Speaking of The Monkees, it’s not true that Charles Manson auditioned for the “group.”
(Monkee Micky Dolenz started that rumor as a gag, as he reminds folks here.)
However, it is true that some of the biggest names in “Laurel Canyon” music did, and went on to party and collaborate with this “fake” group throughout the Sixties, treating them as equals.
And it’s also true, although they’ve been trying to cover this up for years, that another key figure on the Laurel Canyon scene was… Charles Manson.
Record producer (and previous resident of Sharon Tate’s Cielo Drive house) Terry Melcher recalled, “I’d have to say that, personally speaking, [David] Crosby was worse for the good feelings of [the local] rock’n’roll [scene] than Manson was.”
In fact, Manson might have been a more talented musician than Crosby and some of the ones who “played” in groups like the Mamas and the Papas, the Doors and other iconic bands of the era.
