Monkee History

[grundoontv]

The Monkees was a hit TV show about an out-of-work rock group who supported themselves by taking various odd jobs. The show was created by Bob Rafelson & Bert Schneider. The show was first pitched in early 1965 to Schneider's father, Abe, who at the time was head of Columbia Pictures. On April 16, 1965, Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, gave the go-ahead to shoot a Monkees pilot.
The following fall over 500 applicants auditioned to become Monkees. Among those who auditioned (but did not get it) included Danny Hutton (who would go on to become 1/3rd of the popular music trio Three Dog Night), Steve Stills (who would go on to form Buffalo Springfield and later become 1/3rd of Crosby, Stills, & Nash), Harry Nilsson (who would go on to have a successful music career), and Paul Williams (who would go on to a career as an actor-songwriter). Those 4 boys (plus several others who auditioned) would go on to greater fame. Of those 500 auditionees, 4 were hired--22-year-old Mike Nesmith (born December 30, 1942 in Houston, Texas), 21-year-old Peter Tork (born February 13, 1944 in Washington, D.C., according to "Entertainment Tonight"), 20-year-old Micky Dolenz (born March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, California), and 19-year-old Davy Jones (born December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England).
Jones was the first Monkee hired--and the only Monkee hired without ever having to audition. All 4 boys had careers in showbiz before becoming famous. Mike was a songwriter under the pseudonym Mike Blessing; Peter was a folksinger in Greenwich Village; Micky was a child actor who already had a series, "Circus Boy," under his belt; and Davy was a jockey in his native England.
The boys' first single, "Last Train To Clarksville," was released in August 1966--well over a month before the series' debut. The pilot episode, "Here Come The Monkees," was filmed in November 1965. Less than a year later, on September 12, 1966, The Monkees debuted on NBC and was an enormous success.
An interesting fact is that with the exception of the "HeadQuarters" album, the boys never played their own instruments on records, supplying only the vocals. Despite this fact, the boys released a slew of other Top Ten hits--among them "I'm a Believer" and "Daydream Believer" just to name a few. The music was primarily written by singer-songwriters who had already established themselves in the music business--among them Neil Diamond and Carole King just to name a few.
The Monkees was very popular, both on TV and on the record charts. However, the popularity was short-lived: the series was canceled in the spring of 1968. The final original episode, "Mijacogeo," aired on NBC on March 25, 1968.
After the series was canceled, the boys made a movie, "Head." However, when the movie was released in November 1968, it flopped at the box office.
After 2 years, 58 TV episodes, 6 albums, and 1 movie, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones faded into oblivion--until the 1980s, that is, when reruns of the series began airing on MTV. This led to several reunion concerts plus 2 reunion albums--"Pool It" in 1987 and "JustUs" in 1996. The "JustUs" album was a first for The Monkees, as they not only played their own instruments but also wrote all of their own songs.

[treky]

I remember when MTV aired those reruns-we didn't have cable yet; so my sister had a friend of the family tape them all for her.



Didn't they also have a new Monkees group at the time?