Chimp Change

“The Monkees — they were a major influence on the Beatles,” Jim Carrey asserts in Dumb & Dumber, delivering one of the funniest declarations in rock history, since the Monkees were an attempt to package a squeaky-clean, cookie-cutter version of the Beatles for family TV audiences. Even the Monkees themselves...

By Josiah Hesse

August 1, 2013

Audio By Carbonatix

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“The Monkees — they were a major influence on the Beatles,” Jim Carrey asserts in Dumb & Dumber, delivering one of the funniest declarations in rock history, since the Monkees were an attempt to package a squeaky-clean, cookie-cutter version of the Beatles for family TV audiences. Even the Monkees themselves were in on the joke, as documented by the 1968 psychedelic classic “Ditty Diego”: “Hey, hey, we are the Monkees/You know we love to please/A manufactured image/With no philosophies.”

Still, in the late ’60s, the band earned some hipster cred with a handful of memorable singles and shifted away from the TV show in order to make the acid-fueled, Jack Nicholson-penned film Head. And while they weren’t overly appreciated in their heyday, time has been good to the Monkees. Or three of them, at least: Teen heartthrob Davy Jones passed away last year. But the rest of the band-members — Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz — are now back together for a successful reunion tour, which arrives at the Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Street, tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $55; for more information, visit paramountdenver.com.
Mon., Aug. 5, 8 p.m., 2013

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