Your one-stop shop for simian-based musical knowledge. First up,
bands.
One of those bands that most people will have heard
of, thanks to their catchy tunes and disproportionate amount of songs with the
word ‘believer’ in the title. The Monkees were Mike Nesmith, Davey Jones, Micky
Dolenz and Peter Tork. Since shooting to fame with their S Club 7-style TV show
and equally poptastic songs, they have variously invented MTV, inherited a
Tipp-ex fortune, become a figure of fear for 17th century pirates
and disappeared into obscurity. Their seminal hit The Monkees, often referred to as Hey Hey, We’re the Monkees, is as significant in the history of
monkey songs as I am the Walrus is in
the history of walrus songs, a subject which I will not be publishing a book on
in the near future.
MONKEY MAFIA
Obscure UK
production duo who have spent a grand total of three weeks in the top 75 with
their three releases so far - their biggest hit to date is "Long as I can
See the Light", a no.51 'hit' in May 1998.
SPRUNG MONKEY
American band
who have yet to release a single in this country, but who notably contributed
six songs to the soundtrack of hit TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer in it's
first season - all are from their 1995 album 'Swirl'.
MONKEY BOY
Obscure comic-rock
outfit, whose releases include the brilliantly-named Baboon Saloon Blues, Aquatic
Ape Theory and Monkey in a Rocket.
LUCKY MONKEY
UK group whose
only hit to date is the instrumental 'Bjango' (no.50, 1996)
GORILLAZ
A band of cartoon monkeys with names like 2-D,
Noodle and Damon Albarn. Gorillaz are fondly remembered for the ridiculously
catchy Clint Eastwood, and the follow up single that I can’t remember the name
of. The name of the band, incidentally, is a corruption of the word ‘gorillas’.
Firm believers in the theory that any pop video can instantly be improved by
the addition of 100ft apes.
As furry animals go, monkeys are perhaps the most super of them
all. Plus, these Welsh Rockers once released an album called Guerrilla. It had
nothing to do with monkeys, unfortunately.
There are a lot of monkey bands I don’t know a great
deal about. Take for example Simian,
Iron Monkey, Guano Apes, The Naked Apes,
Drunkenmunky, Spacemonkeyz and The Blow
Monkeys.
THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF MONKEY SONGS IN THE UK CHART
Although it’s quite possible that the history of Monkey Songs
extends further back in history than the establishment of the singles chart in
1952, I am yet to find any record of Chopin’s
Monkey Sonata in A Minor, so I am going to ignore it and present you with
this – the complete history of Monkey Songs in the UK Chart.
Ask anyone what The Kinks released as a follow-up to Lola, and the majority of people will be
stumped. Anyone who knows their Monkey Music, however, will be able to tell you
that it was Apeman, which was
released in 1970 and was the first Monkey Song to enter the UK singles chart.
It peaked at number 5.
1970 also saw the release of Monkey
Man by The Maytals, which reached no. 47.
The following year, Jamaican two-hit wonders Dave and Ansel
Collins recorded the highest chart position ever for a song with the word
‘monkey’ in the title, with their no. 7 hit Monkey
Spanner. It was the follow-up to the number one hit Double Barrel. They have not been heard from since.
All was quiet on the monkey song front for the next few years, but
the release of The Funky Gibbon in
1975 more than made up for that. The Goodies are still hold the enviable record
for the best-selling Monkey Song of all time, and possibly the Best-Known
Monkey Dance Routine with it.
Dan-I hit number 30 in 1970 with Monkey Chop, which may have been inspired by the abysmal kung-fu TV
series. I do not know for sure, as this is one of the many songs in this list
which I have never heard and am never likely to.
A defining moment for Monkey music came in 1980, as The Monkees
released The Monkees EP, which
featured the song The Monkees,
discussed in greater detail in the ‘bands’ section. It charted at no. 33, and
was re-released in 1989.
In 1988, George Michael once again tried to recapture the glory of
Club Tropicana with Monkey, which reached no.13.
1989 saw the artistic peak of the Monkey Song genre, with the
Pixies’ excellent Monkey Gone to Heaven.
The use of the word ‘monkey’ is really quite arbitrary, but it’s a classic
nonetheless. Apparently the UK singles-buying public didn’t realise this, as it
charted at a lowly no. 60.
A clutch of unmemorable monkey songs followed in the early 90s.
1991 saw the release of Monkey Business by
Skid Row (no. 19), while the following year saw no fewer than three new
additions to the genre, making it the
vintage year of Monkey Music. These were Monkey
Business by Danger Danger (unrelated to the Skid Row song of the same
name), Monkey by Shaft (not a George
Michael cover), and Monkey Wah! by
Radical Rob, which holds the dubious honour of sounding more made-up than any
of the other titles on this list. They charted at 42, 61 and 67 respectively.
1993 was a quieter year, but did see the release of General Levy’s
Monkey Man, which was a cover of the
Maytals’ original. It peaked at no. 75, very nearly missing the charts
entirely.
Another Monkey cover followed in 1995, this time an inspired punk
cover of The Monkees, performed by
Rampage. It reached number 51.
In 1997, the Foo Fighters hit no. 12 with the excellent Monkey Wrench, also one of the
highlights of the genre. Most recently, in 1999, The Monkey himself, Ian Brown
hit no.12 with Dolphins Were Monkeys.
If that all seems rather trivial, it may interest you to know that
a large number of fairly credible artists have also recorded Monkey Songs that
were never released as singles. Below are some of my favourites.
Artist Title Album (Year)
Counting Crows Monkey Recovering the Satellites (1997)
Bruce Springsteen Part Man, Part Monkey 18 Tracks (1999)
The Beatles Everybody's
Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
“The White Album” (1968)
Marilyn Manson My Monkey Portrait of an American Family (1994)
Robbie Williams Me and My Monkey Escapology (2002)
Coal Chamber Shock the Monkey Chamber Music (1999)
Reel Big Fish Monkey Man Wild Thornberrys Movie OST (2003)
Beastie Boys Brass Monkey Licence to Ill (1986)
Travis We Are Monkeys ‘Turn’ single b-side (1998)
Ian Brown Unfinished Monkey Business Unfinished Monkey Business (1999)
On a similar note, entire monkey albums have been recorded by
Vodaphone geezers the Dandy Warhols (Welcome
to the Monkey House), hip-hop ‘star’ Kurious (A Constipated Monkey), Sweden’s fourth-biggest rock band
Millencollin (For Monkeys), bunch of
nobodies Guttermouth (Musical Monkey)
and doubtless many others.
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