Try This: A New Contest
An alternative history experiment
More then four hundred musicians and actors auditioned to become part of the four-men band The Monkees in 1966. Among the rejects were Stephen Stills, Paul Williams, Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night), Jim Morrison, and (supposedly) Charles Manson.
For a Monkees Reboot, let’s suppose Morrison and Manson had landed roles. What other cultural figures from that era—1966—would round out an alternative history version of The Monkees?
How would The Monkees work if, for example, The Zodiac played the drums? Or Henry Lee Lucas? Or Ottis Toole?
Name your favorite alterna-Monkee and possibly win a prize. If you can flesh out how your choice would change the flavor of the band, do so. It will improve your chance of winning. Eventually we’ll package this and sell it to Netflix and all retire in luxury.
The contest will run until I find a suitable prize.
Morrison and Manson will be joined by Anton Szandor LaVey in the Monkees. Inspired by John Lennon’s claim of the Beatles being bigger than Jesus, they will form a band with the intention of being “better than Jesus”. The plan is to develop records with subliminal signals, developing a truly cult following. The fourth member of the band will be actor Dick York, who found the last couple of years on Bewitched depressingly free of genuine occultism, and joined the Monkees on drums in the hopes of connecting with dark forces.
Their 1966 hit, “I’m a Believer” is specifically decried by Reagan during his gubernatorial race as a corrupting influence on the nation’s youth, primarily due to its clear references to belief in the dark lords of chaos.
In 1968 they relocate their musical cult to a compound in Florida, under the name “The Monks of Key West”, drawing the attention of the FBI…
Harry Nilsson wanted to put together a team that could take on the Beatles. His singing and piano skills got him the job, but he would only perform in a rubber gorilla mask because of stage fright. Young girls speculated that he was so handsome they had to cover his face to give Mickey and Davey a chance at being favorited. The mask started a trend that would take over pop stardom. Tiger Beat featured nothing but dreamboats wearing rubber on their heads. Zebras, Lions, Macaws, until the Beatles donned actual beetle masks. Sales plummeted, and the mask trend died.
I think Harry was still a computer programmer at that time, but thats my story and Im stickin to it.
Edit: Harry released his first album in 1966. It plays.