Micky Dolenz had a grand, pop-sensible malleability that allowed him to go pseudo-punk on “Steppin’ Stone,” cheese-Louise on “I’m a Believer,” breezy commentator on “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and restrained high-harmonizer on “Shades of Gray.” And he demonstrated a fine playfulness in his songwriting: 1969’s “Mommy and Daddy” was an accusatory treatise on parental responsibility from someone still seen as a teenybopper role model. The released version was startling enough in its commentary on American adults’ treatment of Native Americans, pharmaceuticals and the soldiers in Vietnam, but an unreleased take that surfaced several years later is downright seditious, with Dolenz tackling the JFK conspiracy, suicide, pill popping and careless parenting, all in under two minutes, chanting gleefully at the close, “They’re all living a lie!”
Hey, Hey Let Them In: 10 Reasons The Monkees Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Twelve performers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. The Monkees weren't one of them. TIME makes a case for the pop-rock group that changed music forever — one sitcom episode at a time
Reason No. 7: Micky Dolenz’s Lyrical Talents
Full List
Monkees Hall of Fame
- Reason No. 1: Their Chart Success
- Reason No. 2: The Quality of Their Songs, Even Those That Weren’t Hits
- Reason No. 3: The Many Talents They Discovered
- Reason No. 4: Their Standoff Against Don Kirshner and the Music Industry
- Reason No. 5: Their Vital Innovations in Music Video
- Reason No. 6: Their (O.K., Not So Vital) Innovations in Music Itself
- Reason No. 7: Micky Dolenz’s Lyrical Talents
- Reason No. 8: They Gave Us the Movie Head
- Reason No. 9: Their Central Role in Defining Authenticity in Rock
- Reason No. 10: The Real Purpose of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame