One week before the Beatles released their massively influential Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Monkees released the first of their albums on which the band members had actual aristic control. It shot to number one on the charts for only a week before being eclipsed by Sgt. Pepper’s. But Headquarters would remain firmly ensconced at the number two spot for the following eleven weeks (Sgt. Pepper’s held onto number one for fifteen weeks). If The Monkees was a band originally designed as a cash grab for the Beatles loving teen-crowd, it was a design that worked. Through the mist of 50 years, it may be hard to remember just how hugely popular they were, especially for those of us who first encountered them in the 80s when their tv show returned to regular play on Nickelodeon. The show was always charming, sometimes surreal, and mostly just a fun romp. But in the late 60s, The Monkees were also very, very popular.
What Headquarters demonstrates quite well is that being popular, even hugely popular, and having a major hit album does not necessarily translate into that album’s longevity or indicate it might have any long lasting impact on pop culture or the music scene. It’s a perfectly decent album, with solid harmonies, a mix of pop styles (the Michael Nesmith tunes showing his love of country and folk), and serviceable—if mostly forgettable—songs. There’s a smattering of silly experimental pieces like “Band 6” and “Zilch” and some very 60s peace-and-love type songs like “For Pete’s Sake (Closing Theme), with its ersatz Jefferson Airplane musical arrangement and lyrics:
“We were born to love one another / This is somethin’ we all need / We were born to love one another / We must be what we’re goin’ to be / And what we have to be, is free.”
Mickey Dolenz, never my favorite of the band, actually shines as a lead vocalist on five of the fourteen tracks, with the best being “For Pete’s Sake (Closing Theme)” and the Hank Cicalo-penned, bluesy “No Time.”
Headquarters is certainly worth a listen, especially as a reminder of what the second most popular album was in the U.S. during the Summer of Love, as well as providing a glimpse of The Monkees beginning to take charge of their own musical careers instead of being merely a “fake,” tv band. But, yeah, in the end, it’s definitely no Sgt. Pepper’s.
Then again, few albums are.