Anything for You

[chase820]

My very first celebrity crush, when I was five years old and still, according to Freud, quite latent, was on Davy Jones. I watched The Monkees every day at four, I put "I Love Davy" drawings under my pillow, I was a seriously obsessed little fangirl.

Then I moved on to other things, like you do. But I still have a thing for wee, big-eyed men with British accents. You can draw a line between Davy Jones and James McAvoy that's as straight as a ruler.

So even though I haven't listened to the Monkees in years, the news that Jones died of a massive heart attack this morning gave me a sad little pang. Somewhere deep inside, five-year-old Chase is weeping.

In tribute, I include a link to my very favorite Jones clip, which isn't a Monkees clip at all. Here's teenage Davy performing "Anything for You" as the Artful Dodger on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. Though his performance was overshadowed by Beatlemania (the Fab Four appeared on the same episode), you can still see that the kid really has star potential. Maybe he's not quite Paul McCartney, but then, who is?

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

It's really amazingly not okay, this news.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

He was way too young.

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

I don't know if he was my first celebrity crush but I remember being total insane over him as a kid. I practically wore out my 45s of Valerie and Daydream Believer and had the obligatory posters of his face papering my bedroom walls. Even though I haven't actually thought of him in years, the news of his passing is like a door shutting on my childhood.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I think a lot of thirty and fortysomething women are surprisingly sad about this today. Possibly twentysomethings too, thanks to Nick at Nite reruns. And I guess we can't forget the fiftysomethings who liked him the first time around.

Everybody is sad today. All the somethings.

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

Nope, definitely can't forget the fifty-somethings. That's my age group. I watched The Monkeys at first runs.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

I saw them on their second and smaller wave of fame in the late '70s. Very much a formative experience.

[lindarella123.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was so sad to hear this news today. I'm a few years older than you, and Davy Jones was my first crush. I had his photos on the wall of my bedroom. I never missed an episode of the TV series. I have the Monkees greatest hits on my iPod/iPad/iPhone. I loved/hated the Brady Bunch episode where Davy Jones took Marcia, president of his fan club, to the prom, 'cause I was so jealous of her. RIP Daydream Believer.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

He really was the original non-threatening boy, wasn't he? Poor man. That must have been a tough role to deal with once you hit thirty. Then again, we're all remembering him today, so that must be worth something.

[tisiphone318.livejournal.com]

Goodness. Sad to hear, especially as he'd never gone down the insanely addicted route, and seemed to take pretty good care of himself, from what little I know. Never crushed on him, but enjoyed the Monkees very much.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

I have no idea if he did drugs in the '60s, but it seems like every celebrity did. I know cocaine is particularly bad for the heart. Then again, he might have just had a genetic predisposition. I've never heard of him being a hard partier, though in interviews he admitted that he was really slutty back at the height of the Monkees thing. I don't guess you can blame him for that.

[tabaqui]

Oh, Mr. Jones.
*sniffle*

His voice was so distinctive, even then. He'll be missed.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Yes, it wasn't perfect, but it was a helluva pop voice. Better than Micky Dolenz's, I thought.

[jackshaftoe.livejournal.com]

No Monkees = No MTV.

(Literally. One of Mike Nesmith's several great post-Monkees fortunes came from using his contacts and experience from the show to create the video music channel's original format.)

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've heard that about Nesmith. Too bad he's such an asshole, by all reports. Though he's the very definition of somebody with "fuck you" money, so it's not surprising.

[jackshaftoe.livejournal.com]

"Head" is proof that all four members of the band had ego issues.

Nesmith's mother invented Liquid Paper so he hasn't needed Monkees reunion tour money since she died shortly after selling the company in the early 80s.

IMHO, Nez wandered off the sanity reservation sometime in the early 90s, but the a**hole reputation probably comes from another one of his great fortunes -- lawsuit money won suing the bejeesus out of PBS over home video revenues from "The Civil War".

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Judging by the fact that they could never finish a concert tour because of all the fighting, they must've all had huge egos. I've heard the most stories about Nesmith, though. Nothing spectacular, just general dickishness.

[jackshaftoe.livejournal.com]

At this point, you would think they would approach tours like Huey Lewis -- a way to use golf outings as a tax writeoff.

I noticed that Huey is in performing Orlando next week. The PGA tour must be in town ... checking ... yup -- at Innisbrook the following week.

[mustangsally78.livejournal.com]

So sad. :(

And I can totally see where he's the Ur cute guy for the type that you like.

On video he's always young and beautiful.

Part of my childhood died today, too.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, if I'd heard of any of the other Monkees dying, I would've shrugged. Davy was the only one I really cared about. I wonder how many other people feel the same way.

[np-complete.livejournal.com]

Here's an odd thought: he was only 18 years older than Whitney Houston, if I've done the math right. Yet he seems so much of the distant past, much more than she does.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Well, the generational difference is what makes it seem like so long, I think. The '60s and the '80s weren't that far apart, but they sure seem like it.