History Of The Monkees
What Are The Monkees?
The Monkees dubbed the Pre-Fab four are one the unusually popular rock n roll bands of decades that started off as just a 1960s TV comedy sitcom about four struggling musicians and became an instant phenomenon with it's zany Three Stooges/Marx brothers like slapstick, hilarious musical romps and hit songs which captured a large fan following. By the end of that era, the Monkees would go down in history as an American pop culture icon since the Beatles.
How It All Began
It all started in 1965 when a couple of Columbia Pictures Screen Gems producers Robert Rafelson and Bert Schneider came up with an idea of a new comedy series inspired by the Beatles first movie "A Hard Day's Night" about four zany struggling rock n roll musicians called “The Monkees” living in a apartment by the beach in Southern California. Soon the two placed in ad in "Variety" calling for four actor/ musicians and over 400 applied including musicians Harry Nilsson and Stephen Stills. But the four lucky men that were picked were Texas-born Mike Nesmith as the guitarist, British-born Davy Jones as tambourine and maracas player, Micky Dolenz as the drum-mer and Peter Tork as the guitarist, bassist and keyboardist. They seemed like the perfect choice with Davy and Micky who started careers as child actors, while Mike and Peter as aspiring musicians with no acting experience. Plus both Davy and Mike had been already signed to Colpix, an LP belonging to Screen Gems. In the fall of 1965, they filmed the pilot episode but after a test screening of the pilot episode in January the following year received negative results, Screen Gems sent Robert Rafelson into the cutting room for two days where he deleted a few scenes and added black and white screen tests of Davy and Mike. After the latest results from the changes, did NBC decide to pick up the series. To help with the music, the producers brought in Don Kirshner who was known as “the man with the golden ear” as their music supervisor. Soon the Monkees aired on September 12, 1966 on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.
Monkeemania Begins
That same month, their first single “Last Train To Clarksville” was released as was their first album “The Monkees” which both reached #1 on the charts and their TV series became an instant hit mostly to the teenage viewers. Later that year, their second single “I’m A Believer” by Neil Diamond was released also made it to the #1 spot and became their most popular hit. Soon the Monkees were becoming a huge success in America as teenage heartthrobs and in other countries for their TV Series but mostly their music as Monkeemania began and they sold more albums than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. They made more hits with songs “I’m Not Your Step-ping Stone”, “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, “The Girl I Know Somewhere”, “Daydream Believer”, “Valleri” etc. Although they often took turns singing leads, Micky sang lead on majority of their songs, unusual for the drum-mer in the band. However, despite their success, problems rose due to the fact they weren’t allowed to play their own music. They were already being backlashed by the critics and the media as they were accused of being phonies and not able to play their own instruments. Mike, a serious musician was upset about this fact and was the first to protest about it soon rallied Micky and Peter to his side to take a stand although Davy was the only one satisfied with the arrangements. Wanting to be taken seriously as a real band and prove they can play their own music, the producers relented to allowing them to go on concert tours against Kirshner’s wishes. They soon began touring around the country and their first concert was on December 3, 1966 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
After their first concert tour, the Monkees were surprised and upset that their second album, “More of the Monkees” was released without their knowledge. The relation-ship between Don Kirshner and the Monkees were already starting to strain due to the fact he wouldn’t allow them to play their own music in the beginning and it strained even more as the Monkees wanted more control over themselves and their music. The final straw was when Kirshner was specifically told to release a single the Mon-kees recorded but instead he release a single he felt had a better chance of making #1, “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” on the A side and “She Hangs Out on the B side. After this, Kirshner was fired and the Monkees now had free reign over their music. They soon hit the recording studio and recorded they third album “Headquarters”. “Headquarters made to #1 for a week until the Beatles latest album “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart club’s Band” was released becoming number #1. During the spring and summer of 1967, the Monkees went on another tour and Micky had enlisted legendary singer Jimi Hendrix as their opening act in Jacksonville, Fla on July 8, 1967 but as soon as he performed the audience would scream “We want Davy!” Soon after several shows Hendrix wanted out opened his last act for them at Forest Hills Stadium in New York on July 18 before parting with them. The Monkees continued their sum-mer tour and even performed in England where the Beatles held a party in honor of them. The Monkees were excited about meeting the famous group that inspired their band and John Lennon told Mike at the event that he thought they were the greatest comic talent since the Marx Brothers and he never misses a show.
After returning to the United States, they filmed their second season of the TV series which won two Emmys and later that year, they recorded their fourth album “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd” which would be their last #1 hit. Afterwards, things started gradually going downhill for the Pre-fab four. First, their was complaints regarding the series plots which started to become too predictable with loose scripts and the group even wanted to revamp the show for it’s third season with a one hour variety show but in the end the TV series was cancelled and it’s last episode which was directed by Micky aired on March 25, 1968. With TV show cancelled, the Monkees focused more on their singing but without a TV show to spotlight their new songs their record sales started to decrease. Their fifth album “The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees” only made it to #3. They then try to enter the big screens making their only feature film debut “Head” which was co-written by a then unpopular young actor Jack Nicholson and produced by Monkees co-creator Bob Rafelson but the movie flopped and that fall they went on an Australian/Japanese tour and then filmed their TV special “33 1/3 Revolution Per Monkee” which aired in the spring of 1969 and would be their last TV appearance as a quartet. Peter quit the band in December of 1968 and the group continued as trio and released their next album “Instant Replay” but none of their later albums were as successful as their earlier work and in 1969 Mike was the next to leave the band to start a solo career. Davy and Micky remained as duo and recorded the album “Changes” but in late 1970 they parted ways as Monkeemania died down and soon the band was no more for now.
The End Of Monkeemania
By the 1975 a semi-Monkees reunion came about when Micky and Davy reunited along with songwriting team Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart who had written some of the Monkees songs. Soon the guys decided to form a band Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart known as “The Greatest Golden Hits of The Monkees: The Guys Who Wrote Em & The Guys Who Sang Em” and embarked on their first concert on July 4, 1975 at Six Flags Over America in St. Louis. Afterwards, the toured around the North American contin-ent and later performed abroad as far as Asia performing a mix the Monkees and Boyce & Hart’s classics. They also appeared on numerous TV shows including “American Bandstand” and “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” and in May of 1976 they recorded their only album of new material titled “Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart” by Capitol Records as well as a single “I Remember The Feeling”. Neither were very successful in the charts. Also that year on July 4, 1976, Peter reunited with the guys when he made a guest appearance at their concert in Disneyland. Later the three would head for the studios and record “Christmas is My Time of The Year” and “White Christ-mas” to be released later that year for fan club members. Meanwhile, DJB&H contin-ued touring and a concert they performed in Tokyo on July 20 was recorded as a live album release but the sales weren’t very good. The following year they released a television special titled “The Greatest Golden Hits of The Monkees” directed by Micky but sometime in 1977 they guys split up and again went their separate ways.
Monkeemania Returns
In late 1985, David Fishof, a concert promoter approached Peter Tork about the possi-bility of a 20th Monkees Anniversary Monkee Reunion tour and Peter agreed and soon Micky, Davy and Mike were contacted and also agreed and in 1986 MTV aired mara-thons of the Monkees TV show and soon Monkeemania returned once again. Between February and March of that year Peter and Davy went on an Australian tour called “The Sounds of The Monkees”. When they returned for all of them to do U.S. tour, Mike backed out due to other commitments and the others went on as a trio touring all over the continent from May to December. Monkeemania continued to rise as re-runs of their show aired on syndication and on cable channel Nickelodeon their albums started selling and Micky and Peter recorded three new songs that were added to their album “Then and Now: The Best of The Monkees”. Davy chose not to participate in any the recordings. The reunion tour became the biggest thing in the country that year and a 20th reunion live tour album was even released the following year at concerts and mail order. By next year, Peter and Davy once again toured in Australia then all three headed to the studios to record their album “Pool It” which totally new songs and was released in August. Then they embarked on another tour from July to October released some singles from their “Pool It” album and did a few music videos as well as release their video “Heart And Soul” which featured TV clips from their show, 80s concerts and music videos. Although Mike wasn’t’ involved in their tour he did make a few guest appearances first on September 7, 1986 at the Greek Theatre in L.A. where he performed two encore songs and on July 9, 1989 at the Amphitheatre and the following day when the Monkees were awarded the Hollywood walk of fame. Altogether the Monkees toured throughout North American and abroad until about 1989 when their Monkeemania started to die down a little and they guys decided separate once again and once again it wouldn’t remain too long.
Monkeemania In The 90s
By 1994 Rhino Records released all of the Monkees original works on CDs as Monkee-mania returned for the 1990s. Micky and Davy got together and decided to due a “Together Again” tour from July through September. Early the following year on January 5, all four guys appeared at the Hollywood Hard Rock Café to accept platinum awards for their first five records and announced a new reunion tour in the works. In between, Micky and Davy did another “Together Again” tour from June to October, Micky, Davy and Peter did a Pizza Hut commercial with ex Beatle Ringo Starr and all three guest starred on the sitcom “Boy Meets World” as well as appeared in the feature film "The Bady Bunch Movie". By May of 1996 all four Monkees headed to the studio to record their latest new album “Justus” which was the first to feature all four of them since 1968 and released by October. Then all four also appeared on the docu-mentary special “Hey, Hey We’re The Monkees” that aired on The Disney Channel. Afterwards, Micky, Davy and Peter toured the continent from June to September. Mike who was originally going to tour with them backed out due to a lawsuit against him by PBS but joined them on for a concert on November 20 at the Billboard Live Club in L.A. In January of 1997, all four of them began filming for their new TV special “Hey, Hey, It’s The Monkees” co-written by Mike which aired on February 17, the first to feature all four of them since their TV special back in 1969. Then they all embarked on a full tour that March in the U.K. and plans were made for a North American tour that summer but Mike dropped unexpectedly without notice and the guys continued on as trio once again. By 1998 their tour ended and although all four were approached for contracts for plans of a Monkees feature film, they didn’t happen when Davy refused to part of it and once again they went their separate ways.
Monkeemania In The New Millennium
By 2000, the Monkees once again came into focus when two specials where aired about them. First “Behind The Music” on VH1 and “E! True Hollywood Story” on the E! Channel, plus a biographical movie about The Monkees titled “Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story” which also aired on VH1. Afterwards, Monkees sales on their Albums and CDs went up and soon David Fishoff who by this time had become Davy’s personal manager convinced him, Micky and Peter to go on a 35th reunion tour the following year and by March the guys toured through the spring. Soon their popularity grew as Monkeemania once again returned for the new millenium and the tour expan-ded from May onto August. A live CD “Monkees in Las Vegas” was sold at concerts that summer. However, by mid-summer Peter wanted out due to some tensions and his commitment to his own band Shoe Suede Blues but he promised to continue the tour throughout the summer. His final concert appearance was at the Sun Theatre in Anaheim, CA on August 31, 2001 which was also both filmed and recorded by King Biscuit Entertainment for a live DVD and CD. On September 2, Peter received a call from David Fishof who told him that Micky and Davy were very hurt about him leaving the tour because other projects, like a new album or CD had to be cancelled that they didn’t want him showing up for the last two concerts. Micky and Davy once again continued on as a duo as they did over three decades earlier. They toured all over throughout the fall and in March the following year the toured in Canada where a new live CD was recorded called “Monkee Mania 2002 Live In Toronto”. Late that year, they ended their tour when Davy decided not to continue so they parted possibly for the last time.
Today all four former members are still performing although as solos even though Peter has a new band called Shoe Suede Blues. The Monkees still remain a huge phenomenon to older and younger generations alike as re-runs of their old shows still air on some stations and their hits are still selling in stores as well as videos/DVDs of their series. Whether they ever reunite or not the Monkees will be remembered through time through their music, shows and dedicated fans.
