If you were alive in the 1960s (or watched a lot of classic TV in the early aughts), you know who The Monkees are. This quartet of talent was originally put together to be a fictional television band for the series of the same name. The Monkees, as a production, was an attempt to capitalize on Beatlemania. It worked. Despite being very much manufactured, The Monkees became one of America’s pop music darlings. But they weren’t satisfied with being a TV band.
The band’s members, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones, became pretty famous through the NBC sitcom. When the series launched in 1966, the band only really contributed lead vocals and very occasional compositions to the music. More or less, they were treated as actors. Pro songwriters and session musicians took on the bulk of the recording work during the early years. Eventually, The Monkees got sick of it.
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The Monkees Were Too Good To Stay a “Fake” Band, but Things Got Complicated
The four members of The Monkees eventually revolted against their music publishers to get full control over the music recording process for the songs featured in the show. They weren’t happy with their music publishing company’s harsh rules, and their conflicts with the head of music, Don Kirshner, were getting intense. But by 1967, they finally got what they wanted.
“The [show’s] producers backed us and David [Davy Jones] went along,” said Michael Nesmith of their success in going independent. “None of us could have fought the battles we did [with the music publishers] without the explicit support of the show’s producers.”
The band recorded two albums as a whole group, which they had (mostly) total control over. Sadly, though, things got complicated. Eventually, each member of the band would release music under The Monkees’ name. Yet again, they were a band in name only.
Sadly, this is par for the course when you’re in a band with people you didn’t even choose to be in a band with. After those first two “creative freedom” albums, The Monkees’ work started to decline. Fans accused them of not playing their own instruments. The Monkees was cancelled in 1968. After one last recording session in 1970, The Monkees broke up.
The band would eventually reunite in 1986 and perform off and on through the years. Today, Micky Dolenz is the only surviving member of the band, so a comeback will never happen. But at least we can still enjoy the music (and episodes) of The Monkees.
Photo by Mike McLaren/Central Press/Getty Images
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