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California Rock Sound
by Len Comaratta
 Author
says: what if Stephen Stills had changed his mind about joining the
Monkees? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not
necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). The article was originally
posted on
The Consequence of Sound web site.
In 1966, on September
12th NBC aired the first showing of the American situation comedy "the
Monkees" marking the beginning of the adventures of five young men trying to
make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers.
Watch the Theme Tune
The original concept was a mockumentary, shadowing the development of an
existing band known as "the Lovin' Spoonful". However due to a copyright
dispute with the bands record label, Screen Gems productions its was instead
decided to create a new band comprising photogenic actors, rather than
musicians and because they fitted the bill so well, Mickey Dolenz, Michael
Nesmith and the Englishman Davy Jones were all signed up. With the schedule
threatening to overrun, and under pressure to find a fourth member for the
band, the rather less photogenic Stephen Stills came under serious
consideration because of his own connection to Screen Gems.
But at the audition, Stills refused to waive his publishing rights with
Screen Gemes and recommended substitution with his friend Peter Tork. Even
though he raised the blocking issue of publishing rights, he was in fact
uninterested because of the lack of artistic freedom that a mockumentary
could offer. But having wrung a firm guarantee that the band could record
hits in addition to filming the show, he changed his position and both
Stills and Tork ended up joining the band.
The under pressure decision paid off and big time even though NBC had
allowed their concept to be fundamentally modified in order to meet the
deadlines for their recording schedule. Stills would take the band in an
entirely new direction; although original band members would break with
their own catchphrase by deciding that actually they didnt want to hang
around preferring to refocus on TV acting, he did encourage Neil Young
to join a new line-up and they would receive commercial acclaim for their
recordings of "Marakesh Express" and "For What its Worth".
Author
says to view guest historian's comments on this post please visit the
Today in Alternate History web site. In reality Stills went on to pursue
his own career writing Buffalo Springfield's biggest hit, "For What It's
Worth" and releasing "Marakesh Express" with Crosby, Stills and Nash. This
concept was explored on the Consequence of Sound web site in a
fascinating article by Len Comaratta.
Steve Payne, Editor of
Today in Alternate History, a Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In
History That Never Occurred Today. Follow us on
Facebook, Myspace and
Twitter.
Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit
differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items
explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist
superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy
Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting
fictional blog.
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