Happy Anniversary: The Monkees, HEADQUARTERS

51 years ago today, The Monkees released their third album, an LP best remembered not necessarily for the songs contained therein as much as for the fact that it was the band’s first album on which Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork were prominently featured as singers, songwriters, and musicians.

For their first two albums, THE MONKEES and MORE OF THE MONKEES, there was never any question about who was in creative control of the band…and it wasn’t The Monkees. Don Kirshner, who provided the band with the majority of their songs, had frustrated the members of The Monkees by allowing them limited creative input in their music. The relationship between Kirshner and the band came to an abrupt conclusion after he began to ignore both the band and the executives of their record label, but there was, at least, a happy ending: The Monkees were given creative control over their next album.

That album, of course, was HEADQUARTERS. 

While not chock full of hit singles, HEADQUARTERS was nonetheless well-received by both the band’s fans, who promptly sent it to #1 on the Billboard 200, and music journalists, who praised the album. Over the intervening decades, appreciation of the album has only grown, as best evidenced by its appearance in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. If there’s still anyone left out there who believes that The Monkees were nothing but a prefab foursome, then you’d better do your part as a Monkees fan to make sure they sit down and give this album a spin.