The Monkees Biography

The TV show, which first aired in the states in 1966, was every bit the huge success that its producers had hoped for. Employing up to the minute, fast-paced editing, to add to the slapstick acting already on display from the foursome, the show occasionally bordered on the surreal, but was massively popular with legions of kids. The Beatles themselves had actually already moved on from their toothsome, mop-top image to something a bit more grown up, psychedelic and challenging - for a start, when the Monkees TV show debuted in September 1966, the original Fab Four had already released 'Revolver'. However, there was clearly still room for four fun young lads in the market, and the Monkees stepped up. Their debut single 'Last Train to Clarksville' hit the number one spot, as did its successor, 'I'm a Believer'.

That the band-members were only permitted to sing on their records in the early days, and not to perform on instruments, was a source of great frustration, probably most of all for Mike Nesmith. Of the four, he was certainly the closest to a 'real' musician, a guitarist and songwriter with some experience on the folk scene. What may have placated him somewhat, however, was the fact that some of his compositions did manage to sneak onto even the early Monkees albums. And what would surely have given the whole band cause for hope was that the super-group in whose image they had been cast actually thought they were okay. It was reported that John Lennon enjoyed the TV show, at least, for its Marx brothers-style humour, and later, once they had released some of their self-produced material, George Harrison offered them his public support.

Before that, however, when the musical ability (or reputed lack of it) became a matter of pride for the group, the Monkees endeavoured to take matters into their own hands. The success of the TV show, and ensuing record releases, had led to calls for live performances from the group, and with this came the need for them to be proficient to some degree on their chosen instruments. However, their producer and series musical co-ordinator, Don Kirshner, was dead-set against the whole idea. The compromise struck, whereby the Monkees would perform their own instruments live, with some help from a backing band, and would also do some studio work, in combination with using session players, did not exactly deflect the criticism that they were mere show-ponies. However, depending to what degree you wish to take the argument, this could perhaps be viewed as slightly unfair. Would anyone begrudge the Rolling Stones, for example, for having employed session pianist Nicky Hopkins for some of their most memorable songs and hooks? Well, no - and whilst the Monkees and the Stones might not exactly have been of the same weight category in the boxing ring of rock history, they did play some of their own stuff, and to write off their whole back catalogue because of their prefabricated beginnings is unkind at best. Equally, the sounds and singles coming out of Motown, whilst employing the best backing band in the business, were arguably in their own way 'prefabricated', and just as much a part of an equally proportioned money-making machine as the Monkees were.

Either way, the group found themselves easy tabloid-fodder on their 1967 visit to the UK, especially with the revelation that whilst they did perform on their instruments live, they were aided and abetted in doing so by their backing band, the Candy Store Prophets. Once back in the US, the band set about filming the second series, and it started to take on more of a variety show feel, with guest stars appearing. Surprisingly, 'respected' guests such as Tim Buckley and Frank Zappa made appearances - and indeed, even more surprisingly, Zappa was one of the more 'serious' rock fraternity who gave his full support to their desire for more creative control. The constant bickering over this control, notably between Nesmith and Kirshner, led to the latter's firing in 1967.

In what must have been one of the most surreal match-ups in music history, the Monkees actually hired the up-and-coming Jimi Hendrix Experience as an opening act for some US tour dates that same year. Whilst reports and opinions are varied as to why, this unholy and unlikely wedlock did not last long - some said that Jimi simply didn't want to be associated with the cheesy pop act, whilst others alleged that Hendrix's lewd stage antics had been deemed inappropriate by the traditionalist women's group 'The Daughters of the American Revolution', whose complaints had led him to be removed from the tour. Whatever, the thought of Hendrix pounding his guitar and thrashing the sound system as feverishly as he could, in front of a bunch of teens who are really there to see little Davy singing 'Daydream Believer', can't help but raise a wry smile.

By 1968, and upon the end of its second season, the TV series appeared to have run its course. In what was a rather maverick step, Rafelson then directed the Monkees in the film 'Head', an anarchic movie, and one entirely unexpected (and largely disliked) by their fans. Although it was a commercial flop, and had clearly been conceived and put together in a loose, barely accessible stream-of-consciousness style, the film was one of Jack Nicholson's earliest pieces of work, and he, Schneider and Rafelson were to team up again shortly afterwards, for the epoch-defining road movie 'Easy Rider' in 1969.

The fortunes of the band, however, were going in the opposite direction. Despite having released several successful records, by 1969 they were taken even less seriously than they had been before, and Peter Tork was the first to leave the group. The remaining threesome stuck to it, releasing two more albums before Nesmith could take it no more and went the same way the following year. Grinding it out to the bitter end, and fulfilling the recording contract they had signed back in the early days, the remaining two Monkees released one more album, 'Changes' (1970), before it all came to an end.

Yet, a further twist remained... the group were to be the beneficiaries of a wave of fond, non-ironic nostalgia in 1986, when a screening on MTV of all their TV shows went out, prompting renewed interest in the band and calls for a reunion. The trio of Dolenz, Tork and Jones duly obliged, becoming a sell-out live act well into 1987, and bringing about a surge in sales of their old albums. Nesmith was still holding out on a full foursome reunion, partly because he had forged a successful career with video production company Pacific Arts since leaving the group, and he scarcely needed the money (because he was the heir to a considerable fortune, as his mother was the inventor of the typewriter correction fluid, 'Liquid Paper'). However, the three of them toured, released a new album 'Pool It!' (1987), and continued to flog the cash piñata of pop nostalgia. By the mid-1990s, they had released a new album of their own work, 'Justus' (1996), which had even led Nesmith to step out of the shadows and join them.

• The Monkees Discography