Zilch (song)
| Headquarters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Monkees | ||||
| Released | May 22, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | February–March 1967 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 31:10 | |||
| Label |
Colgems (original U.S. release) RCA Victor (original release outside U.S.) Arista (1980 Japanese LP reissue + 1986 CD reissue) Rhino (1986 LP reissue + 1995 & 2007 CD reissues) Sundazed (1996 LP reissue) |
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| Producer | Chip Douglas | |||
| The Monkees chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| MusicHound |  |
| Record Collector | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Headquarters is the third album issued by the Monkees and the first with substantial songwriting and instrumental performances by members of the group itself, rather than by session musicians and professional songwriters. After a struggle for creative autonomy with their record label, the group had been allowed to record by themselves. Headquarters reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified double platinum in the United States with sales of more than two million copies within the first two months of release. It peaked at #2 on the UK charts. It is included in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
While the original concept of their third album was to follow the same format and production of the first two albums, after the release of More of the Monkees, the group was becoming increasingly frustrated by the limited creative input they were allowed by Don Kirshner, and continued to fight for more creative control and independence from him. Kirshner had already began supervising recording sessions with studio musicians for their third album, with Davy Jones recording vocal tracks for some of the songs, while the group recorded two songs featuring them both singing and playing ("All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"), for their next single. The hope was to pacify the group, particularly Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, by gaining some of the input they were asking for, even though the track would feature as the b-side, with the a-side featuring one of the aforementioned Jones-vocal tracks. Tensions came to a head when Kirshner released the third single (in Canada), with Jones tracks on both sides ("A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and an early version of "She Hangs Out"), completely ignoring the group's request, and without the approval of record executives. This was the last straw and it led to Kirshner's dismissal from the Monkees project and the group was finally given full creative control of their next album. The single was withdrawn from Canada pulled from scheduled release in the US. Since "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" was already announced as the next single, it was retained as the a-side and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" as the b-side (a publishing error prevented "All of Your Toys" from being used), replacing "She Hangs Out". The remaining Kirshner-supervised tracks that had already been finished were discarded so that the group could finally produce an album where they would decide the songs, the arrangements, etc. More importantly, they would provide all the vocals and instrumentals, using sessions musicians only as an addition to their own.
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Wikipedia