The Monkees Story: The Initial Run

On September 12, 1966, "The Monkees" classic TV show premiered on NBC. In the second half of 1965, show creators, Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, placed in ad in "Variety" calling for "folk & rock musicians" to star in a comedy about a struggling band, inspired by The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night." It turned out over 400 applied for the job. Some of those 400 included some now-famous and well-known people such as Harry Nilsson and Stephen Stills. But, only four lucky men were brought together to become the biggest pop & TV phenomenon of the late-60s. Davy Jones, of England was cast as the first Monkee, taking the part of percussionist, while Micky Dolenz of California was hired as the group's drummer. The second half of The Monkees is comprised of bassist/guitarist, Peter Tork of Washington, D.C. and guitarist, Mike Nesmith of Texas. Their music was handled by "the man with golden ear," Don Kirshner, who served as their Music Supervisor. Kirshner insisted that The Monkees not take part in any of their music's recording except for vocals, though Nesmith did manage to get only a small few of his own compositions released. Kirshner didn't think it was necessary for the guys to be instrumentally involved, due to the fact that he had the best studio musicians & songwriters around at the time. Such songwriters and musicians were Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Carole King, Neil Diamond, Jeff Barry, & Neil Sedaka, among others. Their first single, "Last Train To Clarksville," was released in September of 1966, as was their debut album, "The Monkees." Both releases soared to the #1 spot on the charts, and their TV show was an instant smash. Their second single, "I'm A Believer," was released later in 1966, and also rocketed to #1 in numerous countries, making it The Monkees' biggest hit. By the end of the year, critics and the media were against The Monkees and started an all-out war on them. Everywhere you turn you would see "Monkees or Phonies" on the newspaper headlines. Everyone was convinced that The Monkees couldn't play their own instruments, when in fact, they simply weren't allowed to. But the fans didn't seem to care what the media said. The Monkees grew even bigger and to prove they could indeed play their own instruments, they decided to start playing live concerts, which Kirshner was none to thrilled about. They played their first concert in Honolulu, Hawaii in late 1966 and embarked on their first tour soon after. During this tour, The Monkees were surprised and furious to find that their second album, "More of the Monkees" had been released without them even knowing about it. Their follow up album also hit #1, but Kirshner's relationship with The Monkees & their producers was on shaky ground. Later, after Kirshner was specifically told to release a single with a song The Monkees themselves had recorded, called "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," and he decided to release the single he felt had more of a chance of making #1 with "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" as the A-side and "She Hangs Out" as the B-side. The single was immediately pulled and Kirshner's stubborness cost him his job. The Monkees were left to record their third album, "Headquarters," on their own.

As their previous albums did, "Headquarters" also went to #1 on the charts. The Monkees went out on the road in the late-spring & summer months of 1967 with opening act Jimi Hendrix. But, after only a few concerts, the two parties decided they didn't fit and went their seperate ways. In mid-1967, a great achievement was accomplished for the guys when their TV show won two Emmys. Also, during this high point of The Monkees' career, they scored their third and final #1 single, "Daydream Believer." In late 1967, The Monkees forth album, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." was their last to hit #1. By the end of the year, The Monkees had outsold The Beatles & The Rolling Stones combined! In April of 1968, The Monkees fifth album, "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" just missed the #1 spot peaking at #3. "The Monkees" TV show's final episode (which was directed by Micky) was filmed in December 1967 and aired in March 1968. Without a TV show to spotlight their new material each week, The Monkees' record sales were slowly decreasing. Soon they started filming their first and only feature film,

"Head," written and produced by Bob Rafelson and a then not well-known Jack Nicholson. After filming for the movie, the group embarked on an Australian/Japanese tour from September - October. After the tour, their movie premiered as did its accompanying soundtrack, which featured 7 songs that were included in the movie as well as a few dialogue clips. The soundtrack reached #45 on the charts and the movie was a box office disaster. Almost directly after "Head," The Monkees tried to get some exposure and filmed an hour long TV special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee." By the end of 1968, Monkee Mania had died down and Peter Tork had had enough. Due to exhaustion and wanting to pursue a solo career, he called it quits. Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, & Mike Nesmith continued in 1969 to tour North America and promote "Instant Replay" which was released early in the year and "The Monkees Present," which was released in late 1969. The albums reached #32 and #100 on the charts and yet another member, Mike Nesmith, left the group in March of 1970, leaving Micky & Davy to record the final Monkees album of their initial run, "Changes." After the failure of "Changes" Davy decided that he was done being a Monkee, letting The Monkees rest until Monkee Mania's amazing return almost two decades later.