Every band starts somewhere. Whether they are a contestant on a hit show like Britain’s Got Talent or if they did it touring in a beat-up van and had to play in a dingy club where five people are in the audience or an open-mic night where they get heckled off the stage. Sometimes you are the support act for someone you wouldn’t necessarily think was your target audience. This has happened a few times, Prince opening for the Rolling Stones in 1981, The Darkness supporting Robbie Williams in 2003, and The Beastie Boys supporting Madonna in 1985 among others.
There is one, however, that stands out compared to these others as a mismatch at the time and has been described as weird ever since. One band that catered to the kids and another that spouted revolution. This week The Beat Marches On to 8th July 1967 when the Jimi Hendrix Experience supports The Monkees on a 28-date tour of the US.
At this point in 1967, Hendrix was well known in the UK but not so much in America. He had risen to fame the previous Autumn by outplaying ‘God’ himself Eric Clapton on stage less than a week after arriving in the country. His stomping rendition of Howling Wolf’s Killing Floor made Clapton storm off stage and exclaim to Chas Chandler, one of Jimi’s co-managers, ‘You didn’t tell me he was that fucking good!’
Throughout the next nine months, the guitarist’s reputation grew and grew. He formed a band called The Experience which included Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell playing bass and drums respectively. The trio released the singles Hey Joe, and Purple Haze in the UK which both peaked in the top ten in the charts. They even showed up the Beatles in June 1967 when two days after the release of their magnum opus, Sgt Peppers Lonely Harts Club Band, they performed a reinterpreted version of the title track. Paul McCartney was honoured by it.
The Experience’s first concert in America was a rousing success. They played at the Monterey Pop Festival. They were introduced by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones then performed a set that stunned the audience into silence. They had never seen anything like it. Among those who were in the audience was half of The Monkees, Peter Tork, who amazingly didn’t pay too much attention to the band because of the pyrotechnics which The Who also used in their set previously, and Mickey Dolenz.
Everything Jimi Hendrix did was cool and hip, which was the opposite of The Monkees. Formed as an early Beatles-esque group, they were actually a manufactured pop group. Created by Dave Kirschner, he hired actors Tork and Dolenz along with Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones to play a band for a television show. They could sing but other than Tork they couldn’t play any instruments when they were first hired.
Kirschner hired session musicians to write songs for the band to sing. Most famously the band’s biggest hit I’m A Believer was written by Neil Diamond, songs were also written by Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin and even Harry Nilsson.
By the time 1967 came around the TV shows weren’t enough. They now needed to tour around the US to help keep Kirschner’s cash cow flowing. (this isn’t the first time he’s done this either. See here: 8: Zombies, Texas, and Post-Career Hits) He arranged a 28-date tour across the US starting in Florida. All they needed to find was a support act for the tour and they would be all set. Once Dolenz saw Hendrix at Monterey he was the only option.
Jimi was hesitant at first. It was known to the public that he didn’t like The Monkees, recently comparing their music to dishwater in the popular music magazine Melody Maker, but his co-manager Michael Jeffrey, who was a typical band manager thought how much money can I get from this? He knew how popular the band was and dollar signs appeared in his eyes and convinced Jimi and the band to join the tour. For context of how popular The Monkees were in 1967, the UK album chart consisted of four albums at number one throughout that year and they had had two of them.
It was agreed that the tour would start in Florida and continue for 28 dates over the summer. The Experience goes on for 25 minutes then The Monkees ‘performing’ as the headliner. There were issues right from the start.
Behind the scenes, the two bands got on well together. They would jam together in hotel rooms, share drinks in bars, and like spending time with one another. It was on-stage where the issues were.
The first date by all accounts went surprisingly well. The Experience felt embarrassed by the dummy band set-up on stage, real musicians were behind the curtain and none of the fans knew this secret at this time.
The next few dates, however, didn’t go well at all. The audience, mostly aged between seven and twelve accompanied by their parents were not amused by Hendrix’s antics. Using his guitar as a sex object, and his schtick of playing with his teeth and behind his head were not entertaining to this audience. Dolenz recounted in his memoir that the parents had to cover the children’s eyes.
The band’s sound was drowned out by chants of ‘We want Davy, we want Davy’ which would anger any support band. After a few dates the Monkees tour manager, Dick Clark, told them to tone it down, and when they wouldn’t comply, they were thrown off the tour. Chas Chandler talked to Clark about setting up an exit route.
The Experiences PR firm sent a press release saying that the Daughters of the American Revolution gave an ultimatum to The Monkees to replace Hendrix or suffer the consequences as an escape from the tour. In reality, it was a compromise between the two band managers. Jimi was quoted in the press that he had been replaced by Mickey Mouse.
The release helped The Experience’s reputation, especially with the rebellious hippies of 1967. The band were happy that they were off the tour, and we all know that they went on to be a greater force throughout the rest of the 1960s.
Tours like these were a regular occurrence in the early days of rock and roll. Managers who want to earn a quick buck and don’t care about their clients. It doesn’t sound so bad these days as they are both from the sixties and they get lumped in together in most compilations, but to put it in modern times it would be like Sabrina Carpenter supporting AC/DC or a death metal band for Taylor Swift. Sometimes maybe think about who is coming to the concerts.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
When Jimi Hendrix Joined the Monkees Tour For Some Reason (ultimateclassicrock.com)
The book Are You Experienced by Noel Redding and Carol Appleby was also used in research.
If you want to request a story for The Beat Marches On blog, you can contact jwhiteheadjournalism@gmail.com. We cannot guarantee that the story will be published but will be considered