The Monkees are an American rock and pop band originally active between 1966 and 1971, with reunion albums and tours in the decades that followed. The group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider specifically for the situation comedy series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968. When the Monkees toured the U.K. in 1967, they found a chilly reception. The front pages of several U.K. and international music papers proclaimed that the group members did not always play their own instruments or sing the backing vocals in the studio. They were derisively dubbed the “Pre-Fab Four”, and the London Sunday Mirror called them a “disgrace to the pop world”.(More from Wikipedia)
So you want to be a rock ’n’ roll star
Then listen now to what I say
Just get an electric guitar
And take some time and learn how to play
And when your hair’s combed right and your pants fit tight
It’s gonna be all right
So said the Byrds – specifically songwriters Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman – back in 1967, and the formula still works pretty well to this day.
The lyrics are more than a little cynical – check the next to last line – and the fact is, no one has really discovered the secret formula. “So You Want to be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star” was written in the wake of the creation of The Monkees television show and the Monkees band, who became known by many as the Pre-Fab Four (the Beatles of course being the original Fab Four).
