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Great article, JMP! I hadn't known about the Spongebob thing. I'll have to keep an ear out for that...
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Film: Too much Monkee business...
Davy Jones's new movie is a reality; his Rock Hall of Fame chances still a daydream...

by Jason Walsh

Longtime Marin resident John Stewart gave Davy Jones and the Monkees perhaps their most famous song, "Daydream Believer," way back in 1967. Stewart passed away in January, but the Monkees remain forever under the spotlight of controversy-last summer members of the band took Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner to task for barring them from being nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame due to their "manufactured" legacy. Meanwhile, Davy Jones-the cute one-is appearing in, and singing the title song to, a new film called Sexina: Popstar P.I. at IndieFest in San Francisco. These days Jones, 62, spends his time riding horses at his ranch in Florida and, according to his official Web site, "maintaining his allure as a sexy icon."

We asked him about Sexina, John Stewart's greatest song and the legacy of the Monkees.

• • • •
I'm sensing a heavy Shirley Bassey influence in your title song "Sexina"-is this your answer to "Goldfinger"?

Yeah, right. I sensed a little bit of that, too. Not that it was a stretch for me to do Shirley Bassey, I've always been a big fan.

What enticed you about contributing to a film about a sexy crime-fighting pop star?

When I was first approached about Sexina, I said, wait a minute, it's not a porn film is it?

Did you say that with hope or hesitation?

My involvement came about because I'm a great believer in independent film-because I believe the TV and film companies are getting away with murder with reruns and not putting money into new products. And I'm happy anytime I can get involved with anything regional and suburban and challenging.

What other "challenging" projects have you taken up?

I try to do an appearance in something every couple of years-like after The Monkees I did The Brady Bunch, or Tennessee Ernie Ford's Thanksgiving Day Special, or the Tom Jones Show or Scooby-Doo Meets Davy Jones.

Zoinks.

Just a couple of days ago I filmed an episode of SpongeBob and I played Davy Jones of Davy Jones's locker. But that way, millions of people watch and I don't have to go and hire a publicist for $10,000.

As a former teen idol, how do you think today's teen idols measure up?

Well I never had to flip my finger at people like they do when they come out of a club drunk at 3 in the morning. All these baby boys and baby girls ought to just go to Denny's. You know? If they don't want to be seen and recognized and filmed then they should just go to Denny's. Save your performance for the stage; don't expose your dirty underwear in public.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame co-founder Jann Wenner allegedly overriding voters to keep The Monkees out of the Hall. What's his problem?

I was standing in San Francisco at the Cow Palace in '67 or '68-me, Mike, Mickey and Peter-we were standing there waiting to go on, there were 10,000 people sitting out there and this guy comes up to Mike Nesmith-who's standing there with his guitar-and says, "Can you play that thing?" And Mike says [Jones cops a Texas drawl], "If ah can't play thas thing, 10,000 people's gonna be aaawfully mad." We didn't actually play on the first two albums, but Mike Nesmith was always in the studio and so was Peter Tork, they were part of what we called "the wrecking crew."

They were that bad?

No, the Beach Boys, the Association, the Turtles, the Byrds-any number of bands had a group called the "wrecking crew." They were session men. They all played-there was no thought about that. The Monkees were a TV show about a group, so we had no problem with that. Over the first couple of years, people began remarking to us about it, so we went into the studio and made our own album called Headquarters. And instead of selling 7 million, we sold a million and a half and that wasn't good enough for the record company.

Whether session musicians were used or not, the Monkees sang on all the records, just like the Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations-all groups in the Hall of Fame. Do you find that hypocritical of your critics?

It was the discomfort everyone was having over the manufactured image. I was just reading an article, funnily enough, that said the Beatles were the very first manufactured group. They all wore the same Capezio boots and the same haircuts and it was all staged.

Yeah, they shouldn't be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, either-if for The Magical Mystery Tour movie alone.

First of all, I want to know why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland?! Second, this guy [Jann Wenner] got the idea for a hall of fame and put it together, much the same as American Idol or whatever. He thought it was a viable thing, the city got behind it, the money came in and it's his decision. There is supposedly a board that votes for these things-but there is no board. The board inducts people that are voted for, and the Monkees certainly have had many, many votes. But he decides who gets in and he's got every right to, it's his business.

It's too bad you guys couldn't win him over by running clownishly around his office while "Last Train to Clarksville" played in the background-just like how most of your shows used to end.

We have been noted by different bands-INXS, U2-many bands that have revered the Monkees. I have nothing to say about [being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame] except that it would be nice. I'm sure we would all rally around the idea, but maybe [Jann Wenner] didn't like the Monkees. And maybe there's cause for him to say no. But REM has said they're not going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until the Monkees are in there. [Laughs]

Actually, they were inducted last March...

Well, I have tremendous respect for all the people that have been recognized and I have a very large disappointment for those people that haven't.

Former Kingston Trio member-and longtime Marinite-John Stewart died recently. The most famous song he wrote is probably your signature song-"Daydream Believer."

Funny enough, when John gave me "Daydream Believer," I changed his original sheet lyric-which was "now you know how funky I can be"-to "now you know how happy I can be." He didn't like that at all. Well, "funky" wouldn't work in 2008, but "happy" does. In the Monkees, we changed things to suit our dialogue and how we felt about things.

Yeah, you weren't exactly challenging James Brown for the "funky" throne.

John Stewart gave me another song about the same time he gave me "Daydream Believer" and it's called "She Believes." I'm going to get into the studio soon and record that one as a tribute.

Few people realize The Monkees television show won an Emmy for outstanding comedy show in its first season. Is the show perhaps the only thing that gets less critical respect than the band?

If you tend to look at some of those Elvis movies and some of those Beach Blanket Bingo movies, The Monkees was just an extension of that and it worked at the time. Today it wouldn't work because they'd look at these guys today and look at us and say-wow, what are they like 10 or 12? But we weren't. Mike was like 23, Peter was 24, Mickey was 22 and I was 21 by the time we aired. They've tried to repeat the formula many times. But there's an audience for everything. As the Monkees found, good things stand the test of time. There's so many great ideas out there.

What was your best idea?

In 1976, I wrote a TV special called The Davy Jones Un-adult E-rated Early Show. And they said, What does the "E" stand for? Everybody! There was a song. [Begins singing] "The Davy Jones Un-adult E-rated Early Show, put your pillow down, gather round, tell everyone you know! It's the Davy Jones Un-adult E-rated Early Show! What does the E stand for? Everybody!"

That sounds like a cool show.

Well, what are we hearing on the radio and TV these days 30 years later? "This is rated E...E for everybody!" There must have been somebody in the mailroom who must have heard us do it and now it's being used. It's something that I thought of and wrote a script on. There's always somebody else thinking of the same idea you have.

People love to bring up the fact that Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees on one of your tours. The insinuation being-what's a great artist like Hendrix opening up for those guys? Does that annoy you?

Not really. We had many acts open for us that were quite prominent and very successful. And we're very glad to have had Hendrix. He was a relatively unknown backup musician. We saw him down in the Village in New York and Mickey said, you know, this is vaudeville-the guy was lighting his guitar with lighter fluid and playing it behind his back and we thought he was a variety entertainer!

He was like a guitar-wielding Gallagher...

It's all a matter of taste. I mean Jimmy Buffet-who would have thought? I mean, give me a break. This balding little man playing moderate chords, writing great stories has captured the attention of millions of people all over the world. It just goes to show you don't have to be on the cover of Tiger Beat magazine to do it.

David Bowie famously changed his name from Jones to avoid being mistaken for you. Have you ever considered changing your name to David Bowie just to annoy him?


That's not a bad idea. That would be a great publicity stunt! It all turns into dollars and cents at the end of the day-but not to this Manchester cowboy. Because it doesn't have to be dollars and cents at the end of the day-if it were, trust me, I wouldn't be talking to you about Sexina.