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80-519: The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz , Davy Jones , Michael Nesmith , and Peter Tork . Spurred by the success of TV series The Monkees , the Monkees were one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s. With international hits, four chart-topping albums and three chart-topping songs (" Last Train to Clarksville ", " I'm

160-415: A mylar cover, to give it a mirror-like appearance, so that the person looking at the cover would see his own head, a play on the album title Head . Peter Tork said, "That was something special... [Jack] Nicholson coordinated the record, made it up from the soundtrack. He made it different from the movie. There's a line in the movie where [Frank] Zappa says, 'That's pretty white.' Then there's another line in

240-481: A Believer ", and " Daydream Believer "), they sold more than 75 million records worldwide. The Monkees were originally a fictional band created for the NBC television sitcom The Monkees . Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork were cast to portray members of a band in the sitcom. Music credited to the Monkees appeared in the sitcom and was released on LPs and singles beginning in 1966, and the sitcom aired from 1966 to 1968. At first,

320-464: A I major to a VI minor—those kinds of things. So it was a little kind of a new wave country song. It didn't sound like the country songs of the time, which was Buck Owens." Their next single, "Daydream Believer" (with a piano intro written by Tork), shot to No. 1 on the charts, letting the Monkees hold the No. 1 position in the singles chart and the album chart with Pisces simultaneously. "Daydream Believer" used

400-474: A change in the way the Monkees' music was chosen and recorded. Moelis reminded Nesmith that he was under contract. The confrontation ended with Nesmith punching a hole in a wall and saying, "That could have been your face!" However, each of the members, including Nesmith, accepted the $ 250,000 royalty checks (equivalent to approximately $ 2,300,000 in today's funds). Soon after, Colgems and the Monkees reached an agreement not to release material directly created by

480-461: A child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock. He had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links, which released one single, "Don't Do It". During the casting process, Don Kirshner , Screen Gems' head of music, was contacted to secure music for The Monkees pilot. Kirshner's Brill Building firm Aldon Music had an extensive portfolio of songwriters, many in need of work after

560-518: A choice that was unpopular with the group. This cool reception led Kirshner to drop Garrett and buy out his contract. Kirshner next allowed Nesmith to produce sessions, provided he did not play on any tracks he produced. Nesmith did, however, start using the other Monkees on his sessions, particularly Tork as a guitarist. Kirshner came back to the enthusiastic Boyce and Hart to be the regular producers, but he brought in one of his top East Coast associates, Jack Keller , to lend some production experience to

640-484: A couple of weeks.) He was consequently dismissed from the project. Propelled by the band's second single, "I'm a Believer" b/w "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", More of the Monkees became the band's biggest-selling LP. The album spent 70 weeks on the Billboard charts, staying No. 1 for 18 weeks and becoming the third-highest-selling album of the 1960s. "I'm a Believer" was written by Neil Diamond . The Monkees' recording of

720-490: A diverse mixture of musical style influences, including country-rock, folk-rock, psychedelic rock, soul/R&B, guitar rock, Broadway and English music hall sensibilities. At the height of their fame in 1967, they also suffered from a media backlash. Nesmith states in the 2007 Rhino reissue of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , "Everybody in the press and in the hippie movement had got us into their target window as being illegitimate and not worthy of consideration as

800-499: A final recording session in 1970 before breaking up. Renewed interest in the Monkees emerged in 1986, leading to a 20th anniversary reunion. Over the subsequent 35 years, the Monkees intermittently reunited for reunion tours, a major-network television special, and the production of new studio albums. After the deaths of Jones in 2012 and Tork in 2019, Dolenz and Nesmith undertook a farewell tour in 2021. This tour concluded shortly before Nesmith's death later that year, leaving Dolenz as

880-451: A frontman, singer and percussionist, despite the fact that this lineup did not correspond to the members' musical strengths. Tork was a more experienced guitar player than Nesmith, while Nesmith had trained on the bass. Also, while Jones had a strong lead voice and did sing lead on several Monkees recordings, Dolenz's voice is regarded, particularly by Nesmith, as distinctive and a hallmark of the Monkees' sound. Unlike most television shows of

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960-418: A group; however, within a year, each member was pursuing his own interests under the Monkees' name, rendering the Monkees once again a group in name only. With widespread allegations that the band members did not play their own instruments—followed by the cancellation of The Monkees TV series, diminishing success on the charts, and waning popularity overall—band members began to leave the group. The Monkees held

1040-407: A musical force [or] certainly any kind of cultural force. We were under siege; wherever we went there was such resentment for us. We were constantly mocked and humiliated by the press. We were really gettin' beat up pretty good. We all knew what was going on inside. Kirshner had been purged. We'd gone to try to make Headquarters and found out that it was only marginally okay and that our better move

1120-568: Is a noun-adjective that music critics often use in reference to guitar pop with a bright mood. Critic Philip Auslander argues that the distinction between pop and rock is more pronounced in the US than in the UK. He claims that in the US, pop has roots in white crooners such as Perry Como , whereas rock is rooted in African-American music influenced by forms such as rock and roll . Auslander points out that

1200-556: Is a psychedelic pop song written by Goffin and King , with lead vocals from Micky Dolenz and backing vocals from Davy Jones, and it reached No. 62 on the Billboard charts and No. 26 on the Canadian RPM charts . The film's soundtrack album reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts and No. 24 in Canada. Nicholson assembled the album, weaving dialogue and sound effects from the film in between the songs. The six (plus "Ditty Diego") Monkees songs on

1280-551: Is that it features an early use of the Moog synthesizer on two tracks, the Nesmith-penned "Daily Nightly", along with "Star Collector". All of its songs, except for two, were featured on the Monkees' television show during the second season. The song "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?", recorded in June 1967 and featured on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , is seen as a landmark in

1360-508: The British Invasion had reorganized the American music scene; while several Aldon writers contributed songs to the Monkees during their existence, the bulk of the songwriting for the group fell upon Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, two songwriters who were only beginning to break through to success at the time. Boyce and Hart contributed four demo recordings for the pilot. One of these recordings

1440-427: The #2 spot on the charts for the next 11 weeks—the same weeks which became known by the counterculture as the " Summer of Love ". A selection that Dolenz wrote and composed, " Randy Scouse Git ", was issued under the title "Alternate Title" (owing to the controversial nature of its original title ) as a single internationally, where it rose to No. 2 on the charts in the UK and Norway, and in the top 10 in other parts of

1520-412: The 12 songs on the album, plus the two tracks "Band 6" and "Zilch". The Los Angeles Times , when reviewing Headquarters , stated that "The Monkees Upgrade Album Quality" and that "The Monkees are getting better. Headquarters has more interesting songs and a better quality level [than previous albums]... None of the tracks is a throwaway... The improvement trend is laudable." The high of Headquarters

1600-499: The 1960s, Frith termed it "folk rock", and the pop-infused styles of the 1970s were called "pop rock". Moore-Gilbert claims that this approach unfairly puts rock at the apex and makes every other influence become an add-on to the central core of rock. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau discussed the term "pop-rock" in the context of popular music's fragmentation along stylistic lines in

1680-572: The 1970s; he regarded "pop-rock" as a "monolith" that "straddled" all burgeoning movements and subgenres in the popular and semipopular music marketplace at the time, including singer-songwriter music, art rock , heavy metal , boogie , country rock , jazz fusion , funk , disco , urban contemporary , and new wave , but not punk rock . Ben Frank%27s Ben Frank's was a restaurant in West Hollywood, California , opened in 1962 by Arthur Simms and Bob Ehrman. The location, surrounded by

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1760-420: The Billboard charts. In assigning instruments for purposes of the television show, a dilemma arose as to which of the four would portray the drummer. Both Nesmith (a skilled guitarist and bassist) and Tork (who could play several stringed and keyboard instruments) were peripherally familiar with the instrument, but both declined to give the drum set a try. Jones knew how to play the drums and tested well enough on

1840-592: The Byrds and the Association , drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh , Lowell George , Stephen Stills , Buddy Miles , and Neil Young —a practice that continued for all their studio albums except Justus . Using Chip Douglas again to produce, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , released in November 1967 was the Monkees' fourth No. 1 album in a row, staying at No. 1 for 5 weeks, and was also their last No. 1 album. It featured

1920-460: The Colpix Records and Screen Gems Television units of Columbia Pictures . Rafelson and Schneider ultimately formed Raybert Productions. The Beatles ' films A Hard Day's Night and Help! inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelson's idea for The Monkees . As "Raybert Productions", they sold the show to Screen Gems Television on April 16, 1965. Rafelson and Schneider's original idea

2000-584: The Life " at Abbey Road Studios. At that time, he reportedly asked John Lennon, "Do you think we're a cheap imitation of the Beatles, your movies and your records?" Lennon replied, "I think you're the greatest comic talent since the Marx Brothers . I've never missed one of your programs". With Kirshner dismissed as musical supervisor, in late February 1967 Nesmith hired former Turtles bassist Douglas Farthing Hatlelid, who

2080-506: The Monkees , Nesmith stated that he was angered by the release of the first album because it portrayed the band as an actual rock-and-roll band and gave no credit to the other musicians involved in the project. The Monkees' first single, " Last Train to Clarksville " b/w "Take a Giant Step", was released in August 1966, just weeks prior to the TV broadcast debut. In conjunction with the first broadcast of

2160-531: The Monkees had not even been given a copy of the album; they had to buy it from a record store. The climax of the rivalry between Kirshner and the band was an intense argument among Nesmith, Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, which took place at the Beverly Hills Hotel in January 1967. Kirshner had presented the group with royalty checks and gold records. Nesmith had responded with an ultimatum, demanding

2240-508: The Monkees out to play live concerts . The massive success of the series—and its spin-off records—created intense pressure to mount a touring version of the group. Against the initial wishes of the producers, the band went out on the road and made their debut live performance in December 1966 in Hawaii. The results of these live performances were far better than expected. Wherever they went, the group

2320-488: The Monkees, made a solo stand as a studio drummer. In commentary for the DVD release of the second season of the show, Tork said that Dolenz was "incapable of repeating a triumph." Having been a drummer for one album, Dolenz lost interest in being a drummer and, indeed, he largely gave up playing instruments on Monkees recordings to session musicians like "Fast" Eddie Hoh . (Producer Chip Douglas also had identified Dolenz's drumming as

2400-531: The Nesmith-composed straightforward pop-rock song "You Just May Be the One" (the only track from their peak years to feature the Monkees playing the same instruments they were shown to play on the television show), used on the television series during both seasons, along with "Shades of Gray" (with piano introduction written by Tork), "Forget that Girl", and "No Time", used in the television show. The Monkees wrote six of

2480-473: The United States, but it was still their third No. 1 album in a row, with many of its songs played on the second season of the television show. Having a more country-folk-rock sound than the pop outings under Kirshner, Sandoval notes in the 2007 Deluxe Edition reissue from Rhino that the album rose to No. 1 on May 24, 1967, with the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper released the following week, which moved Headquarters to

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2560-407: The abundance of material numerous tracks were recorded, but dozens were left unreleased until Rhino Records started releasing them through the Missing Links series of albums starting in the late 1980s. The Monkees' UK tour in 1967 received a chilly reception; the front pages of several UK and international music papers proclaimed that the group members did not always play their own instruments or sing

2640-627: The ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter . Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician and had shared the stage with Pete Seeger ; he learned of The Monkees from Stephen Stills , whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz ) who had starred in the Screen Gems-produced TV series Circus Boy as

2720-440: The album range from psychedelic pop to straightforward rockers to Broadway rock to eastern-influenced pop to a folk-rock ballad. Although the Monkees performed "Circle Sky" live in the film, the studio version was chosen for the album. The live version was later released on various compilations, including Rhino's Missing Links series of Monkees albums. The album also includes a song from the film's composer, Ken Thorne. The album had

2800-480: The backing vocals in the studio. They were derisively dubbed the " Pre-Fab Four" and the Sunday Mirror called them a "disgrace to the pop world." However, George Harrison praised the Monkees' self-produced musical attempts. Peter Tork was later one of the musicians on Harrison's album Wonderwall Music , playing Paul McCartney 's five-string banjo . Nesmith attended the Beatles' recording session for " A Day in

2880-423: The band members' musical contributions were primarily limited to lead vocals and the occasional composition, with the remaining music provided by professional songwriters and studio musicians. Though this arrangement yielded multiple hit albums and singles, the band members revolted and, after a brief power struggle, gained full control over the recording process in 1967. For two albums, the Monkees mostly performed as

2960-430: The band's second album of songs that used session musicians, More of the Monkees , without the band's knowledge. The Monkees were annoyed at not having even been told of the release in advance, at having their opinions on the track selection ignored, at Kirshner's self-congratulatory liner notes and also because of the cover photo, which was a composite of photographs taken for a J.C. Penney clothing advertisement. Indeed,

3040-471: The band's teenage fanbase while failing to attract a more adult audience. Rafelson and Schneider severed all ties to the band amid the bitterness that ensued over the commercial failure of Head . At the time, Rafelson told the press, "I grooved on those four in very special ways while at the same time thinking they had absolutely no talent." Released in October 1968, the single from the album, "The Porpoise Song",

3120-427: The battles we did [with the music publishers] without the explicit support of the show's producers". On January 16, 1967, the Monkees held their first recording session as a fully functioning, self-contained band. The band recorded an early version of Nesmith's self-composed top 40 hit single "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", along with " All of Your Toys " and "She's So Far Out, She's In". Also in January, Kirshner released

3200-456: The concept of pop rock, which blends pop and rock, is at odds with the typical conception of pop and rock as opposites. Auslander and several other scholars, such as Simon Frith and Grossberg, argue that pop music is often depicted as an inauthentic, cynical, "slickly commercial", and formulaic form of entertainment. In contrast, rock music is often heralded as an authentic, sincere, and anti-commercial form of music, which emphasizes songwriting by

3280-465: The detriment of the Monkees project. Nesmith added that Head was Rafelson and Nicholson's intentional effort to "kill" the Monkees, so that they would no longer be bothered with the matter. A poor audience response at an August 1968 screening in Los Angeles forced the producers to edit the picture from its original 110-minute length. The 86-minute Head premiered in New York City on November 6, 1968;

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3360-592: The famous nightclubs of the Sunset Strip , led to a celebrity clientele, and the 24-hour restaurant became a popular late night destination. The distinctive googie architecture and eye-catching neon sign helped attract musicians like Jim Morrison and Frank Zappa , as well as patrons of the nearby music venues. The youthful patrons that frequented the restaurant inspired the producers of the Monkees TV show to place an ad seeking "spirited Ben Frank's types" when casting

3440-480: The film by the group) ruthlessly parodies Boyce and Hart's "Monkees Theme". A sparse advertising campaign (with no mention of the Monkees) hurt any chances of the film doing well, and it played briefly in half-filled theaters. In the DVD commentary, Nesmith said that everyone associated with the Monkees "had gone crazy" by this time. They were each using the platform of the Monkees to push their own disparate career goals, to

3520-458: The film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20. It was not a commercial success. This was in part because Head comprehensively demolished the group's carefully groomed public image while the counterculture audience they had been reaching for rejected the Monkees' efforts out of hand. Receiving mixed critical reviews and virtually non-existent box office receipts, the film succeeded in alienating

3600-509: The form of, rock music. Writer Johan Fornas views pop/rock as "one single, continuous genre field", rather than distinct categories. To the authors Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, it is defined as an "upbeat variety of rock music" represented by artists and bands such as Andy Kim , the Bells , Paul McCartney , Lighthouse , and Peter Frampton . The term "pop" has been used since the early forties to refer to popular music in general, but in

3680-401: The fusion of country and rock despite Nesmith's prior country-flavored rock songs for the Monkees. Nesmith stated, "One of the things that I really felt was honest was country-rock. I wanted to move the Monkees more into that because ... if we get closer to country music, we'll get closer to blues, and country blues, and so forth. ... It had a lot of un-country things in it: a familiar change from

3760-553: The group to practice playing in April 1966, but it quickly became apparent they would not be in shape in time for the series debut. The producers called upon Kirshner to recruit a producer for the Monkees' sessions. Kirshner called on Snuff Garrett , composer of several hits by Gary Lewis & the Playboys , to produce the initial musical cuts for the show. Garrett, upon meeting the four Monkees in June 1966, decided that Jones would sing lead,

3840-514: The group together with unrelated Kirshner-produced material. Kirshner immediately violated this agreement in early February 1967, when he released " A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You ", composed and written by Neil Diamond , as a single with an early version of "She Hangs Out", a song recorded in New York with Davy Jones's vocals, as the B-side. (This single was only released in Canada and was withdrawn after

3920-517: The hit single "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (#3 on charts) b/w "Words" (#11 on charts), the A-side had Nesmith on electric guitar/backing vocals, Tork on piano/backing vocals, Dolenz on lead vocals and possibly guitar and Jones on backing vocals; the B-side had Dolenz and Tork alternating lead vocals, Tork played organ, Nesmith played guitar, percussion, and provided backing vocals, and Jones provided percussion and backing vocals. Other notable items about this album

4000-489: The instrument; however, the producers believed that he would be virtually hidden from view behind a drum set due to his short stature. Thus, Dolenz (who knew only how to play the guitar) was assigned to become the drummer. Tork taught Dolenz his first few beats on the drums, enough for him to fake his way through filming the pilot. He was soon taught how to play properly. The lineup for the TV show most frequently featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on bass, Dolenz on drums and Jones as

4080-433: The mid-1950s, it began to be used for a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll. In the aftermath of the British Invasion , from about 1967, it was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock, to describe a form that was more commercial, ephemeral and accessible. As of the 2010s, "guitar pop rock" and " indie rock " are roughly synonymous terms. " Jangle "

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4160-600: The movie that was not juxtaposed in the movie, but Nicholson put them together in the [soundtrack album], when Mike says, 'And the same thing goes for Christmas'... that's funny... very different from the movie... that was very important and wonderful that he assembled the record differently from the movie... It was a different artistic experience." Pop rock Much pop and rock music has been very similar in sound, instrumentation and even lyrical content. The terms "pop rock" and " power pop " have been used to describe more commercially successful music that uses elements from, or

4240-584: The music publishing company would not allow them to play their own instruments on their records or to use more of their own material. These complaints intensified when Kirshner moved track recording from California to New York, leaving the band out of the musical process entirely until they were called upon to add their vocals to the completed tracks. Nesmith, when asked about the situation by Rolling Stone magazine, said, "The [TV show's] producers [in Hollywood] backed us and David went along. None of us could have fought

4320-438: The non-album track " Goin' Down " as its B-side, which featured Nesmith and Tork on guitar with Micky on lead vocals. During their 1986 reunion, both Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. returned to the charts for 17 weeks. No longer desiring to work as a group, the Monkees dropped Chip Douglas as a producer, and starting in November 1967, they largely produced their own sessions. Although credited to

4400-415: The other three chosen for the cast of the TV show were musician Michael Nesmith, musician Peter Tork, and actor/musician Micky Dolenz. Nesmith had been working as a musician since early 1963 and had been recording and releasing music under various names, including Michael Blessing and "Mike & John & Bill", and he had studied drama in college. Of the final three, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw

4480-442: The project was co-written and co-produced by Rafelson with a then-relatively unknown Jack Nicholson . The film, conceived and edited in a stream of consciousness style, featured oddball cameo appearances by movie stars Victor Mature , Annette Funicello , a young Teri Garr (credited as "Terry Garr"), boxer Sonny Liston , famous stripper Carol Doda , Green Bay Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke , and musician Frank Zappa . It

4560-464: The second season of the television series was being produced, the Monkees tired of the sitcom format and refused to participate in a third season without a major overhaul. NBC was uninterested in making any changes, and so the series was cancelled in February 1968. That same month, the Monkees began filming their feature film, Head . With Bob Rafelson as director and Bert Schneider as executive producer,

4640-412: The sessions. Boyce and Hart quickly realized that, when together, the four actors fooled around and tried to crack each other up. Because of this, the producers often brought in each singer individually. The Monkees' debut and second albums were meant to be a soundtrack to the first season of the TV show, to cash in on the audience. In the 2006 Rhino Deluxe Edition re-issue of their second album, More of

4720-730: The show in 1965. Arthur Simms and his son Thomas Simms went on to open two more Ben Frank's locations and started the Copper Penny and Wooden Shoe restaurant chains. In 1976, they acquired The Kettle restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California. In the 1970s, they became partners in the French Market restaurant in West Hollywood, California, which became the model for their first Mimi's Cafe restaurant, which opened in Anaheim in 1978. The company

4800-430: The singers and bands, instrumental virtuosity, and a "real connection with the audience". Frith's analysis of the history of popular music from the 1950s to the 1980s has been criticized by B. J. Moore-Gilbert, who argues that Frith and other scholars have overemphasized the role of rock in the history of popular music by naming every new genre using the "rock" suffix. Thus, when a folk-oriented style of music developed in

4880-437: The single hit the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966, remaining there for seven weeks. "I'm a Believer" became the biggest-selling single for all of 1967. The Monkees' musical opportunities were open beyond their ability to capitalize. Screen Gems held the publishing rights to a wealth of material, with the Monkees being offered the first choice of many new songs. Due to

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4960-417: The sole surviving member. The Monkees were formed in the mid-1960s in Los Angeles. Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for The Monkees in 1962 and tried selling it to Revue Productions , the television division of Universal Pictures , but was unsuccessful. In May 1964, while working at Screen Gems , Rafelson teamed up with Bert Schneider , whose father, Abraham Schneider, headed

5040-469: The soundtrack to the second season of the television show. In March 1967, " The Girl I Knew Somewhere ", composed by Nesmith and performed by Dolenz, Nesmith, Tork and bassist John London , was issued as the B-side to the Monkees' third single, " A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You ", and it rose to No. 39 on the charts. The A-side rose to No. 2. Issued in May 1967, Headquarters had no songs released as singles in

5120-476: The television show on September 12, 1966, on the NBC television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending November 5, 1966. The Monkees' debut album, The Monkees , was released a month later; it spent 13 weeks at No. 1 and stayed on the Billboard charts for 78 weeks. Twenty years later, during their reunion, it spent another 24 weeks on

5200-452: The time, The Monkees episodes were written with many setups, requiring frequent breaks to prepare the set and cameras for short bursts of filming. Some of the "bursts" are considered proto-music videos, inasmuch as they were produced to sell the records. The Monkees Tale author Eric Lefcowitz noted that the Monkees were—first and foremost—a video group. Pleased with their initial efforts, Columbia (over Kirshner's objections) planned to send

5280-419: The weak point in the collective musicianship of the quartet, having to splice together multiple takes of Dolenz's "shaky" drumming for final use.) By this point, the four did not have a common vision regarding their musical interests, with Nesmith and Jones also moving in different directions—Nesmith following his country/folk instincts and Jones reaching for Broadway-style numbers. The next three albums featured

5360-435: The whole band, the songs were mostly solo efforts. In a couple of cases, Boyce and Hart had returned from the first two albums to produce, but credit was given to the Monkees due to contractual requirements. Propelled by the hit singles "Daydream Believer" and " Valleri ", along with Nesmith's self-penned top 40 hit "Tapioca Tundra", The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts shortly after it

5440-432: The world. Tork's "For Pete's Sake" was used as the closing theme for the television show. Nesmith continued in his country-rock leanings, adding the pedal steel guitar to three of the songs, along with contributing his self-composed countrified-rock song "Sunny Girlfriend". Tork added the banjo to the Nesmith-composed rocker "You Told Me", a song whose introduction was satirical of the Beatles' "Taxman". Other notable songs are

5520-410: Was "(Theme From) The Monkees" which helped get the series the green light. When The Monkees was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated. Columbia - Screen Gems and RCA Victor entered into a joint venture called Colgems Records ; the primary purpose of the venture was to distribute Monkees records. Raybert set up a rehearsal space and rented instruments for

5600-455: Was better known by his stage name Chip Douglas , to produce the next Monkees album. This album was to be the first Monkees album where they were the only musicians, outside of most of the bass and the horns. Douglas was responsible for both music presentation—actually leading the band and engineering recordings—and playing bass on most of Headquarters . This album, along with their next, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , served as

5680-504: Was filmed at Columbia Pictures ' Screen Gems studios and on location in California, Utah , and the Bahamas between February 19 and May 17, 1968, and premiered in New York City on November 6 of that year (the film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20). The film was the antithesis of The Monkees television show. Rafelson and Nicholson's "Ditty Diego-War Chant" (recited at the start of

5760-463: Was greeted by scenes of fan adulation reminiscent of Beatlemania . This gave the singers increased confidence in their fight for control over the musical material chosen for the series. In early 1967, controversy concerning the Monkees' studio abilities arose. Dolenz told a reporter that the Wrecking Crew provided the backing tracks for the first two Monkees albums, and that his position as drummer

5840-420: Was much better, but I think it suffers for that reason." With Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , the Monkees' fourth album, they went back to making music for the television show, except that they had control over the music and which songs would be chosen. They used a mixture of themselves and session musicians on the album, including the Wrecking Crew , Louie Shelton , Glen Campbell , members of

5920-844: Was publicly announced on July 14, 1965. Jones had previously starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway theater show Oliver! ; for his work in Oliver! , he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1963. In September   1965, Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ran advertisements to cast the remainder of the band/cast members for the TV show. The advertisements each read as follows: Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys, age 17–21. Want spirited Ben Frank's -types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview. Out of 437 applicants,

6000-413: Was released in April 1968. It was the first album released after NBC announced they were not renewing The Monkees for a third season. The album cover—a quaint collage of items in a knickknack shelf—was chosen over the Monkees' objections. It was the last Monkees' album to be released in separate, dedicated mono and stereo mixes. During the 1986 reunion, it returned to the Billboard charts for 11 weeks. As

6080-411: Was short-lived, however. Recording and producing as a group was Tork's major interest and he hoped that the four would continue working together as a band on future recordings, according to the liner notes of the 2007 Rhino reissue of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. . "Cuddly Toy" on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. marked the last time Dolenz, who originally played guitar before

6160-408: Was simply because a Monkee had to learn to play the drums, and he only knew the guitar. In the January 28, 1967, issue of Saturday Evening Post an article quoted Nesmith railing against the music creation process. "Do you know how debilitating it is to sit up and have to duplicate somebody else's records?" he asked. "Tell the world we don't record our own music." The band members were displeased that

6240-543: Was sold to Bob Evans in 2004. The original Ben Frank's on Sunset closed in 1996. Mel's Drive-In renamed and rehabilitated the building in 2007, redesigning much of the interior and adding new windows but maintaining the distinctive A-Frame architecture and replacing the letters on the original sign structure. The original neon letters are on display at the Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys, California. The sign and

6320-508: Was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin' Spoonful , who were not widely known at the time. After those plans fell through, Rafelson and Schneider focused on Davy Jones. In September 1964, Jones had signed to a long-term contract to appear in TV programs for Screen Gems, to make feature films for Columbia Pictures and to record music for the Colpix label. His involvement with The Monkees

6400-504: Was to just go back to the original songwriting and song-making strategy of the first albums except with a clear indication of how [the music] came to be... The rabid element and the hatred that was engendered is almost impossible to describe. It lingers to this day among people my own age." Tork disagreed with Nesmith's assessment of Headquarters , stating, "I don't think the Pisces album was as groovy to listen to as Headquarters . Technically it

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