The Monkees’ Davy Jones Called The Beatles ‘the First Manufactured Group’

The Monkees are often thought of as a manufactured group. Davy Jones said The Beatles were the first manufactured group, not The Monkees. In addition, he compared The Beatles’ look to characters from a famous Broadway and West End musical.

The Monkees’ Davy Jones loved The Beatles’ music even though it was ‘manufactured’

During a 2006 interview with The Bob Show, Jones said he was friends with all of The Beatles. He was a big fan of the group, and he praised George Harrison’s songwriting in particular. He thought George wasn’t given his dues as a musician. In addition, Jones revealed he loved The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” so much that he listened to it thousands of times.

“Don’t get this wrong: The Beatles were the first manufactured group,” he said. “Not The Monkees. It was The Beatles.”

Jones said The Beatles’ manager, Brain Epstein, fired the Fab Four’s first drummer. “Brian Epstein dumped Pete Best,” he said. “I played with Pete a couple of months ago. They dumped Pete, they brought in Ringo. I don’t know about the dissension between John and Pete and whatever it was. There was something going on. Anyway, I didn’t know anything about any of that.”

Davy Jones noted that the Fab Four all dressed the same and wore the same haircut

Jones noted the uniformity of the Fab Four during their early days. “They dressed them in the same suits and they put the Capezio shoes on, y’know, with the boots on,” he said. “Actually, they were Oliver! boots that we used on the Oliver! stage. They had the little Oliver! haircut, like a little Beatle bowl cut. And they presented them all the same way.”

For context, Jones originated the role of the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver! Notably, Oliver! premiered on the stage in 1960, the same year The Beatles also formed. However, the band did not find pop success in the United Kingdom until 1962. The Official Charts Company reports “Love Me Do” became the band’s first big hit there.

Were The Beatles as manufactured as The Monkees’ Davy Jones said they were?

Of course, there’s no objective definition of which groups are “manufactured.” Sometimes, critics consider bands more authentic if they sang songs out their lived experiences. Notably, many Beatles songs were about fictional people or situations that had nothing to do with the lives of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, or Ringo Starr. In fact, The Beatles didn’t write some of the songs they recorded, like “Twist and Shout,” “Money (That’s What I Want),” “Rock and Roll Music,” and “Maggie Mae.”

However, even if one believes that The Beatles were manufactured, they certainly weren’t the first manufactured pop group. Numerous pop groups predate The Beatles, including Buddy Holly & The Crickets, The Andrews Sisters, and The Four Tops. Each of those bands performed songs that had nothing to do with their lives. Groups that could be considered “manufactured” existed before recorded music.

Jones’ comments are interesting even if they probably aren’t true.