The debate still continues over the Monkees actually being a band. Ofcourse they were a band, but they didnt start out as one.
In 1965 four hopefuls were picked to star in the new Television show, The Monkees. Peter Torkelson(later shortened to Tork,) Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones were picked from hundreds.The Monkees was a show about four teenage guys living on their own playing in a struggling rock band. Well, if they were going to have a show about a band, you were going to need music, that's were Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart come in. They wrote a lot of the Monkees' earlier music. For the pilot they sang and wrote the theme song, Hey Hey We're the Monkees, Lets Dance on, and I Wanna Be Free(but with Davy Jones on vocals.) Through the first season the Monkees put up with not playing their own music, but into the second season they started to gain control. They made Headquarters(their third album) completely on their own. Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith were the musicians of the group, but Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones had also learned to play drums and percussion.PAC&Jones was their fourth album, although they put alot of time into it,other musicians were featured on it along with their own names. When the second and last season of the Monkees came to an end the four guys started on something new. Head, their own feature film, was a major flop and cost the Monkees' rising fame to begin falling. After their TV special 33 1/3 revolutions per Monkee Peter Tork left the group.
The Monkees continued on as a trio making two more albums, The Monkees Instant Replay and The Monkees Present Micky Davy and Michael. Mike Nesmith's Listen to the Band was a final try at the charts but never made it to the top. In 1970 Nesmith left the group. So Dolenz and Jones struggled on as a duet making one more album as the Monkees, The Monkees Changes. About a year later they split up. For the 20 year reunion in 1986 the Monkees booked one of the biggest tours of the year. Two more albums have been made, Pool It(without Nesmith) and JustUs. With their 40 year reunion approaching fast we can only imagine whats next for the Monkees.
Bio written by: Kiri |
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