On September 12, 1966, at 7:30pm ET, the Monkees television sitcom debuted on NBC and, overnight, a manufactured television rock and roll group was beamed into American living rooms and onto the pop culture scene. Known affectionately, or disparagingly, depending on your point-of-view, as a "manufactured image with no philosophies," the Monkees supplemented their TV stardom with nearly a dozen actual hits on the pop charts and became a sensation to mostly pre-drivers license teenagers and adolescents. Author and music historian Scott Shea believes that this talented musical foursome was the real deal, that their music continues to have broad appeal and rode all the trends of the mid-to-late 1960s rock scene. They even elicited a few. In his recent article for the Strange Brew, Scott makes the case of why the Monkees should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I would like for you to consider having Scott G. Shea, leading music historian and author of the best-selling book, “All the Leaves Are Brown: How the Mamas Came Together and Broke Apart,” on your program to talk about this controversial topic. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been pretty good at blackballing other deserving artists and Scott says the question of the Monkees inclusion will continue to follow them until they do the honorable thing. The group is still popular today, their songs are still played on radio, TV and in movies and have sold over 75 million records worldwide. In his Strange Brew article, Scott refers to the arguments against their inclusion as archaic and borne out of outdated biases. Whether you agree or disagree, he’d love to chat with you about it.

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