Jimi Hendrix: His Disastrous Tour With The Monkees

The Ill-fated tour of the Monkees with Jimi Hendrix opening in 1967. -----GET A SECRET VIDEO PLAYLIST----- Sign up for email news and get a link to my secret playlist with 10 of my best stories. https://bit.ly/3emyloM -----CONNECT ON SOCIAL----- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocknrolltruestories Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RNRTrueStories Twitter: https://twitter.com/rocktruestories Blog: www.rockandrolltruestories.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RNRTrueStories #themonkees #jimihendrix #areyouexperienced #purplehaze One band who didn’t seem to get much love from critics was the Monkees. Whenever there name comes to my mind, i always picture this scene from the Simpsons. I don’t know what’s sadder the fact that that episode deals with Marge’s fear of air travel or the fact that the simpsons used to be so funny or just the fact i am missing traveling so much and being the germophobe i am, i’m not getting onto a plane in the future unless i;m wearing a full hazmat suit. Anywas getting back to the story, 1967 saw one of the strangest musical pairings in history. Teeny boppers the monkees who were huge at the time would tour America with jimi hendrix or so that was the plan. Exactly whose idea it was to pair the musicians together isn’t really clear. Some sources claim it was Hendrix’s manager Mike Jeffreys while it was the Monkees themselves, but either way it would be an ill-fated tour that unravelled after several dates. Stay tuned for the full story. . By 1967 Jimi Hendrix was a rising star in the UK, but virtually unknown Stateside. The Monkees had massive crowds and it was a perfect opportunity to get Jimi Hendrix in front of a lot of people in the Untied States. Hendrix himself expressed wasn’t a big fan of the idea slamming The Monkees’ music in a Melody Maker interview saying “Oh God, I hate them! Dishwater….You can’t knock anybody for making it, but people like the Monkees?” The Monkees meanwhile were big fans of Hendrix. Monkee Mike Nesmith first heard of Hendrix while he was at a dinner party with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton. Soon afterwards Monkees Micky Donelz saw Hendrix perform in New York telling Forbes “I first saw [Hendrix] when he was still Jimmy James [and the Blue Flames],”“I was in New York, and somebody said I had to come down to [Greenwich] Village to see this guy play the guitar with his teeth [laughs]. Soon afterwards Donelz and his bandmate saw the guitar virtuoso perform at the 1967 Monterra Pop Festival and instantly became fans. Dolenz would reveal in his autobiography Im a Beliver "You can't imagine what it must have been like for an act like Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees," "It was evident from the start that we were witness to a rare and phenomenal talent. I would stand in the wings and watch and listen in awe." Hendrix would open his first show of the tour in Jacksonville, Florida to a less than enthusiastic crowd. Micky Dolenz would recall in his book how fans reacted to Hendrix revealing "[The parents] were probably not too crazy about having to sit through a Monkees concert," "much lees see this black guy in a psychedelic Day-Glo blouse, playing music from hell, holding his guitar like he was fit, then lighting it on fire ... Jimi would amble out onto the stage, fire up the amps and break into 'Purple Haze,' and the kids in the audience would instantly drown him out with, 'We Want Davy!!' God, it was embarrassing." Hendrix was supposed to pay 29 shows with the Monkees, but bowed out of the tour after only 8 dates. While the Monkees and Hendrix got along on tour, it was the crowds who weren’t so enthusiastic about Hendrix’s performances. as his final show would take place on July 17, 1967. Some stories have suggested the musician may have ended his set by saluting the crowd with his middle finger and smashing his guitar. There was also some rumors circulating that he ma have been kicked off the tour after aa group called the Daughters of the American Revolution claimed that his show was an i quote “too erotic.’ Monkees member Peter tork was overjoyed to have Hendrix on tour, but reflecting back on it he would admit it wasn’t an ideal pairing claiming “This is screaming, scaring-your-daddy music compared with The Monkees. It didn’t cross anybody’s mind that it wasn’t gonna fly. And there’s poor Jimi, and the kids go, ‘We want The Monkees, we want The Monkees.'” Donelz was sad to see Hendrix leave the tour revealing in his book "I was sorry to see him go,. "We did have some great times, running around the New York City psychedelic scene like kids in a candy store, tripping at the Electric Circus and jamming until all hours of the night in the hotel room." Sources: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jimi-hendrix-the-monkees-tour-rivalry/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31214/1967-jimi-hendrix-opened-monkees https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/why-jimi-hendrix-opened-for-the-monkees-even-though-he-hated-them.html/

Added 12 Jun 2026