If there’s one person who really knows that there’s no business like show business, it’s George Michael Dolenz, better known as Micky Dolenz.
When he was only 11 years old, Dolenz played Corky on a children’s TV show called "Circus Boy." In 1965, he was cast as a member of the TV sitcom "The Monkees," where he played a member of the fictional band by the same name.
His fellow Monkee, the late Michael Nesmith, said that it was Dolenz’s voice that made the Monkees distinct. And Nesmith was right. Dolenz has one of the most distinctive voices in the history of rock and roll. And even though he is 78, his voice is still as strong as ever.
Dolenz eventually learned to play drums, which came in very handy during the recording of the Monkees’ third album, "Headquarters."
Dolenz joined Wisconsin Public Radio's "BETA" via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles to talk about his illustrious career.
"The album ('Headquarters') was very special to all of us. 'Headquarters' was the first album where we were allowed to go to produce and write and sing and perform on the entire album. Up until that point, we really just had not been allowed to tell the story. Peter Tork told the story, going into one of the early recording sessions in the early days with his bass and they said, 'What are you doing here?'"
"Headquarters" was the Monkees' third consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 charts. It sold 2 million copies within the first two months of its May 1967 release. "Headquarters" only lasted one week at No. 1; it was replaced the next week by the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
One of Dolenz's favorite songs on "Headquarters" is "Mr. Webster."
"And I guess because it's a story and we didn't do many songs like that. It reminds me a lot of 'Rocky Racoon,' which I sang on the tour when we were doing the (50th Anniversary of) the (Beatles') 'White Album' with Todd Rundgren and Christopher Cross, because I've done so much musical theater now in my late, late life. And I love story songs," Dolenz said.
In 2016, the Monkees released an incredible album called "Good Times!" It was produced by the late Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. Dolenz said Schlesinger "enormously" influenced the album.
"He was a tremendous influence, and I was all for it. I'm a singer and I want a good producer and I want good songwriters and I want good musicians, you know?" Dolenz said. "I thought Adam was the perfect choice for it because of Fountains of Wayne. I put myself in his hands, and I was very happy to do that. The album is one of my favorite Monkees albums."
One of the most powerful songs on "Good Times!" is "Me and Magdalena," which was written by Ben Gibbard from the band Death Cab for Cutie. It's a textbook example of how well Dolenz and Nesmith's voices blend together.
In the summer of 1967 (two summers before the best days of Bryan Adams' life), Dolenz wrote a song called "Randy Scouse Git." It was the first song written by Dolenz to be commercially released, and it went to No. 2 on the British charts.
"It was almost this stream of consciousness thing about my experiences there in London in the swinging '60s when I went over there. The Monkees were huge, and the Beatles threw us a party. And I was in my hotel room at the Grosvenor House. I remember just noodling on the guitar, and I just started singing verses about people," Dolenz recalled.
"(The lyrics) 'the four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor' was a Beatles album, 'Sgt. Pepper.' (There were) a lot of references to my first wife, Samantha, then being in the limo and not being able to go anywhere and hiding," Dolenz said of "Randy Scouse Git."
The English record company wanted to release "Randy Scouse Git" as a single. But much to Dolenz's surprise, the record company executives wanted to change the title.
"They said, 'You have to change it (the title) because it's rude. And I said, 'Why?' And they said because it translates into 'horny Liverpudlian putz.' So they said, 'You have to have an alternative title.' So I said, 'OK, that's it: 'Alternate Title.' And then it went to No. 1."
One of Dolenz's most impressive vocal performances is on the song "Goin' Down." You might remember it from season 7, episode 5 of the iconic TV series, "Breaking Bad." It's the only song that Dolenz, Nesmith, Tork and Jones collaborated on.
"It was Mike Nesmith who said, 'Well, listen, why should we do 'Parchman Farm' by Mose Allison? Great tune, but it's a cover. Let's get somebody to write words for this track. And we went to (singer/songwriter) Diane Hildebrand and she came back with the words. And we played the track and I was going, 'Floating down the river/with a saturated liver,' and she said, 'No, no, Micky. It's twice that fast.'"
Dolenz says the last time he performed with Michael Nesmith was "poignant."
"It was the Greek Theater, the last show that tour," he said.
"Nobody talked about it, but I think everybody kind of felt that it was probably going to be the last time. He had his health issues, quite serious ones," Dolenz continued. "He was tender. But he was a trooper. He came out and did those shows, even when we would say, 'Are you sure you want to do the show, you want to go out?' And he did. He wanted to."