Talk:The Monkees

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American-British Band

This has not been fully discussed before, so I'm bringing it up now as reference for when the next person inevitably makes this change.

I do not believe that it is accurate to describe the Monkees as an American-British band (or however you want to word it). The only tie they had to England at all was Davy Jones, and Jones demonstrably contributed the least of all four members in terms of songwriting. Yes, he sang on several of their songs, but that was as a musician under contract (which all the Monkees were) until the reunions. Peter is on record as saying that Davy didn't feel that he contributed much to Headquarters, and Davy himself seemed to imply that he felt Mike left him out of the process on Justus.

I don't want to get bogged down in particulars. The point is, Davy was a hired musician for the first 9 albums (and everyone actually in charge was American), and even including the '80s and '90s, with the exception of a couple of songs almost all of Davy's contributions were vocals only, with some production thrown in. Thus, I think it is too much of a stretch to say that the Monkees were, to any significant degree, a British band...any more than covering Daddy's Song made them a swing band. Sm5574 (talk) 00:26, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Remove Instruments from Timeline

I think instruments should be removed from the graphic timeline. That kind of thing is intended for bands who have replaced members through the years (e.g., Journey). The Monkees never replaced a member, and they have almost always had backing musicians, rendering the whole thing moot. Mike, Micky, Peter, and Davy sang and played what they did when they did based on their desires and abilities, not as members hired specifically for any particular instrument (other than vocals). As such, having the instruments listed in the timeline adds nothing but clutter; rather the timeline should simply show when each member was active with the group. Sm5574 (talk) 02:25, 25 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

50 million units sold

The cited sources say 50 million, not 75. The 50 million figure was added in March 2018, supported explicitly by two sources. A month later, an IP editor changed 50 to 75 without supporting cites; an edit which remained in the article for six more years. I changed it back to 50 today. Binksternet (talk) 01:24, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Binksternet, those sources are not reliable in this regard. Neither gives a source for their sales claim, and one even repeats the lie that the Monkees outsold the Beatles and Stones. That alone discredits it completely. And it does not matter how long the text has been there; wrong is wrong. Agreed, RIAA does not give worldwide numbers, so if we want it to read "in the US alone" then that's fine, but there is absolutely no reliable evidence (that I have seen) that they have sold anywhere near 50 million records worldwide. The RIAA supports less than 25 million units sold in the USA. How could the Monkees possibly have more than doubled that worldwide? Where could they possibly have sold that many records? The other countries they charted in, combined, didn't even match the US population at the time. It's impossible.

Especially considering how widespread Mike's lie has been, this claim needs a bulletproof source, and I have not seen one beyond the RIAA. There is no harm with going by the RIAA and noting that it is only US; there is harm in making statements beyond that with no definitive source on those numbers -- especially nice, round numbers like 50 million.

So I assert that this is the change that needs to be made. I made it originally, and I stand by it. Sm5574 (talk) 06:08, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have no problem giving a 21M total of US sales per RIAA, but it's a stretch to call Billboard an unreliable source for worldwide units. And the Hollywood Reporter supplied the same 50 million figure, making with The Telegraph three reliable sources for 50M worldwide. RIAA doesn't support a worldwide figure, which is what you wrote and why we are here discussing it. Binksternet (talk) 06:46, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]