The Monkees

The Monkees in 1968 (left to right): Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones

The Monkees were a four-person band who appeared in an American television series of the same name, which ran on NBC from 1966 to 1968. The Monkees were formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1970. Several reunions of the original lineup have taken place. The first reunion lasted from 1986-1989, and a second regrouping took place between 1996-1997. The Monkees last worked together for a brief period in 2001.

History of the series

The television show first aired on September 12, 1966 on the American NBC television network and ran for two seasons; its final primetime episode ran on September 9, 1968. Modelled on the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night, The Monkees featured the antics and music of a fictional pop-rock group which, due to the necessities of the program and the massive success of the records, became a real pop-rock group.

The four young men who became The Monkees were David ("Davy") Jones (percussion/vocals), Micky Dolenz (drums/vocals), Michael Nesmith (guitar/vocals), and Peter Tork (bass/keyboards/vocals). They were cast after ads were placed in trade publications calling for actors to play “4 insane boys” on a new television series. 437 hopeful actors and musicians auditioned for the parts; a then relatively unknown Stephen Stills was shortlisted for a role, but was eventually knocked out because of his bad teeth, with Peter Tork finally winning the role Stills had hoped to get. Rumors have circulated that Charles Manson also auditioned, but these rumors have been criticised as false.

Nesmith and Tork were both already professional musicians, but Dolenz and Jones were better known as actors, and all four were trained in both improvisational comedy and performing musically as a group before the pilot episode was filmed, so that they could look and act like a cohesive band even though only their voices were being used on the initial recordings.

As a television show, The Monkees used techniques rarely seen on television — characters breaking the fourth wall and talking to the camera and sometimes even to people off-camera in the studio, fantasy sequences, jump cuts, and at least once a week a musical romp which might have nothing to do with the story line. In fact, many of the episodes included what now look very much like video clips: short, self-contained films featuring one of the songs from a Monkees album.

The Monkees was put together by a number of people who went on to great later success. The show was produced by Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, who later produced the film Easy Rider ; Rafelson went on to direct such films as Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens. The 1965 pilot episode was co-written by Paul Mazursky and the late Larry Tucker, who later co-wrote the movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which Mazursky directed; he went on to direct such films as Harry and Tonto and Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

The Monkees won two Emmy Awards in 1967: Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy (James Frawley).

Trademarks

Stock footage
Davy falls in love
Peter gets in trouble
Musical romps
Last minute interviews
Drag
Authority resistance
Adaptation of classic literature
Multiple roles
Criminals with short hair and business suits
Subtle social commentary (e.g. C.I.S. on "The Spy Who Came In From The Cool" and "Monkee Chow Mein" and Disneyland on "Monsterous Monkee Mash" and "The Wild Monkees")

Season One

Royal Flush
Monkee See, Monkee Die
Monkee Vs. Machine
Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers
The Spy Who Came In From The Cool
Success Story
Monkees In A Ghost Town
Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth
The Chaperone
Here Come The Monkees (original pilot episode)
Monkees A La Carte
I've Got A Little Song Here
One Man Shy
Dance, Monkees, Dance
Too Many Girls
Son Of A Gypsy
The Case Of The Missing Monkee
I Was A Teenage Monster
The Audition
Monkees In The Ring
The Prince And The Pauper
Monkees At The Circus
Captain Crocodile
Monkees A La Mode
Alias Micky Dolenz
Monkee Chow Mein
Monkee Mother
Monkees On The Line
Monkees Get Out More Dirt
Monkees In Manhattan
Monkees At The Movies
Monkees On Tour

Season Two

It's A Nice Place To Visit
The Picture Frame
Everywhere A Sheik, Sheik
Monkee Mayor
Art, For Monkees' Sake
I Was A 99Lb. Weakling
Hillbilly Honeymoon
Monkees Marooned
Card Carrying Red Shoes
The Wild Monkees
A Coffin Too Frequent
Hitting The High Seas
Monkees In Texas
Monkees On The Wheel
The Christmas Show
Fairy Tale
Monkees Watch Their Feet
Monstrous Monkee Mash
The Monkees' Paw
The Devil & Peter Tork
Monkees Race Again
The Monkees In Paris
Monkees Mind Their Manor
Some Like It Lukewarm
Monkees Blow Their Minds
Mijacogeo

Beyond television

After the television show was cancelled, Rafelson directed the four Monkees in a feature film, Head, executive-produced by Schneider and co-written and co-produced by Rafelson with a then relatively unknown actor named Jack Nicholson. The film, created and edited in a stream of consciousness style, featured cameo appearances by movie star Victor Mature and musician Frank Zappa, and was not a commercial success. This was in part because it comprehensively demolished the group's carefully-groomed public image, as evidenced by the following stanzas from Rafelson and Nicholson's "Ditty-Diego" (recited at the start of the film by the Monkees), which ruthlessly parodies Boyce and Hart's "Monkees Theme":

Hey hey we are the Monkees

You know we love to please

A manufactured image

With no philosophies.

We hope you love our story

Although there isn't one

That is to say there's many

That way there is more fun

You told us you like action

And games of many kinds

You like to dance you like to sing

So let's all lose our minds

We know it doesn't matter

'Cause what you came to see

Is what we'd love to give you

And give it one, two, three

But it may come three, two, one, two

Or jump from nine to five

And when you see the end in sight

The beginning may arrive

For those who look for meanings

In form as they do fact,

We might just tell you one thing

But we'd only take it back

Not back like in a box back

Not back like in a race

Not back so we can keep it

But back in time and space!

You say we're manufactured

To that we all agree

So make your choice and we'll rejoice

In never being free

Hey hey we are The Monkees!

We've said it all before!

The money's in, we're made of tin

We're here to give you more!

But over the intervening years Head has developed a cult following for its innovative style and anarchic humor, and the soundtrack album (long out of print but now available in an expanded CD version) is counted among their best recordings. Members of the Monkees, Nesmith in particular, cite Head as one of the crowning achievements of the band.

From TV to stage

Critics of the Monkees complained that they were a made-for-TV knockoff of The Beatles (although John Lennon was a fan of the show), and that the Monkees were a group chosen by a casting director.

The four stars were soon complaining because the producers would not allow them to play their own instruments on their records. Their frustrations were increased by the fact that they were all accomplished musicians in their own right. They eventually forced the series' musical coordinator Don Kirshner to let them have more participation in the recording process (against his strong objections), which included Nesmith producing his own songs, and band members making some instrumental contributions. Led by Nesmith, the band rebelled against the producers, Kirshner was fired, and beginning with their third album, Headquarters, the four Monkees did play most of the parts on the rest of their record albums.

File:HQs Album Cover.jpg

Headquarters album cover, 1967

Kirshner was reported to have been incensed by the group's rebellion and swore never to repeat his mistake. This experience led directly to his later ventures The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats, which were animated series — the "stars" existed only on an animation cel, and obviously could not demand creative control over the records issued under their name.

The massive success of the series and its spin-off records had created intense pressure to mount a touring version of the group by early 1967. The Monkees insisted on getting in on the act and against the initial wishes of the producers, Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork went out on the road. The results were far better than anyone had a right to expect, and wherever they went they were greeted by scenes of fan hysteria not seen since The Beatles. This gave the four stars increased confidence in their battle for creative control over the music used in the series.

When the group toured Britain in 1967 there was a major controversy over the supposed revelation that the group did not play on their own records, and the news made the front pages of several UK and international music papers, with the group derisively dubbed "The Pre-Fab Four". Nevertheless, they were warmly welcomed by many top British stars including The Beatles, who knew them to be skilled musicians and sympathised with their wish to have more control over their music.

Many now feel that the controversy unfairly targeted The Monkees and conveniently ignored the fact that almost all the leading British and American groups — up to and including The Beatles — habitually used sessions players on their recordings, and that this practice had always (until then) passed without comment.

Supporters of the group also point out that producers and Kirshner had the good taste to use some of the best songwriters of the period, including Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Harry Nilsson and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, as well as using top-ranking Los Angeles session musicians on the records. The Monkees also deserve credit for helping bring America's attention to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, who they took on for as an opening act during their debut 1967 concert tour, even though Hendrix quit after only a few shows. Reports circulated at the time that he had been removed from the tour after complaints from the conservative women's group Daughters Of The American Revolution. This was later proved false and it has since been revealed that the story was concocted for publicity purposes by the Australian journalist and music writer Lillian Roxon, who had been accompanying the tour with her friend, the Australian singer Lynne Randell, who was one of the supporting acts and who was romantically involved with Jones at the time.

The Monkees had several international hits — which are still heard on oldies stations — including I'm a Believer, (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, Daydream Believer, Last Train to Clarksville — and even a number of social criticism songs, the best known of which is probably Pleasant Valley Sunday.

Six albums were produced with the original lineup (four of which went to Number 1 on the Billboard chart), which was supplemented by a series of successful tours. But tensions within the group were increasing, and Tork quit shortly after the band's Far East tour in late 1968, but not before completing work on the band's 1969 NBC television special, 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. Three more albums would follow while Tork, and then Nesmith, left the group, leaving only Dolenz and Jones to record as The Monkees. Eventually, Jones too departed, leaving Dolenz as the sole remaining recording Monkee, and so marked the end of the first phase of The Monkees' recording career.

Revival

File:Monkees1987.jpg

The Monkees in 1987: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork

In 1986, a Monkees TV show marathon on the video music channel MTV re-launched the Monkees, sparking worldwide interest by both original fans and their children, who flocked to see the Monkees in sold-out shows. Michael Nesmith was forced to sit out most of these reunion projects because of prior commitments to his bustling Pacific Arts video production company. To show his support for the reunited band, Nesmith appeared onstage with Dolenz, Jones and Tork twice, both times in Los Angeles, in 1986 and 1989. He also appeared with the band in a 1986 Christmas medley music video for MTV and took part in an induction ceremony at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where the Monkees received a star in 1989.

The sudden revival of the Monkees in 1986 helped move the first Monkees single since 1970, "That Was Then, This Is Now", into the American Top 20. A new album by the touring trio, Pool It!, quickly followed and met with moderate success. From 1986 to 1989, the Monkees would conduct major concert tours in the United States, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and Europe.

In the 1990s, the Monkees continued to create new musical material, eventually recording an album which all four members (and nothing but) performed and produced; this became Justus (1996). The touring trio of Dolenz, Jones and Tork reunited again for a successful 30th anniversary tour of American amphitheaters in 1996, while Nesmith joined them onstage in Los Angeles to promote the new songs from Justus. For the first time since the initial reunion in 1986, Nesmith returned to the concert stage full-time for a tour of the United Kingdom in 1997, and two sold-out concerts at Wembley Arena in London highlighted the success of the band in the 1990s. But once the revival craze died down, so did Michael Nesmith's interest in the group, and the Monkees disbanded once again. In fact, Davy Jones has gone on record to say another reunion of The Monkees as a complete unit "will never happen again". The remaining three Monkees (Dolenz, Jones and Tork) tour sporadically, most recently in 2001.

Impact of the Monkees

The Monkees, selected specifically to appeal to the youth market with their manufactured personae and carefully produced singles, can be seen as the original precursor to the modern proliferation of studio- and corporation-created bands, or the modern boy band. However, The Monkees differ from typical modern boy bands in several respects: The Monkees did not perform the tightly harmonized ballads or synchronized dance routines boy bands are noted for. Also, The Monkees were shown playing musical instruments on the show, or actually played instuments during live shows, unlike boy bands. Furthermore, the Monkees frequently contributed their own songwriting efforts on their albums. Like other modern day boy bands, while always popular with the public, the critical appeal of the Monkees has only increased since their original inception, while it remains unproven that modern day boy bands will experience the longevity that the Monkees have enjoyed.

The Monkees found unlikely fans among musicians of the punk rock period of the mid-1970s. Many of these punk performers had grown up on TV re-runs of the series, and in keeping with the prevailing anti-industry, anti-Establishment trend of their music, they adopted The Monkees as symbols of rebellion against the mainstream music industry, citing the group's insistence on breaking out of their manufactured TV image and proving that they could write and perform as a real band. The Sex Pistols went as far as recording a version of The Monkees' (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone and there are some close parallels between the careers of the two bands.

Millions of people still listen to their music, and it seems likely that Monkees singles will remain a staple on pop-rock and oldies stations for decades to come. In fact, their legacy has been further strengthened by Rhino Entertainment's acquisition of the Monkees franchise from Columbia Pictures in the late 1980s, with remastered editions of both the original television series and their music library now surfacing in stores.

Quotation

Hey! Hey! We're the Monkees!

People say we monkey around!

But we're too busy singin'

To put anybody down!

Albums

The Monkees (1966)
More of The Monkees (1967)
Headquarters (1967)
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones, Ltd. (1967)
The Birds, The Bees, & The Monkees (1968)
Head (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1968)
Instant Replay (1969)
The Monkees Present (1969)
Changes (1970)
The Monkees Greatest Hits (1976)
Then And Now...the Best of the Monkees (1986)
Pool It! (1987)
Live 1967 (1987)
Missing Links (1987)
20th Anniversary Tour Live (1987)
Missing Links, Volume II (1990)
Listen to the Band (boxed set) (1991)
Greatest Hits (1995)
Missing Links, Volume III (1996)
Justus (1996)
Anthology (1998)
Music Box (boxed set) (2001)
The Best of the Monkees (2003)

Singles

Last Train to Clarksville (1966) US #1
I'm A Believer (1966) US #1
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone (1966) US #20
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You (1967) US #2
The Girl I Knew Somewhere (1967) US #39
Randy Scouse Git (1967) UK #1
Pleasant Valley Sunday (1967) US #3
Words (1967) US #11
Daydream Believer (1967) US #1
Valleri (1968) US #3
Tapioca Tundra (1968) US #34
D.W. Washburn (1968) US #19
It's Nice To Be With You (1968) US #51
Porpoise Song Theme from HEAD (1968) US #62
Teardrop City (1969) US #56
Listen to the Band (1969) US #63
Someday Man (1969) US #81
Good Clean Fun (1969) US #82
Oh My My (1970) US #98
That Was Then, This Is Now (1986) US #20
Heart and Soul (1987) US #27

External links