This Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl…the first game was played on January 15, 1967 (end of the 1966 season) which means that “I’m a Believer” by the Monkees, is almost 50 years old, too, because that was the #1 song in America, 49 years ago this week. Written by Neil Diamond, the groups singers — Davy, Micky, Michael and Peter– made the song ubiquitous.
I don’t remember who played that first Super Bowl game, or where, but I do remember that song, and most of the words, too. (For the record, it was the Packers vs the Chiefs; the Packers won, 35-10. It was played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.)
Just for fun, let’s compare “I’m a Believer” to the song that is #1 right now—Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself.”
Even though “I’m a Believer” has that impossibly upbeat 60s “British Invasion” sound, vs Bieber’s rapper style, which is more urban and edge-y, both the Monkees and Bieber are teen idols, and both songs are about relationships, which means the things that that teens think about today is pretty much the same things that were on our minds, too, 50 years ago.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.