History Music / TheMonkees

** The 2018 tour was Micky and Mike. However, they performed under the name "The Monkees Present: The Mike and Micky Show" in deference to Peter, who had officially taken time off from the band work on a solo album, but was also fighting the cancer that would ultimately take his life the next year. Currently, the Monkees are officially the duo of Nesmith and Dolenz.
** The 2021 farewell tour is Micky and Mike, again as "The Monkees Present: The Mike and Micky Show".

Their music was an instant smash--tellingly, the first single, "Last Train to Clarksville" (written by the team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who also produced the debut album and contributed dozens of songs over the next few years) started climbing the charts ''before'' the TV series went on the air--and the "4 insane boys" soon found themselves major stars. Still, musical director Don Kirshner rarely let them play on their records (or write their own songs)--which was kept secret until the frustrated band revealed it to the media, losing some credibility in the process. Continuing conflict culminated in Kirshner getting fired, and the Monkees took control of their music and show (with Nesmith holding most of the reins), both of which became increasingly free-wheeling and [[PsychedelicRock psychedelic]]. Even though the four had gotten greater control of song-writing, the band continued to take advantage of the pool of songwriters assembled for the show, since -- paraphrasing Peter Tork -- if ''you'' had access to Music/NeilDiamond and Music/CaroleKing in their prime writing songs for your band, wouldn't ''you'' use those songs?

* '''''Micky Dolenz''''' - lead vocals, drums, guitar, synthesizer, timpani (1966–1971, 1986–1989, 1993–1997, 2001–2002, 2011–present)

Sadly, Davy Jones died of a sudden heart attack in 2012 (on Leap Year Day), and Tork passed in February 2019, making a full reunion impossible. Still, the Monkees' popularity and artistic legacy have remained strong to this day. It seems likely that they'll endure into the foreseeable future, not just as a memory, but as a functional band; Dolenz, Tork, and Nesmith kept the legacy alive by touring in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. In 2016, Dolenz and Tork not only toured to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary but released a new album, ''Good Times!'', which was produced by Music/FountainsOfWayne's Adam Schlesinger and included new songs by [[Music/{{Weezer}} Rivers Cuomo]], [[Music/{{Oasis}} Noel Gallagher]], [[Music/{{XTC}} Andy Partridge]], [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]] and [[Music/DeathCabForCutie Ben]] [[Music/ThePostalService Gibbard]]. Nesmith appears on the album, but wasn't able to tour due to being busy writing his memoir ''Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff''. He [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjpuyTN1N0o Skyped in to the band's June 1, 2016 show]] to do a song and joined the band in person for two more shows, one of which he announced beforehand as his final appearance with the group. However, Nesmith and Dolenz toured together as the Monkees in 2018 (this time, Tork sat out due to health problems and to work on a new solo album). That year, the band released another new album, a Christmas record called ''Christmas Party''. Tork's death in 2019 leaves Dolenz and Nesmith as the only remaining members of the group. The pair toured as the Monkees in 2019 and planned a tour in 2020 that was delayed by COVID-19; during the delay, they decided that the postponed tour would be their last. The farewell tour finally started in September 2021 and is scheduled to end on November 14 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.

The Monkees started when two TV producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, placed an ad in entertainment industry trade papers calling for "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series". After hundreds of hopefuls auditioned, the "4 insane boys" who made the cut were FormerChildStar and GarageBand singer Micky Dolenz,[[note]]His parents were character actors George Dolenz, best-known as the star of the Creator/ITCEntertainment series adaptation of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', and Janelle Johnson, who appeared in ''Film/TheBruteMan''[[/note]] expatriate Brit turned Broadway musical head-liner Davy Jones (not to be confused with [[DavyJones the ocean spirit of the same name]]), Texas-born singer/songwriter Music/MichaelNesmith, and Connecticut-raised Greenwich Village folkie Peter Tork. While all four Monkees had previous musical experience, Nesmith and Tork had no professional acting experience (the two had some high school and college acting creds, and Tork appeared in a long-lost short film made by an acquaintance in his college years), but they adapted quickly. Creator/ScreenGems partnered with Raybert Productions (Rafelson and Schneider's company) to produce the pilot. Creator/{{NBC}} picked it up as a series, and plans were quickly made to issue their music alongside the series on the newly-created Colgems ('''Col'''[[Creator/ColumbiaPictures umbia Pictures]] and [[Creator/ScreenGems Screen]] '''Gems''') label, which would be distributed by Creator/RCARecords. The concept of a Hollywood studio putting together a [[BorrowingTheBeatles Beatles-like]] band from scratch attracted much attention to the project, with the band being dubbed The Prefab Four, though Rafelson has said that he viewed The Monkees as being like an ArrangedMarriage of talented guys, using The Beatles as an inspiration, rather than a coldly cynical FollowTheLeader situation.

In 1986, Creator/{{MTV}} began celebrating the Monkees' 20th anniversary by rerunning their TV series. The reruns got great ratings, and suddenly the Monkees were a viable proposition again. Dolenz and Tork were persuaded to record some new tracks for a GreatestHits album, one of which, "That Was Then, This Is Now", even charted in the top 20. Davy Jones rejoined the group, and the trio recorded a new album, ''Pool It'', and also began touring again. The independently wealthy Nesmith[[note]]His mother had invented Liquid Paper correctional fluid, and he inherited her fortune when she died. He had also founded the Pacific Arts Corporation, one of the first home video companies.[[/note]] was missing from ''Pool It'' and most of the concerts, but he returned in 1996 for the band's 30th anniversary swan songs as a quartet--''Justus'', the only Monkees album not to feature any outside musicians, songwriters or producers, and its follow-up TV special ''Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees'' (which Nesmith also wrote and directed). Since then, CreativeDifferences and Peter Tork's health problems (he was diagnosed with a rare form of head and neck cancer, Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, in 2009) seemed to have destroyed any chance of another reunion. However, in the summer of 2011, Jones, Dolenz and Tork embarked on a hugely successful concert tour commemorating the band's 45th anniversary.

Sadly, Davy Jones died of a sudden heart attack in 2012 (on Leap Year Day), and Tork passed in February 2019, making a full reunion impossible. Still, the Monkees' popularity and artistic legacy have remained strong to this day. It seems likely that they'll endure into the foreseeable future, not just as a memory, but as a functional band; Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith kept the legacy alive by touring in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2016, Dolenz and Tork not only toured to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary, but released a new album, ''Good Times!'', which was produced by Music/FountainsOfWayne's Adam Schlesinger and included new songs by [[Music/{{Weezer}} Rivers Cuomo]], [[Music/{{Oasis}} Noel Gallagher]], [[Music/{{XTC}} Andy Partridge]], [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]] and [[Music/DeathCabForCutie Ben]] [[Music/ThePostalService Gibbard]]. Nesmith appears on the album, but wasn't able to tour due to being busy writing his memoir ''Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff''. He [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjpuyTN1N0o Skyped in to the band's June 1, 2016 show]] to do a song, and joined the band in person for two more shows, one of which he announced beforehand as his final appearance with the group. However, Nesmith and Dolenz toured together as the Monkees in 2018 (this time, Tork sat out due to health problems and to work on a new solo album). That year, the band released another new album, a Christmas record called ''Christmas Party''. Tork's death in 2019 leaves Dolenz and Nesmith as the only remaining members of the group. The pair toured as the Monkees in 2019 and planned a tour in 2020 that was delayed by COVID-19; during the delay, they decided that the postponed tour would be their last. The farewell tour finally started in September 2021 and is scheduled to end on November 14 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.

* '''''Music/MichaelNesmith''''' - lead vocals, guitar, organ, percussion, bass, maracas, keyboard (1966–1970, 1986, 1989, 1996–1997, 2012–present)

** The Monkees were not allowed to play their own instruments on the show during the first season, until they overthrew [[ExecutiveMeddling label supervisor Don Kirshner]].

* StealthPun: The last word of the title of ''The Monkees Present'' is supposed to be pronounced "pree-SENT", but if you pronounce it as "PRES-sent" it also works in the sense of saying the album is a gift from The Monkees to you, ''and'' saying that, with Peter having left the group at this point, Davy, Micky and Michael were "The Monkees present".

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally hovering in the 1-3 area, but ranging from a solid 0 ("The Day We Fall in Love") up to a small handful of [=5s=] ("Circle Sky" being the most notable. Surprisingly, one of the [=5s=] is a Davy song, "You and I" from ''Instant Replay'').

The hits continued for a while, even after the Monkees gave up their TV series after its second season. However, the group's 1968 film ''Film/{{Head}}'', a surreal, deliberately plot-less {{Deconstruction}} of the band's journey through the ShowBusiness meat grinder, was a flop (although it's become a CultClassic). The band's television special, ''33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee'', flopped as well, at which point Tork left the band. Nesmith hung around for two more albums, both of which sold poorly, then he left as well. The band still owed the label one more album, and though there was no shortage of releasable tracks in the vaults, the label opted to send Dolenz and Jones to New York to record some new songs with producer Jeff Barry. The resulting album, ''Changes'', marked a return to the bubblegum pop of the early albums. However, the songs on ''Changes'' were not as catchy or distinctive as the ones on the band's early albums. ''Changes'' didn't chart, and that was the end of the Monkees. The four ex-members went on with their lives--until 1986.

** The 2021 farewell tour is Micky and Mike.

* TheBusCameBack: Two songs released in 1969, after Peter left the band, still featured some musical contributions from him, since they'd been recorded while he a member: "I Won't Be the Same Without Her" (recorded in 1966, Peter on acoustic guitar) and "Mommy and Daddy" (recorded in 1968, Peter on bass).

* TheBusCameBack: Two songs released in 1969, after Peter left the band, still featured some musical contributions from him, since they'd been recorded while he a member: "I Won't Be the Same Without Her" (recorded in 1966, Peter on acoustic guitar) and "Mommy & Daddy" (recorded in 1968, Peter on bass).

* MyNaymeIs: Micky. It is not spelled with an E before the Y.

The Monkees started when two TV producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, placed an ad in entertainment industry trade papers calling for "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series". After hundreds of hopefuls auditioned, the "4 insane boys" who made the cut were FormerChildStar and GarageBand singer Micky Dolenz, expatriate Brit turned Broadway musical head-liner Davy Jones (not to be confused with [[DavyJones the ocean spirit of the same name]]), Texas-born singer/songwriter Music/MichaelNesmith, and Connecticut-raised Greenwich Village folkie Peter Tork. While all four Monkees had previous musical experience, Nesmith and Tork had no professional acting experience (the two had some high school and college acting creds, and Tork appeared in a long-lost short film made by an acquaintance in his college years), but they adapted quickly. Creator/ScreenGems partnered with Raybert Productions (Rafelson and Schneider's company) to produce the pilot. Creator/{{NBC}} picked it up as a series, and plans were quickly made to issue their music alongside the series on the newly-created Colgems ('''Col'''[[Creator/ColumbiaPictures umbia Pictures]] and [[Creator/ScreenGems Screen]] '''Gems''') label, which would be distributed by Creator/RCARecords. The concept of a Hollywood studio putting together a [[BorrowingTheBeatles Beatles-like]] band from scratch attracted much attention to the project, with the band being dubbed The Prefab Four, though Rafelson has said that he viewed The Monkees as being like an ArrangedMarriage of talented guys, using The Beatles as an inspiration, rather than a coldly cynical FollowTheLeader situation.

The Monkees started when two TV producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, placed an ad in entertainment industry trade papers calling for "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series". The "4 insane boys" who made the cut were FormerChildStar and GarageBand singer Micky Dolenz, expatriate Brit turned Broadway musical head-liner Davy Jones (not to be confused with [[DavyJones the ocean spirit of the same name]]), Texas-born singer/songwriter Music/MichaelNesmith, and Connecticut-raised Greenwich Village folkie Peter Tork. While all four Monkees had previous musical experience, Nesmith and Tork had no professional acting experience (the two had some high school and college acting creds, and Tork appeared in a long-lost short film made by an acquaintance in his college years), but they adapted quickly. Creator/ScreenGems partnered with Raybert Productions (Rafelson and Schneider's company) to produce the pilot. Creator/{{NBC}} picked it up as a series, and plans were quickly made to issue their music alongside the series on the newly-created Colgems ('''Col'''[[Creator/ColumbiaPictures umbia Pictures]] and [[Creator/ScreenGems Screen]] '''Gems''') label, which would be distributed by Creator/RCARecords. The concept of a Hollywood studio putting together a [[BorrowingTheBeatles Beatles-like]] band from scratch attracted much attention to the project, with the band being dubbed The Prefab Four, though Rafelson has said that he viewed The Monkees as being like an ArrangedMarriage of talented guys, using The Beatles as an inspiration, rather than a coldly cynical FollowTheLeader situation.

The Monkees started when two TV producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, placed an ad in entertainment industry trade papers calling for "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series". The "4 insane boys" who made the cut were FormerChildStar and GarageBand singer Micky Dolenz, expatriate Brit turned Broadway musical head-liner Davy Jones (not to be confused with [[DavyJones the ocean spirit of the same name]]), singer/songwriter Music/MichaelNesmith, and Greenwich Village folkie Peter Tork. While all four Monkees had previous musical experience, Nesmith and Tork had no professional acting experience (the two had some high school and college acting creds), but they adapted quickly. Creator/ScreenGems partnered with Raybert Productions (Rafelson and Schneider's company) to produce the pilot. Creator/{{NBC}} picked it up as a series, and plans were quickly made to issue their music alongside the series on the newly-created Colgems ('''Col'''[[Creator/ColumbiaPictures umbia Pictures]] and [[Creator/ScreenGems Screen]] '''Gems''') label, which would be distributed by Creator/RCARecords. The concept of a Hollywood studio putting together a [[BorrowingTheBeatles Beatles-like]] band from scratch attracted much attention to the project, with the band being dubbed The Prefab Four, though Rafelson has said that he viewed The Monkees as being like an ArrangedMarriage of talented guys, using The Beatles as an inspiration, rather than a coldly cynical FollowTheLeader situation.

The Monkees started when two TV producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, placed an ad in entertainment industry trade papers calling for "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series". The "4 insane boys" who made the cut were FormerChildStar and GarageBand singer Micky Dolenz, expatriate Brit turned Broadway musical head-liner Davy Jones (not to be confused with [[DavyJones the ocean spirit of the same name]]), singer/songwriter Music/MichaelNesmith, and Greenwich Village folkie Peter Tork. While all four Monkees had previous musical experience, Nesmith and Tork had no professional acting experience (the two had some high school and college acting creds), but they adapted quickly. The pilot for the Creator/ScreenGems-produced series was picked up by Creator/{{NBC}}, and plans were quickly made to issue their music alongside the series on the newly-created Colgems ('''Col'''[[Creator/ColumbiaPictures umbia Pictures]] and [[Creator/ScreenGems Screen]] '''Gems''') label, which would be distributed by Creator/RCARecords. The concept of a Hollywood studio putting together a [[BorrowingTheBeatles Beatles-like]] band from scratch attracted much attention to the project, with the band being dubbed The Prefab Four, though Rafelson has said that he viewed The Monkees as being like an ArrangedMarriage of talented guys, using The Beatles as an inspiration, rather than a coldly cynical FollowTheLeader situation.

In 1987, in the wake of the publicity drummed up by the ''Pool It'' reunion, CBS assembled a group of musicians called "New Monkees". They starred on an eponymous syndicated TV show, but it [[ShortRunners only lasted 13 episodes]]. Their sole album wasn't a success at the time either, although it has developed a following.

* OneWomanSong: "Valleri" was a deliberate [[InvokedTrope invocation]] of this trope; Don Kirshner asked Boyce and Hart to write a song with a girl's name in it.

* WhosOnFirst: In "Gonna Buy Me A Dog":

Sadly, Davy Jones died of a sudden heart attack in 2012 (on Leap Year Day), and Tork passed in February 2019, making a full reunion impossible. Still, the Monkees' popularity and artistic legacy have remained strong to this day. It seems likely that they'll endure into the foreseeable future, not just as a memory, but as a functional band; Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith kept the legacy alive by touring in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2016, Dolenz and Tork not only toured to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary, but released a new album, ''Good Times!'', which was produced by Music/FountainsOfWayne's Adam Schlesinger and included new songs by [[Music/{{Weezer}} Rivers Cuomo]], [[Music/{{Oasis}} Noel Gallagher]], [[Music/{{XTC}} Andy Partridge]], [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]] and [[Music/DeathCabForCutie Ben]] [[Music/ThePostalService Gibbard]]. Nesmith appears on the album, but wasn't able to tour due to being busy writing his memoir ''Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff''. He [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjpuyTN1N0o Skyped in to the band's June 1, 2016 show]] to do a song, and joined the band in person for two more shows, one of which he announced beforehand as his final appearance with the group. However, Nesmith and Dolenz toured together as the Monkees in 2018 (This time, Tork sat out due to health problems and to work on a new solo album). That year, the band released another new album, a Christmas record called ''Christmas Party''. Tork's death in 2019 leaves Dolenz and Nesmith as the only remaining members of the group.

In 1987, in the wake of the publicity drummed up by the ''Pool It'' reunion, CBS assembled a group of musicians called "New Monkees." They starred on an eponymous syndicated TV show, but it [[ShortRunners only lasted 13 episodes]]. Their sole album wasn't a success at the time either, although it has developed a following.

Sadly, Davy Jones [[AuthorExistenceFailure died]] of a sudden heart attack in 2012 (on Leap Year Day), and Tork passed in February 2019, making a full reunion impossible. Still, the Monkees' popularity and artistic legacy have remained strong to this day. It seems likely that they'll endure into the foreseeable future, not just as a memory, but as a functional band; Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith kept the legacy alive by touring in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2016, Dolenz and Tork not only toured to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary, but released a new album, ''Good Times!'', which was produced by Music/FountainsOfWayne's Adam Schlesinger and included new songs by [[Music/{{Weezer}} Rivers Cuomo]], [[Music/{{Oasis}} Noel Gallagher]], [[Music/{{XTC}} Andy Partridge]], [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]] and [[Music/DeathCabForCutie Ben]] [[Music/ThePostalService Gibbard]]. Nesmith appears on the album, but wasn't able to tour due to being busy writing his memoir ''Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff''. He [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjpuyTN1N0o Skyped in to the band's June 1, 2016 show]] to do a song, and joined the band in person for two more shows, one of which he announced beforehand as his final appearance with the group. However, Nesmith and Dolenz toured together as the Monkees in 2018 (This time, Tork sat out due to health problems and to work on a new solo album). That year, the band released another new album, a Christmas record called ''Christmas Party''. Tork's death in 2019 leaves Dolenz and Nesmith as the only remaining members of the group.

* UnbuiltTrope: Much of the ''Film/{{Head}}'' soundtrack sounds like The Monkees doing their takes on various music styles from TheNineties--in 1968! "Porpoise Song" sounds like DreamPop or {{Shoegazing}}, "Circle Sky" is like early PopPunk, and "As We Go Along" calls to mind Music/{{Jewel}}-style Folk Pop.

* JailBait: "She Hangs Out" is about a young girl who ReallyGetsAround.
-->How old d'you say your sister was? / You know you'd better keep an eye on her...

* 1967 - ''Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.''

->''"Hey, hey we're the Monkees\\
and people say we monkey around,\\
but we're too busy singing\\
to put anybody down..."''
-->-- [[Series/TheMonkees The Monkees television show]] theme

->''This article is primarily about the band; the series has a page [[Series/TheMonkees here]].''