The Monkees Story: The 1990s

About 5 years after The Monkees 1989 tours concluded, Rhino Records was re-releasing all of the Monkees' original albums on CD and the third wave of Monkee Mania was about to occur. In mid-1994, The Monkees were approached to reunite again for a UK reunion tour. By the time Dolenz, Jones, & Tork agreed, the time had already passed and it was too late to make arrangements. After this tour fell through, Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones decided not to let a good opportunity go to waste and got together to travel North America on their "Together Again" tour from July-September 1994. On January 5, 1995, all four original Monkees appeared at the Hollywood Hard Rock Cafe to accept platinum record awards for their first five albums, where they announced plans for an upcoming full reunion. During the time between then and 1996, Micky, Davy, & Peter got together to film a Pizza Hut commercial with Ringo Starr of The Beatles. Due to the popularity of the "Together Again" tour, Micky & Davy decided to do it again from June-October 1995. Later in the year, Dolenz, Jones, & Tork appeared on the hit TV show "Boy Meets World." By the time 1996 rolled around, The Monkees were collectively making plans for a brand new album of new material and in May, recording had begun. Meanwhile, a new greatest hits album was released, Nesmith & a movie producer had sold an idea for a Monkees feature film, and Tork, Jones, & Dolenz were touring North America from June-September to try to raise interest in their upcoming album. Nesmith originally planned on joining the others, but didn't like the idea of touring for long periods of time, and was caught up in a long lawsuit with PBS. On the 1996 N.A. Tour, the "20th Anniversary Tour 1986" album was re-issued on CD as "Live!" and sold at concerts. Finally, on October 15, 1996, the new album featuring only songs written, produced, & recorded by The Monkees, called "Justus" was released.

To promote the album, all four Monkees played a mini-concert on November 20 at the Billboard Live Club in Los Angeles, CA, which was covered widely by the media. During the week of January 21-28, 1997, the guys filmed and recorded material for their new TV special "Hey Hey It's The Monkees," which aired on ABC on February 17 of that year. After almost 30 years, all four Monkees finally played a full concert tour together in the UK in March. Plans were to bring this special tour to North America in the summer months of 1997, but Nesmith unexpectedly dropped out due to numerous complicated reasons. He later explained that he wasn't getting the enjoyment he was looking for onstage, singing Monkees tunes. In June, the "Justus" video featuring parts of the November 1996 Billboard Live concert, TV show clips, & music videos was released. With dates already planned and tickets sold, the three Monkees continued without Nesmith from June-December. An early 1998 tour of Australia and New Zealand was also scheduled for Tork, Dolenz, & Jones, but was canceled due to somewhat disappointing ticket sales after Nesmith left and Davy wanting to pursue his solo career. In the middle stages of 1998, all four Monkees were approached with contracts for the Monkees Movie that was talked about in 1996. Mike, Micky, & Peter all agreed, but Davy refused to be a part of it. As a result, all members went their seperate ways and continued with their own careers, not knowing what would be in store for them only a few years later.