Micky Dolenz to release R.E.M. covers EP
Micky Dolenz, the final surviving member of 1960s pop rockers The Monkees, will release a new covers EP filled with his take on classic songs by Athens alternative rock pioneers R.E.M.
“Once again, this EP reaffirms my long-held conviction that a solid recording always begins with solid material,” Dolenz said in a statement. “You don’t get much more solid than R.E.M. What a joy to sing these classics and honour a team of outstanding writers.”
The connection might not be as strange as it seems on paper. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck co-wrote the title track from Christmas Party, the final Monkees album, and also played guitar on the song. According to Dolenz himself, the band were open about The Monkees’ influence on them.
“I was talking to [7A Records co-owner] Glenn [Gretlund] about what to do next. The band R.E.M. came up. I went, ‘Wow, that’s very cool.’ I’m a big fan,” Dolenz told Rolling Stone. “I remember their stuff very well. And I’ve heard through the grapevine that the band were fans of the Monkees. I found that incredibly flattering.”
In fact, Dolenz got none other than R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe to sign off on the project. For his first preview single off the EP, Dolenz chose a song that was directly inspired by The Monkees: Out of Time‘s ‘Shiny Happy People’.
“These songs are absolutely incredible. Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style, I have died and gone to heaven,” Stipe told Rolling Stone. “This is really something. ‘Shiny Happy People’ sounds incredible (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It’s wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith). I am finally complete.”
Stipe had previously counted The Monkees among the bubblegum pop influences of his youth. “I’m a few years younger than the others, and I didn’t have an older brother or sister who was a music fan,” Stipe had professed in an earlier interview. “So, for me, it was all about The Archies, The Banana Splits, and The Monkees. I wore a little watch cap because of Mike Nesmith, and I’m still wearing one today.”
“The guys would give me pieces of music that were so ebullient and bubblegum that I’d be like, ‘OK, I accept your challenge, and I raise you, we’re going to call this one ‘Shiny Happy People,’” he recalled. “It was written to be as pop as it could possibly be, absurdly, ridiculously pop.”
Check out Dolenz’s cover of ‘Shiny Happy People’ down below. Dolenz Sings R.E.M. is set for a November 3rd release.
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