Iconic '60s Rocker Talks Wild Times With Elton John, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and More
Iconic '60s Rocker Talks Wild Times With Elton John, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and More originally appeared on Parade.
An iconic '60s heartthrob singer/songwriter gave a new interview divulging all of the fun shenanigans he had back in the day, in honor of turning 80 in 2025.
, the last surviving member of the 1960s music group and TV series , regaled People with stories of seeing American debut, nabbing Jimi Hendrix as an opening act for The Monkees (which was a disaster), and hanging out with the Beatles.
On being at the legendary Hollywood club The Troubadour with the likes of Alice Cooper, Harry Nilsson, and : "It was the 'go-to' place. That was where we went all the time. Doug Weston was the impresario, and he helped introduce Elton John, Buffalo Springfield, Neil Diamond, . Just an incredible list."Dolenz went on to say he watched Elton John debut there in 1970 — and they accidentally wore the same outfit.
"We went down to the Troubadour. My wife at the time had just got back from England…she'd always bring me these great clothes from Carnaby Street and all that stuff. [This time] she brought me this great T-shirt. It was a reproduction of the Andy Warhol [silkscreen] of Marilyn Monroe — the multiple images that he did. I wore that to the show, and my friend said, 'Come over to the afterparty at my house and meet Elton.' So I go over there and Elton John's in the kitchen leaning up against the refrigerator, drinking a beer … wearing the same T-shirt. And, I swear to God, he takes one look at me and he goes, 'Oh f**k!' And he never forgave me," said Dolenz.
In 1967, he hung out with at his house in London, "Just me, him and Martha the sheepdog," the Monkees drummer recalled.The next day, McCartney invited Dolenz to the Abbey Road studios and he was so excited that he got all dressed up in his psychedelic '60s finest — "I looked like a cross between Ronald McDonald and Charlie Manson" — and when he got there, everyone was just sitting around casually and John Lennon said to Dolenz, "Hey Monkee Man, you want to hear what we're working on?"
"From then on, he called me Monkee Man," said Dolenz.
The singer also made a brief mention to People that he invited a young Jimi Hendrix to open for the Monkees, and both Dolenz and the Monkees' music director were "pleasantly surprised by the reaction" they got.
However, the Hendrix/Monkees pairing was notoriously terrible. According to The History Channel, the four Monkees members — Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork — were all huge fans of Hendrix, but unfortunately, the Monkees' fans were not.
Hendrix joined the tour in 1967 and only lasted for seven performances before he bailed because he was constantly getting booed by Monkees fans.
As Dolenz wrote in his book I'm a Believer, "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 Daaavy [Jones]. God, was it embarrassing."
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But in the book, Dolenz acknowledged what a massive fan of Hendrix the Monkees all were, especially him, writing, "[Hendrix was] not just your ordinary opening act. It was evident from the start that we were witness to a rare and phenomenal talent. Jimi was virtually the only act I ever made a point of getting to the hall early to see. I would stand in the wings and watch and listen in awe. I felt incredibly lucky just to have been there."
So it's funny that the People interview has such a casual, brief mention of Hendrix because that tour was quite the debacle.
But anyway, in the People interview, Dolenz also admitted he has a hilariously terrible memory sometimes, like the one time someone asked him if he'd ever met frontman and Dolenz said he saw Morrison play, but he never met him, then his wife jumped in and said, "Micky, he slept on the living floor for three days at our house!"
Iconic '60s Rocker Talks Wild Times With Elton John, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and More first appeared on Parade on Jun 4, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
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