatles. 'Daydream Believer' is probably my favorite song he led in the entire series. It still stands up even after all these decades. Davy always came off after the show's run as a gentleman. He'll definitely be missed. Fine tribute, John.

    p.s., Blogger is really pissing me off with their changes to their commenting system (already poor as it is). As I submit this, there is no way to enable an email subscription for further comments. Lame (them, not you).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Le0pard13,

    I agree with you about Davy Jones. The Beatles are tops (Hard Day's Night is one of my all-time favorite films...), but the Monkees are a lot of fun in terms of a TV alternative. And Davy Jones was absolutely charming, perhaps one of the earliest teen idols.

    I'm sorry you're having trouble with the comment system. I'm not thrilled with Blogger myself right now. I had to change from IE9 to Google Chrome, because all of the sudden Blogger was no longer being supported for 1E9. Ugh. So I'm a little nuts, getting used to all the new interfaces/looks of Blogger.

    Warmest regards, my friend,

    John

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  3. I can only add that my wife and I were lamenting his loss the past 48 hours. He was a good guy with a lovely voice.

    I don't wish Whitney ill of course, but, unlike her, I was genuinely sad and sorry to see Davey Jones go.

    It was like a little bright spot in the world went dim. I was sorry to see him go. I just really enjoyed the melodies and that gentle way about him. My kids and I have seen the Brady Bunch episode like 15 times. : )

    Like you said, he was a real charmer. I liked the guy, along with the Monkees.

    ReplyDelete

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