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TL;DR:

  • Phil Spector produced songs written by one of The Monkees’ songwriters.
  • Spector felt he was not alone in his dislike of the group.
  • An author felt Spector’s assessment of the band was totally wrong.
The Monkees near a poster
The Monkees | James Jackson/Evening Standard/Getty Images

Phil Spector was one of the most famous producers in the history of classic rock. He was not a fan of The Monkees. Despite this, Spector’s issues with the group didn’t seem to have much to do with their sound.

Phil Spector produced hits written by 1 of The Monkees’ songwriters

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote many hit songs, including The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Valleri.” According to the 2015 book Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem Into Miracles, Boyce also worked with Spector.

Prior to the formation of The Monkees, Boyce-co-wrote two hits for singer Curtis Lee: “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” and “Under the Moon of Love.” Both of the songs were produced by Spector. Despite this connection to The Monkees’ songwriter, Spector didn’t have much respect for the group.

A writer discussed why The Monkees aren’t in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Andrew Sandoval authored The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation. In a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, he discussed the Prefab Four’s exclusion from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “People from the Hall of Fame might think they are nominating a group that was somehow fake or illegitimate,” he said.

“In 1968, Phil Spector said, ‘The reason people don’t like The Monkees is because they didn’t pay their dues,'” he added. Spector seemed to refer to the fact that the members of the group rarely wrote their own songs. 

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Why Andrew Sandoval felt Phil Spector was dead wrong about the Prefab Four

Sandoval felt the Prefab Four suffered for their art. “But if you read my book, you learn that they may not have paid their dues as a unit as The Monkees initially, but they were all paying their dues well before The Monkees, struggling to make ends meet, and to find a voice,” Sandoval said.

Sandoval mentioned the group’s impact on music. “They canonized some of the great songwriters of the era, Boyce & Hart, [Gerry] Goffin and [Carole] King, Harry Nilsson, [Neil] Sedaka,” he said. “They also worked with producers and so many other people enter into their story. Their nomination wouldn’t be for The Monkees as four individuals. It would be for the entire thing and what they did for music. They inspired and influenced so many people to pick up instruments and made it look like it would be fun.”

Sandoval thinks the Prefab Four were a great group even if Spector wasn’t much of a fan.

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