the abbreviated reign of “neon” leon spinks

OOPS 130
Nevertheless, the true genius of their act was not in their music or
acting, but in the marketing of their wholesome, fun version of rebellion.
As Tork noted in a 1988 interview with Guitar World magazine, the group
was designed “not to scare the living daylights out of Mama.”
But the Monkees longed to be something more. They hung out on
the fringe of the Sunset Strip–Laurel Canyon counterculture scene, and
knew many of the serious young hipsters who were revolutionizing music.
(Tork, for example, had tried out for the Monkees at the suggestion of
guitarist Stephen Stills, a friend who himself didn’t make the cut, reportedly
in part because of his already receding hairline.) The Monkees
achieved astonishing commercial success—their single “I’m a Believer”
sold 10 million copies worldwide, and at one point in early 1967, they had
the top two albums on the U.S. charts. But the lads were chagrined because,
as Lefcowitz notes, the rumors grew increasingly louder that the
records were actually the work of others. (According to his book, the
group’s members didn’t even learn of the existence of their top-selling
second album, More of the Monkees, until they happened upon it in a record
shop after its release.) By spring 1967, after an angry group meeting
with Kirshner in which Nesmith reportedly put his fist through a wall,
the TV show’s producers agreed to allow the quartet creative control.
They rushed into the studio and hammered out their first real album,
Headquarters. The rock press, who had previously savaged the group,
gave it surprisingly positive reviews. But the Monkees were cursed by bad
timing. Their modest effort was overshadowed by the release the following
week of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a masterpiece
whose innovative recording techniques and eloquently insightful
lyrics changed rock music forever.
Still, the Monkees hoped that their upcoming summer tour would
establish them as a serious rock group. They planned to pull out all the
creative stops—from frequent costume changes and their trademark
clowning, to the first special-effects light show ever used in a rock concert.
In June 1967, as the preparations were being completed, Tork and