Bloggerhythms

"The Girl I Knew Somewhere" was released on March 8, 1967 as the b-side to "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," The Monkees' third single. The more famous a-side climbed to #2 on The Hot 100. Neither of the tracks appeared on  Headquarters ,   The Monkees third LP, even though both songs were released in support of it. I wasn't able to discover why they were left off of the original disc. "Girl" did not appear on any full length album until it was released years later on several Monkees compilation discs and as a bonus track on the 1996 CD release of Headquarters . Two versions were recorded. The first one had composer Mike Nesmith on lead vocals and a second take - the one Colgems Records eventually released - featured the quartet's best singer, Mickey Dolenz, as the frontman. After a long and tense battle with Don Kirshner - primarily led by Nesmith - The Monkees eventually won the right to play on their own records and "The Girl I K...

Many people have made fun of The Monkees as the "Pre-fab Four," a Beatles knock off, and while it is true that they were often totally controlled in the studio by their producers, record label, and, of course, TV in the end we all realized they were a talented bunch of guys. It's to their credit that they later rebelled to become a real band. I bought a whole bunch of The Monkees' singles on their red, white, and black Colgems label back in the day and because one of these purchases was their 1967 hit single "Daydream Believer" I was also treated to one of the best b-sides I've ever heard anywhere, "Goin' Down." It's an original song that was never released on any of their main albums. The quartet's best singer, Mickey Dolenz took the lead vocal and Wikipedia states that Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith played guitars. Long ago I was told that Al Hirt played trumpet but I've found absolutely nothing to back ...

Just a few weeks ago Ray Manzarek became the second member of The Doors to pass away. Sadly, many other groups of the 60s and 70s have also lost two or more members. Those missing roll call include four of the original five Temptations as well as three of The Four Tops. It's the same for The Mamas & The Papas , The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Dave Clark Five, The Bee Gees, Atlanta Rhythm Section , The Band, The Byrds, The Ramones, Booker T. & the MGs, Traffic, Iron Butterfly, and The E Street Band. Unfortunately, the long list, including both famous names and some lesser lights, doesn't end there. Solo artists who have gone to the great beyond in recent years include Donna Summer, Gerry Rafferty, Bob Welch, Johnny Cash, and Warren Zevon. Among the living Glen Campbell is currently fighting a losing battle with Alzheimer's Disease. I've always believed that pop music occupied a bigger place in the hearts and daily lives of the generation that grew up...

PART ONE OF THREE Perplexio, the owner of a blog I read regularly named The Review Revue , recently challenged me to post an article listing my favorite musical guilty pleasures after he recently posted his personal Top Twenty . Wikipedia accurately defines the term "guilty pleasure" as follows: "A guilty pleasure is known as something one considers pleasurable despite it being mainly received negatively or looked down on by a majority of society. References to guilty pleasures are often used in terms of the arts and entertainment, such as music, film, and television and other aspects of popular culture." My number one all time guilty pleasure will be covered in a separate article as Bloggerhythms first post in February. So keeping Wikipedia's definition in mind, here, in the approximate chronological order I discovered them, are nine of my top ten guilty pleasures. Herman's Hermits Lead singer Peter Noone (Herman) and his band were part of the ...