A casting call
In 1965 the producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider developed a television comedy about a young rock group, partly inspired by the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night. An advertisement in the trade press in the autumn of 1965 asked for young performers for the show. Hundreds of people are usually said to have auditioned, though the exact number is uncertain.
The four chosen were Davy Jones, an English actor and singer who had worked on stage; Micky Dolenz, who had acted as a child on television; and Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, both of whom were working musicians in the folk and rock scene. The Monkees, as they were called, were cast as much for their on-screen chemistry as their musical skills. The series debuted on the American NBC network in September 1966.
The music machine
The music was handled by Don Kirshner, a veteran music publisher and executive who was in charge of music for Screen Gems, the television studio, and its record label, Colgems. He gathered professional songwriters, including Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and studio musicians, and the four actors mostly contributed vocals.
The method worked. “Last Train to Clarksville” reached number one in late 1966. “I’m a Believer”, written by Neil Diamond, followed and spent several weeks at number one in the winter of 1966 to 1967. The first album, The Monkees, was released in October 1966, and More of the Monkees followed in January 1967, and both reached number one on the album chart. The group was also popular overseas.
The fight for control
The arrangement caused growing frustration. Nesmith, in particular, was an experienced songwriter who wanted the group to play on its records and choose its material. The band members were also aware of criticism that they were not a real group. They wanted to play the instruments on their own records.
The crisis is usually dated to early 1967. More of the Monkees was released without the band’s approval, and Nesmith was reported to have said angrily that the group should have more say. The dispute ended with Kirshner leaving his role, in around February 1967. Accounts vary on the exact events and who said what in the confrontation, so it is wise to rely only on the general outline, which is well established.
Headquarters and after
The result was Headquarters, released in May 1967. The four members played most of the instruments themselves, with some help, and they wrote some of the songs. It reached number one on the Billboard album chart, though it was quickly displaced by the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album, which became the dominant record of the summer.
Critics have often said that the album is rougher and more modest than the earlier records, but it showed the band could function as one. The group’s next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., released in November 1967, also topped the chart. It combined contributions from the band and outside musicians and reflected the more experimental mood of the time. In total the first four albums reached number one in the United States, which was a remarkable run, and by some accounts the group outsold the Beatles in the United States in 1967, though such claims depend on how sales are counted.
Television and recognition
The television show did well enough to win Emmy Awards in 1967, including for outstanding comedy series. Its quick editing and playful style drew on film techniques that were fashionable at the time. The show was filmed in colour just as color television was spreading into American homes, and it is now counted among the classic television shows of the decade.
The Monkees also performed live. In July 1967 Jimi Hendrix briefly opened some of their American concerts, an odd pairing that reportedly ended after a handful of dates because the Monkees’ young fans were not receptive. The Monkees were also at the Monterey Pop Festival in June, where Dolenz is reported to have introduced Hendrix on stage.
Why they matter
The Monkees raise a question that was fresh in 1967: whether music made for a commercial purpose can still be authentic. The group were designed to be a hit, but that did not mean that their songs or performances had no value. Some of the songs have lasted well. At the same time, the dispute with Kirshner showed that, even in a pop product, the performers wanted artistic control, and that the market was changing toward self-contained bands.
Their decline came in 1968, when the series ended and their records sold less. Yet their story belongs with the other pop-music shifts of 1967, when the line between artists and entertainers was being redrawn. The show’s debt to the Beatles, whose film style it borrowed, is a small part of the wider Beatles influence on pop in the mid-1960s.