....A Made Up Band to Help Sell A TV Series?

From what I understand they were cast as just a TV show first. I don't know how big their plans were. But, "Last Train to Clarksville" came out right before the show debuted. Making it look like they were a band that became a show.

Then they morphed into a real band, eventually ditched the show, and broke up one by one.

Having recently read the book "i'm a believer: my life of monkees, music, and madness" by Mickey Dolenz I can tell you that the Monkees were a made up band. Through the making of the show they became a real band until egos and differences in musical taste broke them apart.

For a made up band though, they sure knew how to sing. I was a big fan of theirs back then. I remember they used to rerun the Monkees on Saturday mornings in the early '70s as well.

For a made up band though, they sure knew how to sing. I was a big fan of theirs back then. I remember they used to rerun the Monkees on Saturday mornings in the early '70s as well.
Hey I'm still a big fan of theirs!!! :D

Hey I'm still a big fan of theirs!!! :D
So am I. :D My parents hated their music and I remember I had a few records of them and it drove them crazy. :lol: I think my favorite song was Daydream Believer.

So am I. :D My parents hated their music and I remember I had a few records of them and it drove them crazy. :lol: I think my favorite song was Daydream Believer.
I really like Daydream Believer too. Other favorites are I'm a Belliever, Last Train to Clarksville, and Pleasant Valley Sunday.

Micky, Davy, Peter, Mike will be a MONKEE until the day they die.

...was indeed a well-planned attempt by Screen Gems/Columbia [created by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker] to produce a weekly sitcom variation of The Beatles' feature films, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!". They began by placing an ad in one of the leading L.A. newspapers in the fall of 1965, announcing an open "casting call" for young singer/musicians to audition for a proposed weekly series about a musical group. At least five hundred applicants answered that ad, but two of them were finally chosen because of their previous ties to Screen Gems/Columbia: Davy Jones, who recorded an album for their "Colpix" label in '65 (as "David Jones"), and Micky Dolenz, who, as "Mickey Braddock", previously appeared in their 1956-'58 TV series, "CIRCUS BOY" {produced by Herbert B. Leonard, who also produced "THE ADVENTURES OF RIN-TIN-TIN" for them at the same time}. Mike Nesmith virtually auditioned as a lark, and Peter Tork got lucky.

"The Monkees"' records were produced by Don Kirshner, who had previously sold his "Aldon Music" publishing company to Screen Gems/Columbia, and was credited as a "music consultant" on several of their sitcoms as part of the deal. He, in turn, corralled the best writers {among them, Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, Neil Diamond, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, and Neil Sedaka} and studio musicians in the business to create their "sound" [yes, Mike, Davy, Peter and Micky could sing and perform music, but they were "augmented" by other singers and musicans in their early recordings], and "Colgems" records was created in the summer of 1966 [marketed and distributed by RCA, whose NBC network carried the show] to sell the albums featuring the songs heard on the series' soundtrack every week, beginning in the fall of '66.

Despite the entire enterprise initially being a "package deal", The Monkees DID become a popular group in their own right...and Mike saw to it that they became a "legitimate" one, kicking Don Kirshner out of the studio in 1967 and creating their own material and performances....despite their innovations, the group officially broke up two years after the TV series ended.

:tv:

yeah i've always been a big monkees fan too! even though they were way before my time! but still....i know almost everything about them and i have all there albums well not all of them but a lot! and who cares if they were only supposed to be a band in just the show they'll always be a true band in my eyes!

long live the monkees!!!