They may be apocryphal, but the tales about how the individual Monkees were auditioned for the TV series illuminates their later evolution into the strangest of manufactured pop groups.

Each hopeful, folklore has it, was sent into a room with four judges at one end, a pile of Coca-Cola cans in the middle, and asked to improvise to impress. One future Monkee painstakingly built a wall of Coke in front of the door, and said: "You have to give me the job. No one else can get in." Another picked up a single can, slammed it down on the judges' table, and said: "Checkmate."

If you hire people on the basis of their spontaneity, then ask them to behave like automata, it will only be a matter of time before, like Skynet in the Terminator movies, the entity you've created becomes self-aware. That's one reason why this band's 45th anniversary tour is such a jumbled bag, and why so much of it baffles the people who only came to hear "Last Train to Clarksville", "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and the two "Believer" songs.

Much of the show, of course, is an affectionate tribute to the band's younger selves, with scenes from the sitcom rolling overhead. It feels a little like watching a particularly hi-tech DVD extra: press a button, and the players will leap out of the screen and appear in 3D, but four decades older and with slightly ropey voices.

Well, three of them, in any case. There's Davy Jones, The Monkees' Mark Owen – a diminutive Mancunian pretty boywho fell in love with a different girl every episode. There's the permanently clowning Micky Dolenz, with his letterbox grin and his over-practised anecdotes ("The Beatles threw us a party ... I'm told I had a wonderful time"). And there's the befuddled beanpole Peter Tork, the proper musician (tonight he plays bass, guitar, piano, French horn and banjo). Mike Nesmith, the first Monkee to break ranks, go solo and get "serious" (penning the sublime "Different Drum" along the way), hasn't deigned to join this tour.

In the early days, the Monkees' high-budget, studio-moulded situation meant they were able to call upon the finest songwriters of the day: Harry Nilsson, the two Neils (Sedaka and Diamond), Goffin & King, Boyce & Hart, Mann & Weil, and "Marks & Spencer and Fortnum & Mason", as Tork quips in an unfunny running joke. But it also meant that when they ventured into less commercial territory (from psychedelic C&W to Indian-inspired trance-rock), they could call upon LA's hippest young musicians (Ry Cooder, Neil Young and Stephen Stills all played on Monkees records).

A couple of tracks tonight scrape the surface of The Monkees' secret history. "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", as covered by the Sex Pistols, is a genuine garage rock classic. And "Randy Scouse Git" must be one of the strangest smash hits of the Sixties, with its thunderous drum rolls and faux-Satchmo scat routine from Dolenz.

It's after the interval that the strangeness really kicks in, with an extended sequence from Head, the Bob Rafelson/Jack Nicholson movie which is generally held to have killed The Monkees' career stone dead, but has since become recognised as a cult classic. A psychedelic satire of surveillance, state control, consumerism and capitalism, it begins with Micky Dolenz leaping off a bridge in an apparent suicide dive. The montage we're shown tonight includes the witheringly sarcastic lyric "Hey hey, we are The Monkees, you know we love to please/A manufactured image with no philosophies", a waitress mocking them with the words "Well, if it isn't God's gift to the eight-year-olds", as well as no end of acid-fried, retina-bending "solarisation" effects and, I swear, a scene in which Davy Jones attempts to sell a cow to Frank Zappa.

Almost apologetically, they run through the reassuring hits to happy-clappy acclaim. As Jones, Dolenz and Tork lap up the applause, most of the hall is relieved they finally played "Daydream Believer". Me, I'm thinking I need to buy Head immediately. Either way, everyone's happy. And yes, they do walk the walk. As, in many senses, they always did.

Review: The Monkees, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
By Sharon Mitchell
thisisnottingham.co.uk
May 26, 2011

SATURDAY teatimes, Easter holidays, the best thing on TV when I was a kid (as well as the Banana Splits and Tiswas) was The Monkees. They were funny, cute (we all loved Davy), zany and the music, to my young ear, was groovy - almost as good as my mum's copy of Hard Day's Night. Hey, hey, they were the American Beatles (apart from Davy, of course).

I was watching 1970s repeats, but can you really believe that the seminal sound and look of The Monkees is now 45 years old?

The amazing thing that sets The Monkees in the history book of glorious pop, is that they were never formed for their music. Formed via an advert in a Hollywood newspaper looking for four well-groomed and safe, mop-top, pin-ups for a TV comedy show, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Thorkelson and Michael Nesmith became sensations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Think of the Sixties and you see four long-haired boys running around dressed in orange shirts, tight jeans and cuban heels, being chased by long-haired, mini-skirted lovlies, set to some of the best pop music ever written - well, I do anyway.

And it's little wonder the music was so good, given that it was written by some of the most renowned songwriters in American pop history: Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwhich, Neil Sadaka, Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager - as well as The Monkees themselves.

Their look and sound and the notion that four boys could live together in a beach house making music has inspired countless garage bands, indie groups and other TV shows - remember S Club 7?

But it was 45 years ago. And Michael Nesmith is no longer among the Pre-fab Four, so what on earth could three, let's facing 'aging' actors/pop stars give in a live show that wouldn't turn out to be, well, a little sad? I certainly didn't want my huge affection for the group to be diminished.

The set of this, the last leg of their UK tour, started with a film montage of those mad-cap days which almost brought a lump to my throat - a bit like when I went to see Hard Day's Night at the Broadway cinema. You feel so happy to see it, but sad it's all gone.

Then the three bounce on to stage. They're older, sure, but so are the vast majority of the large audience. It doesn't stop them grooving.

And Davy's still the short one, Micky's still the crazy one and Peter's still the slightly wry, musical one.

They blast into I'm a Believer and it couldn't be more apt. Backed by a big band and clips and photos from the shows on the screen behind them, from the first Hammond organ 'toot, toot, toot, toot' and jangly guitar, 'dangely, dangely, dangely, dangely', we're in 1966 baby!

And so the hits roll in. Mary, Mary; The Girl I Knew Somewhere (accompanied by amazing scenes of the four being chased by groovy French girls in Paris) and When Love Comes Knocking On Your Door. Then Micky stops to tell us about the group's trip to London when he met royalty (The Beatles) and the song he wrote inspired by a line from the TV show Til Death Us Do Part. In England it was censored to be called Alternate Title, but we know Randy Scouse Git as the one in which he manically drums the timpani, which he did and it was magic. Then there's more from the soundtrack of my childhood: Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow; Words; Listen to the Band; Sometime in the Morning and Valleri.

Then a break. Well, they are pensioners, they probably needed tea and biscuits. During the interval, adverts I'd never seen before starring The Monkees for a kids' drink and for Rice Krispies kept me entertained...not sure if others even noticed.

Afterwards, we were into the freak-fest that was The Monkees' movie, Head. In late 1967, the band threw themselves into one last epic project; a glorious, doomed feature film. It was released in 1968 and savaged by the press. But it was a masterpiece of Sixties anti-establishment wierdness - much, much better than Magical Mystery Tour. And the hippy-trippy, Beatles-in-India inspired music, with scenes from the film, was indeed magical. And the dads and grandads were even treated to a young belly-dancer on stage. Groovy baby!

After the Porpoise Song it was back to the pop favourites - For Pete's Sake; She; A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You; Shades of Gray and Last Train to Clarksville which is Micky's favourite and the audience are now on their feet. We groove to Stepping Stone, sing along to Daydream Believer and know they'll encore with Pleasant Valley Sunday - surely one of the best social-commentary songs ever recorded.

There were a few numbers dotted around that have been written since the glory, glory days but I don't think I was alone in not knowing them.

We came to be transported back to magical days when the sun shone and guitars jangled and the band didn't disappoint. The show was delivered with the same charm that has been winning hearts since 1966.

Hey, hey, they're The Monkees, they're an older generation, but they've still got something to say.

Senior moments: Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones of The Monkees at Royal Albert Hall
Photo: C Brandon/Redferns

The Monkees, Royal Albert Hall, review
The Telegraph.co.uk
May 20, 2011

All the hits still zing in the original boyband's set but something is missing, says Marc Lee. Rating: * * *

A diminutive figure, instantly recognisable even after all these years, bounces on stage and announces brightly: “Hello, I’m Davy’s dad. Davy will be on in a minute.” Of course, it is Davy – Davy Jones, frontman of America’s answer to the Beatles, the original boyband, the Monkees. And the mood is set for the evening.

Nobody is pretending these “boys” aren’t knocking on the door of 70, and nobody cares: this is going to be all about nostalgia, a misty-eyed celebration of the golden age of pop now four and a half decades distant.

There is no hiding the vintage of Jones and bandmates Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork either (the fourth Monkee, Mike Nesmith, heir to a stationery fortune, is absent, as he has been from all the reunion tours). Especially since, throughout the show, a screen suspended above the stage is filled with clips from the zany TV series that shot them to fame in their youth.

To underline his decrepitude, Dolenz feigns a couple of “senior moments”, with a cry of “Thank you, Detroit” at the start and a farewell to “Chicago” as they finally leave the stage.

He’s remembered all the lyrics, though, and the hits are all here. I’m a Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone, Daydream Believer, Last Train to Clarksville - they’ve all stood the test of time. They all still zing.

But something is missing. Though Jones is chirpy enough, the between-songs chat is minimal. For a band with such a fascinating history, it is disappointing that they choose not to share more insights or offer the odd anecdote.

Famously, there have been long-smouldering tensions within the band, and Jones is perhaps alluding to some suppressed bitterness when he mutters that he got to sing mainly B-sides because the drummer Mr Dolenz “over there” did most of the A-sides.

Later, we’re treated to lengthy excerpts from their deliriously psychedelic, career-killing movie, Head, including the moment when a matronly figure sneers: “Well, if it isn’t God’s gift to the eight-year-olds!” What are their feelings now about that milestone? We’ll never know.

Still, the Albert Hall crowd - most, I’d say, born in the Fifties, some accompanied by grandchildren - have reached their own happy state of delirium by the end, and, when Tork plucks a child from the front row to join in on Daydream Believer, she is word-perfect. And looks about eight years old.

The Monkees' Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz take the Royal Albert Hall back to their zany version of the 1960s. Photograph: Rune Hellestad/Corbis

The Monkees review
By Caroline Sullivan
The Guardian.co.uk
May 20, 2011

Royal Albert Hall, London - 4 out 5 stars

Any excuse for a reunion. The Monkees have already reconvened for their 20th, 30th and 35th anniversaries, so it would have seemed churlish to let the 45th pass without a tour. As before, Mike Nesmith has refused to participate, leaving Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz to lever on the tight trousers for the nearly three-hour set.

With the Albert Hall full to capacity with old fans (and one or two young ones, possibly lured by their anomalous 1968 psychedelic movie Head), the Monkees are free to indulge themselves. They play 40 songs, including vaudeville numbers that involve zany voices and walks - it's obvious why John Lennon described them as "the Marx Brothers of rock". Even so, the set is full of interest; the Monkees are proper musicians as well as inveterate hams, and the incongruity produces some priceless moments.

A tranche of songs from Head - all meandering choruses accompanied by segments from the film, which baffled viewers in 1968 and again on Thursday – is followed by Jones tap-dancing in a white tuxedo; the cabaret cheese of I Wanna Be Free gives way to Steppin' Stone, a song so punk the Sex Pistols covered it. And they joke about their age (Jones: "I'm Davy's dad, Davy will be out in a minute") while dropping in conspicuous references to the internet.

Throughout the set, the back-screen shows clips from their TV show, an era when moptopped pop groups lived together as wacky flatmates. Darting around in front of the screen, the now 60-something Monkees are almost as spry as their younger selves, turning a butt-kicking I'm a Believer into an emphatic finale. As they depart they shout: "Thank you, Chicago!" which could be a senior moment, but is probably just more zaniness from a band who've refused to grow up.

The Monkees, Royal Albert Hall
Written by Kieron Tyler
The Arts Desk
May 20, 2011

The Monkees’ Head was their celluloid suicide note. They chanted that they were a manufactured band with no philosophy. The film caught an authentic psychedelic vision which came to life again last night. Post-interval, the show continued with a stunning run through of the Head soundtrack songs, most of which had never been played live. Reclaiming this maverick and wilful part of their career, The Monkees said last night that they were more than the puppets of those who had assembled them as TV-land America’s answer to The Beatles.

This wasn’t the pop band known and loved by many, but the underground-embracing Monkees that hobnobbed with Jack Nicholson and Frank Zappa. Live last night, Head’s psychedelic, Middle Eastern-styled “Can You Dig It” was as freaky as on the original album, and accompanied on stage by a belly dancer. Micky Dolenz’s strong vocal on “As We Go Along” highlighted the song’s Tim Buckleyisms. The drifting, languid “Porpoise Song” was as seductive as the studio recording. The surprise of seeing this material played live was surpassed by how good it was in this setting.

'All aspects of The Monkees' musical sprawl were on display last night, yet it was a seamless evening'

The Monkees were never meant to be in charge their destiny. Created by hardened showbiz professionals and supported by backroom boys like impresario Don Kirshner, The Monkees were feeding an insatiable market. Songs came from gold-chip writers like Neil Diamond and Carole King. By the end of January 1967 The Monkees’ first two albums had sold over five million copies, while their singles had shifted more than four million. Their debut single had been issued barely more than five months earlier.

Using session musicians led to the fake band tag that set the tone in the Sixties (players on their records included Stephen Stills and Neil Young). Such issues didn’t bother The Beatles. Paul McCartney welcomed Dolenz into his house. Tork played on George Harrison’s Wonderwall.

Another tension central to Monkee-world was their relationship with the underground. These leanings were all too apparent with the release of Head in December 1968, but The Monkees were old hands at freakery and psychedelia. They’d given platforms to Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Tim Buckley. Dolenz became one of the earliest domestic owners of a Moog synthesiser. With Mike Nesmith in the driving seat, they were also early adopters of what would become country-rock. But the teen-scream market defined them.

Head and the bonkers 1969 TV special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee publicly acknowledged that the chirpy small-screen Monkees were dead, but what’s striking is the original band’s drawn-out death. After Tork’s departure in December 1968 and Nesmith’s a year later, it took until September 1970 for the end to be acknowledged by the two-piece Jones and Dolenz Monkees. A non-Nesmith reunion in 1987 resulted in the Pool It! album, but that didn’t last long. They reunited again in 1996 with Nesmith and played London the following year. They went their separate ways again and here we are, again without Nesmith, on the slightly chronologically wonkily titled 45th Anniversary Tour (they were assembled in November 1965).

All aspects of The Monkees' musical sprawl were on display last night, yet it was a seamless evening – even with the Head segment. The songs had been chosen and sequenced by Davy Jones. There were two sets, with a 20-minute interval. This celebration was total. In the context of the 39 songs aired, even the schmaltz-fest that’s “I Wanna be Free” shone.

Great song followed great song. The first half opened with “I’m a Believer”, which gave way to a tough “Mary Mary”. The eight-piece backing band – mostly drawn from Jones’s live band – caught the flavour of the songs well by being straightforward.

'Jones is a not-quite-catering-size ham, Dolenz was more reserved and Tork looked like The Wizard of Oz’s straw man'

Dolenz, Jones and Tork themselves were always mismatched – brought together to reflect distinct personalities of individual Beatles – but on stage in 2011 they appeared even more disparate. Jones is a not-quite-catering-size ham, always hoofing, jigging and ready to make a crack. Dolenz, in his hat and clad in black was more reserved - he probably had to be, as many songs called for him to sing while drumming. Tork looked like The Wizard of Oz’s straw man and his asides were often cut off by Jones. The years have bred a familiarity bordering on curt. There was little banter between the songs. The evening moved forward without brakes.

Nesmith was absent, but his songs “What Am I Doing Hanging Around”, "Listen to the Band" and Head's “Circle Sky” didn’t miss him. Tork’s vocals weren’t strong, but he did the songs no disservice.

Pop songs like “Valeri”, the psychedelic “Words” and “Shades of Grey” were glorious. “I’m Not Your (Stepping Stone)” was harder than it could have been. But it was “A Little But Me, A Little Bit You”, halfway through the second set, that got the audience to its feet. “Last Train to Clarksville”, "Pleasant Valley Sunday” and set closer “Daydream Believer” were what people wanted. “(Theme from) The Monkees” was played by the backing band as outro music. With its two halves, ads screened in the interval and outro music, last night echoed the structure of the TV show.

The cheese factor was low, the standard high. Just as it was with The Monkees in the Sixties, last night’s show was better than it had any right to be.

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The Monkees, Royal Albert Hall - The Arts Desk - reviews, news, interviews

What do Joan of Arc and Peter Tork of the Monkees Have in Common?
The Who2 Blog

In Joan of Arc's case it was the voice of God, telling her to save France from English domination. In Peter Tork's case, the voice told him to get out of Greenwich Village:

He was compelled to audition for [The Monkees] after experiencing a mysterious calling on the streets of New York in early 1965.

"It was the strangest thing, I was walking through Greenwich Village when WHAM!" he recalls. "It was like The Annunciation or something, a real Road to Damascus moment -- although I didn't have a horse to fall off."

"I just heard a voice saying, 'Hey pal, get out of town now' and not long after I found myself in Southern California trying out for the show."

So The Monkees were part of the Divine plan then, Peter?

"I don't know if I'd go that far," he laughs. "I'm just telling you I had an experience and here I am."

Tork is 69 and The Monkees are back on the road for their 45th anniversary tour. The lineup is Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones, minus Michael Nesmith, but with eight backing musicians. Reviews are surprisingly good.

Gig review: The Monkees
By David Pollock
Scotsman.com News
May 19, 2011

THE MONKEES
CLYDE AUDITORIUM, GLASGOW ***

THERE went the Monkees, still monkeying around, kidding on their memories had faded with age. "Who are you?" asked one. "They told me I was in the band. I'm gettin' a paycheck!" mugged another. That was always the point. The first unashamedly manufactured boy band were all about the impression of youth and madcap vitality in the 1960s, and to see these three old gents (Mike Nesmith hasn't returned with Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones) with a combined age of precisely 200 clown around before pristine footage of their younger selves was sad at first. Not embarrassing, just steeped in an unhappy yearning for long-lost youth.

It didn't help that the first half of a two-act, 40-song set was drawn from the kind of filler material which only a completist could love. Jones, an old-school, Palladium-style English entertainer, sang the unremittingly saccharine It's Nice to Be With You, the cod-country of Listen to the Band and the banjo-twanging, Easy Rider-lite clapalong What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round all of which floated by in a mist of someone else's hardly-remembered nostalgia.

After the interval, however, they were like a different band, more bona-fide classic rockers than dusty party piece, and a suite of songs including Circle Sky and Can You Dig It? from their famously crazed album Head was played with noise and vitality, stamped more with the voice of Dolenz, who looks like he could have been the lost member of Buffalo Springfield. The hits were saved for the finale, including Last Train to Clarkesville, a hands-aloft Daydream Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday, giving the crowd just what they wanted: good, bad and all.

Peter Tork and Davy Jones - Getty Images

Review: The Monkees @ Apollo, Manchester
By Mark Hutchinson
This Is Lancashire.co.uk
May 16, 2011

WITH the iconic Monkeemobile parked outside, a timewarp enveloped the Apollo as Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones reminded a sell-out crowd just exactly what Monkeemania was.

We were all back in the sixties as - following an overture featuring many of their songs - The Monkees (minus Mike Nesmith) took to the stage to a rapturous reception.

What came next was a torrent of hits, b-sides and album tracks from a band that now seemed comfortable with their past.

In fact, this was different from the previous Monkees shows I’d attended. This was more of a music concert than a comedy show.

There was a bit of clowning around, mainly from Micky; and some good natured banter between them, but this show was all about the music.

The first song (and the last as it was reprised at the end) was the classic I’m A Believer and was followed by two Nesmith tracks in Mary Mary and The Girl I Knew Somewhere.

In spite of his absence, Nesmith was there in spirit as the trio performed over half a dozen of the songs he featured heavily on – including Listen To The Band and What Am I Doin’ Hanging Round.

Back in the day, The Monkees were panned for not playing their own instruments, and anyone who doubted their musicianship would have had to eat their words tonight as they all played.

Davy wielded a guitar, whilst Micky tackled drums and guitar.

The star for me was Peter, looking gaunt (he has overcome an aggressive form of cancer in recent years), he played guitar, keyboards, banjo and French horn!

He also sang more songs than in other shows I’ve seen and a particular favourite was Your Auntie Grizelda.

The second half began with six songs from their film Head, beginning with Circle Sky, and we were treated to exotic dancing (Can You Dig It) and Davy doing his Fred Astaire bit (Daddy’s Song).

It was great to hear the less well-known tracks; a couple of them never having appeared on the original albums such as All Of your Toys and I Don’t Think you Know Me At All, but it was the hits that many people were there for and we got ‘em.

Daydream Believer, Last Train To Clarksville, Valleri and Alternate Title were all performed and gratefully received.

And before the reprise of I’m A Believer which ended the show we had the amazing Pleasant Valley Sunday – which was preceded by Peter narrating his Peter Percival Patterson’s Pet Pig Porky.

Strangely, as they left the stage doing their special ‘Monkee walk’, I realised that the only song of note (in the forty played) that they didn’t do was their Theme from The Monkees.

The three Monkees, and their octet of backing musicians, all put on a great show which was enlivened by backdrop images of their early days and clips from the TV show.

As they are now in their mid-sixties, it is perhaps doubtful that we’ll see them again, which is a shame because entertainment like is sadly rare today.

But hopefully, perhaps for their 50th anniversary in 2016, they may once again “come walking down our street”.

Hey, hey, we’re still...The Monkees
By Andy Welch
Evening Times : Features : Editor's Picks
May 16, 2011

The Monkees have been closeted in a small room all day doing interviews.

It’s a nice room, of course, a book-filled nook of a well-known London members’ club, and there’s endless tea and biscuits, but it’s a small room nonetheless.

Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz are here to talk about their 45th anniversary tour and two-CD Best Of, Monkeemania.

In the morning they were probably fresh and full of the joys of spring, but several hours in to their promotional duties, the trio are starting to flag.

The band’s drummer, Micky Dolenz, is sitting, nay lying, on the end of the couch, hat pulled over his eyes like a cowboy catching an afternoon nap.

He’s snatched a few hours off from performing in an award-winning touring production of Sixties-set musical Hairspray. “Eight shows a week,” he smiles, raising his head slightly. “Brutal.” He sinks back down.

Peter Tork, the keyboard player, is sitting to his left, taking everything in and not saying very much. He’s quiet and, unless he’s making one of his quick jokes, only really speaks when spoken to.

Davy Jones, however, is up on his feet. He’s 65 now but still has the glint in his eye of a former teen idol, with a tan that would sit somewhere between sun-kissed and old handbag on a beauty salon colour chart.

Despite being born in Manchester, Jones is full of the can-do attitude of the USA, his adopted homeland, and only a trace of a British accent remains. Despite this, he doesn’t sound American either.

“I’m doing great,” Jones says. “I’m doing exactly what I want to do, I’m still riding my horses, I’ve got beautiful kids and I’m with my lovely wife,” he adds, referring to his 33-year-old third spouse Jessica Pacheco, a rather beautiful model.

“And here I am with my buddies. We’re here to play music and I do that all the time, but it’s not the same if I’m not with them.”

The Monkees were the first made-for-TV band, formed when two young film-makers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, inspired by The Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, pitched an idea for a TV show about a band.

Dolenz and Jones were already child stars of stage and screen; Tork and Mike Nesmith answered the casting call and starred in the series for two years. The band made the show, and released albums of songs written by the best on offer at the “Brill Building”

The New York hit factory boasted Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond and, chiefly, prolific duo Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart among its ranks of songwriters.

The formula, however contrived, worked a treat. In 1967 The Monkees outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined in the US, and sold 50 million records worldwide.

Strangely, when the trio talk today about their songs, they get confused over which of the writers was responsible for which hit.

As Jones explains, though, it’s understandable. “We’ve just got so many hits! That’s the problem when we’re picking a set list.”

Dolenz adds: “The last time we were together like this in a room was 2002. Davy and I haven’t spoken or seen each other for a few years, but the things we all went through in the Sixties and the time we spent together means we’re just as tight now as we were then.”

Mike Nesmith, the band’s former guitarist, opted not to join the reunion. Jones says he just didn’t fancy it, but he was asked and there’s no animosity.

Jones adds there was a point a couple of years ago when he thought he wouldn’t do it again (this is technically the band’s fourth reformation).

“I’ve enjoyed doing my own shows for the past few years - cabaret, singing hit after hit and all that schtick.

“But it’s just not the same playing I’m A Believer or Stepping Stone without these guys. I have other songs I do, a bit of country, big band stuff, but it’s The Monkees songs people want to hear.”

Jones remains optimistic and believes that as long as they keep performing the hits such as Daydream Believer, Last Train To Clarkesville and the aforementioned Stepping Stone, audiences will accept other material, like the soundtrack to the 1968 film Head.

A commercial flop, the stream-of-consciousness epic has now garnered a cult following.

Ultimately, the threesome are just excited to be back on the road after all this time.

“It’s like someone throwing you a birthday party every night,” offers Dolenz, while Tork best sums up the band’s attitude toward the tour: “Basically, we play for free every night. We just get paid to commute.”

Peter Tork - Echo Arena

Review: The Monkees at Liverpool Echo Arena
In The Mix Today - News - Liverpool Echo
May 13, 2011

HEY! HEY! They’re the Monkees!

Or, at least, three of them are, as original member Mike Nesmith (the slightly glum one with the woolly hat) chose not to join this 45th anniversary reunion tour by the original American boyband created in the image of our own Beatles.

Last night’s gig at the Echo arena was in fact the first time the band had played the home town of their 1960s rivals.

It may be sacrilegious for a Liverpudlian to admit this, but until I was well into my teens I always preferred the Monkees to the real Fab Four.

It was almost entirely to do with the Monkees’ TV show, a 30-minute knockabout mix of music, slapstick comedy and 60s Californian hipness that was itself a virtual copy of the Beatles’ films A Hard Day’s Night and Help!

John Lennon himself called them ‘The Marx Brothers of rock’, which we’ll assume was a compliment.

You can’t imagine him saying anything like that about a current boy band - Take That could be called the Marks and Spencers of rock, perhaps, but that’s about as far as you’d go.

They may all be nearing their 70s now - as Davy Jones said: “I used to be a heart-throb, now I’m a coronary” - but there was no shortage of energy in their near two-and-a-half hour set last night. There can’t be many bands embarking on 45th anniversary tours who are prepared to be a bit subversive with their back catalogue, and the Monkees made us wait till the end for hits like Daydream Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday, filling the rest of the show with some of their less well-known, but no less good, album tracks like Words, For Pete’s Sake, Circle Sky, She, Porpoise Song and Auntie Grizelda.

Showing a refreshing lack of vanity, they chose to perform against a screen showing clips from their TV show - they may be older now but the energy and enthusiasm they put into the show meant the comparison was not an unkind one.

Micky can still hit the (very) high notes, Peter is still the loveable clown, like a psychedelic Stan Laurel, and Davy still has the ladies swooning despite the years.

8/10 I’m A Believer

Concert Review: The Monkees magic casts its spell at Echo Arena
Liverpool News - News - Liverpool Daily Post
May 13, 2011

THEY were the group regarded as the TV answer to The Beatles. It seemed fitting, then, that 45 years after they were formed, The Monkees were kicking off their 12-date reunion tour in the city where it all began.

The last time Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz last shared a stage together was 14 years ago, and despite a truncated, rather sparsely filled Arena, anticipation was high.

I’m a Believer was the first song, and if it was a reference to their confidence they could pull off another tour it was well founded.

Wearing a raking black trilby, Micky Dolenz still had rock ’n’ roll running through him like letters through a stick of rock, while Peter Tork grooved away in a red silk Mandarin shirt and the ladies still screamed for Manchester-born and one-time Corrie actor Davy Jones, even if he does bear a passing resemblance these days to Ken Barlow.

“I used to be a heart-throb,” joked Davy. “Now I’m a coronary.”

But, judging by Mrs Davy Jones, the slinky Cuban dancer who joined him on stage for a shimmy to Daddy’s Song, he’s still got it.

Missing member Michael Nesmith was referenced early, with surprising candour. If the audience didn’t sing, said Micky - they sang and danced all through it - they would be involuntarily entered into a Nesmith lookalike competition. “Boo,” said Davy. “A fate worse than death,” muttered Tork.

Backed by a superb eight-piece band, the threesome pumped out songs with hardly a pause between them.

There was Mary Mary, Somewhere, She’s Always Out and a cracking rendition of Randy Scouse Git, with Micky attacking the drums. Tork effortlessly switched between electric guitar, banjo and even a French horn - not bad for a group mocked for its lack of musicianship.

The second half of the show featured psychedelic numbers, like the fast and furious Circle Sky to the beautiful, Beatles-flavoured Purpoise song. Last Train to Clarksville was as good as it ever sounded.

Childhood snaps of the group accompanied That Was Then, which, like the luridly coloured clips of their capers from the TV series, poignantly highlighted the passing of time - for the audience too, no doubt, largely made up of 30 and 40 somethings and their parents.

Shades of Grey had at least one member reaching for a tissue. Individually, their voices may not have had the elasticity of youth, but together they hit every harmony almost instinctively.

By the time they reached classic Daydream Believer, they had thumped out 43 infectiously high energy hits. Jones put so much work in, he tripped over a stage trap door during Someday Man.

Pro that he is, he bounced up quickly and even cracked a joke about it. It just made the audience adore him more - and demonstrated they still all have that age-old Monkees magic.

The enduring appeal of The Monkees
By Paul Whitelaw
The Scotsman
May 14, 2011

Hey, hey! the Monkees are coming to Glasgow, so Paul Whitelaw looks back on the rise, fall and perennial appeal of 'four insane boys'

'Hey hey we're The Monkees You know we love to please A manufactured image With no philosophies."

So sang the other prefab four in their baffling, beautiful, self-excoriating movie, Head, which, by its release in the winter of 1968, cemented the end of their brief reign as one of the biggest pop sensations of the decade.

Not that anyone noticed. Owing to dwindling ratings, their TV show was axed in March of that year, just as their latest single, Valleri, marked their final visit to the Top 10. And Head was "promoted" with such a wilfully obscure marketing campaign, featuring no mention of the band, their great art statement never stood a chance. That - save another 18 months of generally ignored activity - appeared to be that for The Monkees. Only two years earlier they had been forged in the white-hot crucible of commerce, soared faster and more brightly than Icarus in love beads, and crashed back to earth with a whimper of indifference.

This has since become a familiar trajectory for manufactured pop acts, of which they weren't the first, but with which they are synonymous. And yet, of all the boybands who've emerged in their wake, none has proved as enduring as The Monkees.

Why? The cynical answer is that none had the good fortune to star in a TV show which, thanks to syndicated repeats, struck a chord with subsequent generations. Furthermore, with the notable exception of Take That, none has enjoyed reunion tours stretching beyond the oldies circuit.

The explanation for that is equally self-evident: The Monkees were conduits for some of the greatest pop music ever conceived. Last Train to Clarksville, I'm a Believer, Daydream Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday and a good few more: what melodic guitar band wouldn't, at the very least, maim for such riches in their catalogue?

The Monkees had an unfair advantage in that their biggest hits were written for them by some of the finest songwriters of the era, including Neil Diamond, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and Gerry Goffin and Carole King. But only the most tediously earnest "real music" churl would use that as a stick with which to beat them. If The Monkees were all about product, then that product was impeccable.

In any case, they made much of their best music after abandoning their organ grinder and taking control of their creative destiny. Not that anyone expected such drama when they were first thrown together in 1966.

Inspired by the phenomenal success of The Beatles, and taking Dick Lester's A Hard Day's Night as their template, two young, aspiring film-makers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, devised a TV sitcom about a struggling pop group.

With dollar signs flashing in their eyes, they placed a now legendary ad in Daily Variety looking for "4 insane boys, age 17-21".

Reportedly, of the 437 who auditioned, several answered the sanity requirements literally, although contrary to legend, Charles Manson wasn't one of them.

Of those definitely present was Stephen Stills. Soon to find fame in Buffalo Springfield and beyond, he was rejected for having bad teeth and thinning hair, although he did recommend his friend and fellow folkie Peter Tork, who got the gig.

He was joined by another struggling musician, Mike Nesmith, a sardonic Texan and gifted songwriter who subsequently pioneered the country-rock genre (as usual, this millionaire Liquid Paper heir is sitting this reunion out).

The unit was completed by former child actor and sorely underrated pop/rock vocalist Micky Dolenz, plus diminutive Mancunian Davy Jones, who, by virtue of his stage experience, teen idol looks and swinging British accent, was auditioned only as a formality.

Although hired mainly as actors, The Monkees were expected to sing to backing tracks provided by seasoned studio musicians. This didn't sit well with Nesmith and Tork, who expected to have some creative input into the wealth of music required, not only for use in the series, but as potentially lucrative spin-off discs: multi-platform cross-promotion years before its time.

Overseen by music mogul Don Kirshner - known within the business as The Man with the Golden Ear - the records were instant smashes, as was the TV show, which proved far more inventive than might reasonably have been expected. Essentially a live-action cartoon, it was a pseudo-psychedelic, postmodern funhouse of pop, slapstick and camera trickery, unlike anything seen before on TV.

As Monkeemania exploded, all concerned got rich very quickly. But when a frustrated Nesmith publicly revealed their reliance on session musicians, they were instantly scorned by the emerging hipster rock press. This, it should be remembered, was a time when rock was beginning to take itself seriously, when integrity was all: bad news for teenybopper sell-outs indebted to The Man.

But Nesmith's admission was no idle slip-up. Following frenzied tours of America and the UK, The Monkees had earned their (admittedly rudimentary) instrumental chops. Bolstered by their success, they dramatically fired Kirshner - after a furious Nesmith punched a hole through a wall, mere inches from Donnie's golden lugs - and recorded a superb No 1 album, Headquarters, entirely under their own steam.

Although critics predictably dismissed it at the time, The Monkees had proved their point: Pinocchio pop became a real live boyband.

More hit records followed, but it couldn't last. As their teen audience matured and drifted, the group made the far-out Head as a last-ditch attempt at ensnaring the counter culture.

And yet no hippie worth their hookah would ever be caught within miles of a Monkee movie, albeit one which was seemingly designed to alienate whatever remained of their original fanbase.

Nevertheless, Rafelson, Schneider and Head writer Jack Nicholson used those Monkee millions to fund Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and the ensuing Hollywood new wave, and the film belatedly became a cult classic.

In this X Factor age, when the cynical machinations of the pop business are clearly exposed for all to see, the opprobrium afforded The Monkees feels even more unfair. No-one expects pop acts to play instruments or write their own music any more.

Thankfully, in recent years, their legacy has been re-evaluated, their music finally judged on its own sweet terms. They were ahead of their time and uniquely of it: a weird symbiosis of commercialism, idealism and diverse creativity, and proof positive that ersatz art is often more majestic than the real thing.

Go on, The Porpoise Song, listen to it now. Listen to the band.

Rock And Rules: The Monkees
Clash Music Exclusive Interview
May 13, 2011

The Monkees were the original boy band, but transcended claims of fakery to define ’60s pop. Clash interviews Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz about their life experiences.

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

Davy Jones: I moved from England to America when I was fifteen. It wasn’t risky, because I had a job. I was in Oliver on Broadway. It was tough though; there was no show on Christmas Day and I didn’t know what to do. I just sat on the pavement outside the theatre eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. I was going, ‘What am I doing here? This is ridiculous. I want to go home’. But you’ve got to grow up and you’ve got to move on. Personally, though, it was a risk, because I had to be a grown-up before most kids have left school.

WE WERE NOT SELL OUTS

Peter Tork: The noise about The Monkees not being the kind of band that everybody thought was the ideal band, and because we were actors playing that kind of band, the fact that that wasn’t the reality bothered a lot of people, who had got it into their heads that that was the only valid artistic expression on the face of the earth, and they accused us of selling out. If that was in fact the only valid aesthetic, we would have been selling out, but it wasn’t. Not one of these kids didn’t enjoy some TV show or other.

PUT IN THE HOURS

Mickey Dolenz: There was an enormous amount of control and structure. We were hired. We had press at 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, 5, then to the studio, wardrobe call... this was every day for years. Twelve hours a day we were on the set just filming the show, and then we had to rehearse, and at night we were recording. It was hard work and it was constant. We would have a hiatus in that we could go party sometimes, but boy, even at nineteen or twenty years old, you can’t party that hard and get up at that time in the morning, and you’d had to learn your lines for the next day’s shoot...

WATCH YOUR MONEY

Davy: I didn’t know about royalties. We were in the studio one day and we made up a song as we’re talking. Then we came out the studio and the engineer says, ‘That was cool. We ought to do something with this.’ We said, ‘You can have it.’ We gave him the publishing on the song and everything. He bought a friggin’ house in the Valley for $75,000 with his royalities statement! We weren’t making that kind of money! We were making four hundred dollars a week for getting up at that time in the morning. But we didn’t care. We had a TV show, we were acting, and we were friends. It was just one good fun time. We had money in our pockets, we were driving our new cars, and it wasn’t about dollars and cents at the end of the day.

MIND YOUR BUSINESS

Mickey: There are two words in show business; there’s ‘show’ and there’s ‘business’. You’ve gotta be pretty good at both to get successful and stay successful. You’ve got to have the talent - that’s the ‘show’ part of it - but you also need to have the business chops, or else you’d better hire somebody that does.

THIS IS YOUR ONE SHOT

Peter: Give all you’ve got to this, because if you’re thirteen or fifteen or seventeen and you want to do this, if you put this on hold and become a dentist, you will be thirty-five, and you’ll be working off your student loan until forever before you get to pick up your guitar again. Whereas if you keep going and you decide finally that as a practical matter you don’t want to pursue this as a career, you can start to become a dentist at thirty-five. You can’t do it the other way around.

Rhino release ‘MonkeeMania - The Very Best Of The Monkees’ on 9th May. The Monkees UK tour starts in Liverpool on 12th May.

Monkees reunion hits problems
The Sun.co.uk
April 19, 2011

HEY, hey, THE MONKEES' reunion tour is hitting the skids before it has even started.

The bad blood between them is causing some serious hassle in rehearsals for their 45th anniversary jaunt next month - they barely speak to one another and have insisted on separate trailers.

A source said: "It's nearly impossible to get them to agree on anything. All discussions are via a third party - 'Mr Dolenz wants this, Mr Tork is insisting on that'.

"They're setting up so many obstacles for themselves that their tour looks doomed before it's even begun."

Last night a spokesman for the tour said it was (Monkee) business as usual, adding: "The band members' requests for the tour are far from unusual. They are all very much looking forward to seeing all their fans again."

Only three members of the original band - DAVY JONES, MICKY DOLENZ and PETER TORK - are on the tour, which kicks off in Liverpool on May 12. MIKE NESMITH, who inherited a multi-million-dollar fortune from his inventor mother, refused to join the reunion. Sounds like a wise move.

The Agency Group Announces 45th Anniversary Tour For The Monkees
Mi2N.com
March 23, 2011

The Agency Group, one of the world's leading entertainment booking agencies, is announcing it handled all of the booking for The Monkees 45th Anniversary Tour. The renowned pop rock trio of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork will reunite and celebrate its 45th anniversary with shows in the UK and North America, marking the group's first live performances in more than a decade.

The Monkees tour kicks off in the UK on Thursday, May 12th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool and wraps in Nottingham at the Royal Centre on May 25th. The Monkees will then embark on the North American leg of their tour hitting more than 30 cities in the US and Canada. The North American leg starts June 3rd in Atlanta, GA and comes to a close in Los Angeles on July 16th. Highlights include a June 16th performance at the Beacon Theater in New York City and multi-night stops in both Toronto and Minneapolis.

Neil Warnock, CEO of The Agency Group, booked the UK shows and agents Bruce Solar and Andy Somers in The Agency Group's Los Angeles office booked the North America shows.

"It's been over ten years since The Monkees performed live together and the timing was absolutely perfect for a reunion tour to celebrate their 45th anniversary," said Solar. "Our booking strategy was to start the tour in Europe to generate buzz and then bring The Monkees to the US for a six week tour playing shows at a combination of venues including performing arts centers, casinos and hard ticket venues."

Solar added, "The Agency Group is exploring a potential second leg of the US tour starting in late September along with shows in other parts of the world through the remainder of 2011 and heading into 2012."

The Monkees were assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968. The musical acting quartet was composed of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith. The group sold 50 million records worldwide with major international hits including "I'm a Believer", "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", "Daydream Believer", "Last Train to Clarksville", and "Pleasant Valley Sunday."

Monkees To Tour, Bury Hatchets, Monkee Around
Interview by Lois Wilson
Mojo - mojo4music.com
March 10, 2011

Three of the four Monkees - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork - are sat on a sofa upstairs at Soho's Groucho Club, sipping on after-lunch coffees and mineral waters and discussing a career that has yielded a string of hit singles (Last Train To Clarksville, I'm A Believer, A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Daydream Believer) and US Number 1 albums (The Monkees, More Of The Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.) and seen them awarded the dubious status of "first band created for TV" providing a model for such atrocities as The X factor.

"At the time we were criticised for it," says Micky Dolenz, dapper in black suit, black pinstriped shirt and black trilby. "Now we're seen as some kind of pioneers but The Monkees were never like American Idol. Yes we were created for a TV programme but we transcended that. We started out as two actors and two musicians and ended up as four actors and four musicians."

It's been 10 years since the reconfigured trio last stepped out under The Monkees banner but with a series of UK shows in May, it's big grins all round. Although their 2001 jaunt fell apart when Peter Tork quit, in a huff over his bandmates' drinking ("We were getting along pretty well until I had a meltdown," Tork told Rolling Stone) and Davy Jones claimed as recently as 2009 that he'd never work with The Monkees again, any leftover animosities are skilfully hidden.

For better or worse, they are bound to the US TV series that, over its original 1966-'68 run and via Saturday morning repeats through the '70s and '80s, defined the ideal of the pop group for several subsequent generations.

"We've got absolutely nothing to complain about when we look back these days, but at the same time, we're not living in the past," says Dolenz, currently treading the boards as Wilbur Turnblad in the musical Hairspray at London's Shaftesbury Theatre. "We've all been successful in our solo pursuits but being in The Monkees was an unbelievable experience and it's great to have the opportunity to go back and do it again."

You're reuniting to celebrate 45 years of The Monkees. Sadly without Mike Nesmith, though...

Micky Dolenz: We'd love Mike to come out with us. He is always welcome but he doesn't like touring. You've got to remember we are in our sixties now, and he has things in his life keeping him busy and it just happened that our three schedules were open in Summer so we could all get together to do the tour. It was as simple as that.

What can we expect from the shows?

Davy Jones: We know people don't want to go to a Monkees concert and not hear Daydream Believer, I'm A Believer, Last Train To Clarksville, the greatest hits as they were in their original form, but we also want to show each of our individual talents like we did in the TV show and so Peter might do a couple of bluesy numbers, Micky might do Saturday's Child - we've never done that one live before - and I might do some Davy tweety songs like When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door).

The Monkees 1968 movie, Head, is a brilliant, subversive moment in pop. Did you see it as groundbreaking at the time?

Micky: At the time I didn't know what it was but over the years I've come to realise it was groundbreaking because the producers were at the beginning of the independent film industry in Los Angeles and I look at it as the deconstruction not just of The Monkees, but using The Monkees metaphorically as a deconstruction of old Hollywood.

Davy: I wasn't thrilled with it. I look at it and see Micky's acting in it with the coke machine and stuff and I think he's a brilliant actor and he has one of the best voices in the business but I would have made a different movie altogether because for a start our fans couldn't get in to cinemas to see it as they had to be over 16. That was a good way of throwing it in the toilet. Now when people ask me about it, I just say I don't know what it was about but people seem to like it.

Peter: It was groundbreaking at the level of the film industry but I'd seen all that stuff done many times before on the underground scene. I see it as [director] Bob Rafelson's take on us and I think Rafelson's point is always, 'Life sucks and you are stupid if you don't know that,' and I don't think that's a very encouraging thought but that's Rafelson's statement and that's the point of the movie, and all of his other movies make the same point. I didn't like working with Rafelson very much, he's not a very kindly man, he's not a very sympathetic man, he doesn't have much heart, and that made it difficult. There were times when I let myself get overcome with fear for the part and he laughed at me for looking afraid and that was really tough.

33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee took the deconstruction of The Monkees further and was arguably more transgressive as it was aired on mainstream TV.

Peter: It's using The Monkees to make the same point, Monkees as product, and the deconstruction of their conception. We had Pinocchio complexes and we wanted to break free of the strings. But we were even puppets in our own deconstruction. I got to meet Little Richard, though, which was amazing. It went up against the Academy Awards in one time zone so no one watched it but in another zone it did really well.

Davey: No one but Jack Good, who made it, knew who Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll were but I loved it as I thought she was gorgeous. And we got to work with Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis and The Clara Ward Singers. We were wondering if Peter should play Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach and me sing Bill Dorsey's String For My Kite from it at our upcoming shows.

You were manufactured for TV and portrayed as a struggling band trying desperately to find fame. In reality you were hugely successful with hit records and tours. Was there a moment when you thought you'd transcended the TV image to become a proper band?

Micky: It started out as a TV show about a band in a beach house, that was the TV Monkees, that was one entity, but when we started rehearsing and playing and went on the road, that was a different entity. So there were two Monkees: the one you saw on TV and the one that we really became.

Peter: If there is a discussion to be had on The Monkees and who they were: well most people will say it was the four of us or the three of us now, but The Monkees was a major operation that included [creators] Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson and [music director] Don Kirshner, and the four of us really ranked third after those guys in terms of the structure of the thing. We did what we were cast to do, but when we were shooting the pilot, and we had barely met each other and I'd just finished teaching Micky 'shboom shboom' on the drums and there's a break and we're standing there with our instruments in our hands. I've got a bass, Mike's got a guitar, Micky is sitting at the drums, Davy has a tambourine and we turn on the amps and we start playing songs we've never played together before like Johnny B Goode and everyone got up and danced; that's when I thought we were a proper band. There wasn't really a moment when I didn't think that. And Capitol Records said they would have signed us without the TV show anyway.

At a time when our perceptions of what defined a rock'n'roll band were changing, when notions of authenticity were integral, you came under criticism for not playing on your records. Now we know that groups such as The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Box Tops relied on sessioneers for their early records.

Micky: We got a lot of stick for that when we were the last ones who should have done. But we got to work with such great songwriters and musicians, Glen Campbell, James Burton, Hal Blaine. It's about time the Wrecking Crew got their proper recognition. But it didn't help that on the TV show we were not allowed to broach any subjects that were sensitive, controversial or political. The NBC censors meant we weren't topical. There's that famous episode, The Devil And Peter Tork, which is just Faust essentially - Peter sells his soul to the devil to play the harp. There's a line in it where I say, "If you do that when you die you'll go to hell," and NBC said, You can't use the word 'hell' and Bob fought and fought to keep it in but they bleep it out.

Despite censorship and the origins of the band, you still had a dialogue with the counterculture.

Micky: We were going to The Trip and watching The Byrds. David Crosby was a friend. We knew The Beatles and they got us, we were friends with Jimi Hendrix and took the Experience out on tour for their first US shows. We knew Janis Joplin and Mama Cass. We had Frank Zappa on the show, we gave Tim Buckley his premiere.

Davy: I remember looking across the street from where I was living one day, The Byrds and Sonny & Cher were playing at the top of the street and then down the street Little Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan were playing. It was all happening and everyone was making their own way and when we saw The Association or the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean, it was all fun. We'd joke about how we'd be knocking each other out the charts the following week. There was never hostility.

Finally, can you ever escape from being a Monkee?

Peter: [laughs] The question I get asked most is, "Are you still talking to the other guys?"

Davy: Yeah, I'll do a show, sign an autograph and I'll always be asked, "Where's Micky?" or "How's Pete?" or "Why don't you guys get back together?" I always feel connected to The Monkees. When I went to the audition for the show, it was just another job to me. I was a working actor. I was signed to Screen Gems already. I never thought about it. To me it's no different to the school play. I gave it the same energy I gave in the school play. But then on meeting the other Monkees, having these three other guys to bounce off, I soon thought, Wow, how great is this? I just have to play myself, be myself...

Micky: I still have the pilot script where the show is spelt The Monkeys. I knew it was different from the start. I'd been up for three other pilots that year, but I remember coming out after meeting Bob and Bert and just thinking, I'd like to get this one. I remember it clearly. For the two years we were filming we were so busy. We'd arrive at the studio at 7am, spend 10-12 hours on the set, record at night, rehearse at the weekend, film 26 episodes a year. We were always together. It was our life.

Look out for the Monkees at Genesee
By Dan Moran
Lake County News-Sun
March 10, 2011

Don Kirshner went on to his eternal reward earlier this year, but his most enduring gift to American pop culture soldiers on. And I am not referring to “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” or “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies.

I am referring to The Monkees. Some people say they monkey around, but you better get ready, because they may be coming to your town.

Actually, it was confirmed last week that The Monkees are in fact coming to Waukegan’s Genesee Theatre on June 29 as part of their - you might want to sit down for this - 45th Anniversary Tour. Tickets, priced at the 21st-century rate of $65 and $103 (topping even Sheryl Crow), went on sale last Friday.

The news flashed me back to the summer of 1986, when MTV sparked a Monkees revival that eventually produced a 20th-anniversary tour. In August, the one-time Prefab Four - then, as now, minus Michael Nesmith — stopped in the Chicago area to play at Poplar Creek, which was of course the reigning outdoor music venue in Illinois during the Big ’80s.

I didn’t make it out to Hoffman Estates that night, but my sisters were among the estimated 25,000 who did. A Chicago Sun-Times review the next day gently praised the performance as “lighthearted fun, a return to simpler times.”

“You could call this a return to innocence,” the review added, “but even in 1966, the Monkees represented a return to the innocence of 1964. Twenty years later, such timewarped innocence still has its appeal.”

After launching a 30-year reunion tour in 1996 and a 35-year version in 2001 that ended in a “Behind the Music”-style flameout, it remains to be seen how much appeal remains for Micky Dolenz, Davey Jones and Peter Tork. We will start to find out on June 3, when their 30-city U.S. tour begins in Atlanta and proceeds to stops that include the Beacon Theatre on Broadway and the Fox Theatre in Detroit.

It is duly noted that they aren’t being asked to fill Poplar Creek at this point - the Genesee’s capacity, like many of the stops on the tour, is literally 10 percent of the old amphitheatre (which is now a corporate park).

When all is said and done, it seems that The Monkees are still just trying to be friendly, inviting you to come and watch them sing and play. They’re no longer the young generation, but apparently, they still have something to say.

Exclusive: The Monkees Resolve Personal Issues for 45th Anniversary Tour
By Andy Greene
Rolling Stone Music
March 7, 2011

'I had a meltdown on the last tour,' says guitarist Peter Tork. 'I ticked the other guys off good and proper'

When The Monkees last hit the road together 10 years ago things didn't go so well. Guitarist Peter Tork quit near the end, later telling the press that Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were drinking to the point that they became "mean and abusive." In 2009 Jones told the National Enquirer that he had no interest in a reunion, adding that he "couldn't imagine sharing a stage with Micky Dolenz."

So it came as surprise last week when they announced a 45th anniversary world tour. "It was the estimation of certain professional people that this could work," Tork tells Rolling Stone. "They asked if the three of us were interested in doing it. After some discussion we all said 'yeah.' That's just about the bottom line of it."

In a significant shift, Tork now takes full responsibility for the backstage problems on the 2001 tour. "We were getting along pretty well until I had a meltdown," he says. "I ticked the other guys off good and proper and it was a serious mistake on my part. I was not in charge of myself to the best of my ability – the way I hope I have become since. I really just behaved inappropriately, honestly. I apologized to them."

He now says alcohol played only a small role in the group's problems. "I'm sure it played a part, but I cannot honestly say it was anything more than a very slight part," he says. "It could have been very, very minor. But the main thing was that I had a meltdown and I messed up."

With the personal problems resolved, the three remaining Monkees were able to sit down and plan their tour. "We're going to do all the Monkee hits," Tork says. "Starting with the five major ones: The two believers ['Daydream Believer' and 'I'm A Believer'], 'Last Train To Clarksville,' 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' and '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone.' Then we'll do the top twenties and the top hundreds and then the obscure ones." Of the many deep cuts to draw from, Tork hopes to revive the a cappella song "Riu Chiu," and "As We Go Along" and "Porpoise Song" from the Head soundtrack.

The band will perform in front of a gigantic HD screen. "Sometimes we'll make it look like the backdrop of the apartment [from the Monkees 1960s TV series]," says Tork. "Sometimes we'll just be out on the wild and windy plain, singing 'I Want To Be Free' to the wind. The whole thing is about moods and trips."

The three Monkees will bring on other musicians for the tour, but Tork wants to strip it back at points. "I have hopes that the three of us are just gonna sit down and rock," he says. "It can be Davy on rhythm guitar or bass, me on keyboards or bass and Mickey just wailing away on the drums."

Founding member Michael Nesmith isn't participating in the tour: His mother invented Liquid Paper and left him with her fortune, leaving him financially secure for life. He did return for the group's 1996 LP Justus and a brief European tour to support it. "I last saw him at the end of the 1997 British tour," says Tork. "I haven't talked to him in all that time."

Nesmith popped up onstage at a couple of Monkee reunion shows in the Eighties. Might that happen again? "It's possible," says Tork. "I'd be game for it. Michael's always welcome."

Two years ago Tork feared that he might never tour again when he was diagnosed with a rare form of head-neck cancer called Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. "Two years ago to the day I went under the knife in New York at Sloan-Kettering," he says. "They sliced open my lip, broke my jaw, reached down inside and carved this thing off my tongue. Later I underwent radiation. My checkups have been clear ever since....I'm excruciatingly lucky. I count my blessings every day."

Mike Nesmith to join Monkees tours?
Posted by Claire Charpentier
viagogo ticket exchange
February 24, 2011

Those with Monkees tickets could get to see Mike Nesmith perform with the rest of the band on their upcoming UK tour.

The Monkees recently announced that they are to reform for a 45th anniversary tour, tickets for which go on sale tomorrow (February 25th).

However, only three of the original four members have signed up for the reunion, with Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork taking part but Mike Nesmith staying away.

According to the Daily Mirror, Nesmith may actually be planning a surprise appearance at one of the UK gigs, most likely the the Royal Albert Hall performance on May 19th.

A source told the news provider: "Mike loves the idea of joining his old friends on stage one more time. He hasn’t signed a contract because he wants it to be a complete surprise."

The Monkees' 45th anniversary reunion tour begins at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on May 12th.

The Monkees surprised to influence the Sex Pistols
Musicrooms.net
February 24, 2011

The family friendly 60s group - the first ever manufactured pop band - said they are astounded by the artists who admire them, in particular the outrageous English punk band, who covered the track '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone', which they had made popular in 1966.

Singer Davy Jones said: "I'm quite surprised by the amount of musicians who have great affection to The Monkees. He was a bit of a character old Sid Vicious there!"

Bandmate Micky Dolenz added he felt privileged to meet and tour with some of the biggest artists of the period, in particular guitar legend Jimi Hendrix.

He added to England's BBC's 6 Music radio station: "Jimi Hendrix, who opened for us on the road, was a fabulous gentleman and the greatest rock guitar player of all time ever. To have known the Beatles and all those kinds of people I just think I'm on top of the world."

However Micky and Davy - who along with Peter Tork have recently announced plans for a 45th anniversary Monkees tour, without fourth member Michael Nesmith - don't have fond memories of everyone from their heyday, particularly songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart responsible for the band's hits including 'Last Train To Clarksville' and '(Theme from) The Monkees'.

Micky said: "Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote most of our songs and were the producers, and I didn't like working with them one bit."

The Monkees: From boy band to pop pensioners
By David Henry
Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk
February 23, 2011

This summer Take That will perform in Manchester for the first time since Robbie Williams rejoined the band. Their return as a five-piece is eagerly anticipated.

But they’re not the only band reuniting. A month earlier, the Monkees will also perform in the city after an absence of nearly a decade. Their fans must think they are daydream believing. The original manufactured boy band are back, 45 years after they were created for an American TV show.

And their return to Manchester will mark a homecoming for lead singer Davy Jones, 65. The band’s only Brit was born in Openshaw and lived near Debdale Park, Gorton.

He’ll be joined by Peter Tork, 69, and Mickey Dolenz, 65. They’ll do a ten-date tour of the UK, taking in the Manchester Apollo on May 24. The fourth member, Michael Nesmith, is not officially involved. But rumours he will rejoin his old pals for some of the gigs are already doing the rounds.

Given their advancing years, the band may not be up to much monkeying around. If it’s now inappropriate to call Take That a boy band, then it’s certainly not a fitting description of the Monkees. They are performers of pensionable age, braving bad backs and aching knees to see if they can recreate the sparkle they showed in the sixties.

Back then, thanks to hits such as I’m A Believer and Daydream Believer, the band sold 50m records. In 1967 they outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined. Like Take That, they’ll be hoping to once again attract the adoration of their ageing fans.

The two acts have much in common. Both were manufactured by pop impresarios, created to sell records to besotted teenage fans. Both duly sold records in their millions until they eventually suffered splits that at first appeared irrecoverable. Take That were able to put their troubles behind them and now three-quarters of the Monkees have agreed to do the same.

So, once again, Davy Jones will be back in Manchester. His father had hoped he would become a jockey but his talent for entertaining was spotted at a young age. His big break came when he played the Artful Dodger in a production of Oliver which began in London then transferred to Broadway. Prior to that he briefly appeared in Coronation Street, playing Colin Lomax, the grandson of Ena Sharples, in 1961.

“He had an English music hall quality,” says David Sanjek, professor of Pop Music at Salford University. “I don’t think he got the career he would have wanted. Like everyone in the band, he struggled because he was so identified with the Monkees.”

The band was created in 1966 by music executives looking to launch an act on American TV. The Monkees were initially dubbed the “Pre-Fab Four”, since they were so clearly modelled on the Beatles.

“They were made to order,” says Prof Sanjek. “People were suspicious of the way they came about. It was a business arrangement. They weren’t a band that formed organically so they didn’t meet with people’s romantic notions about music.”

Despite their critics, the Monkees enjoyed extraordinary success, soon establishing more control over their music and introducing irony and a sense of self-deprecation into their TV shows. John Lennon called them the “Marx brothers of rock”.

The band split up in 1971, after nine top 40 hits. Their TV show was repeated in the eighties, winning them a new audience, and prompting several comeback tours. Their last appearance in Manchester was in 2002.

The review in this newspaper was less than flattering: “Jones, as an ex-jockey, should sense they may now be flogging an ailing horse. I am sorry to say this seemed to me a reunion too far.”

Well, they’re back again and there are even plans to take the tour to America. Can the Monkees recreate the magic 45 years on?

Prof Sanjek says: “The way they came about has meant they’ve had a bad rep within pop history. But that rep has progressively improved with time because the songs hold up.

“They’re still very good. And ultimately that’s all that matters.”

Hey, hey, it's the... money
Irish Independent - Independent.ie
February 23, 2011

The Monkees, the original boyband, are going back on the road, writes Joe O'Shea

If Jedward want a glimpse at their possible future selves, they should check out the reformed Monkees when they tour Britain in May.

Back together and looking to make an estimated 1.2m from a 10-date UK tour, the '60s pop survivors are testing the waters for a planned major, multi-million-dollar US and European tour later in the year.

The Monkees represent the origin of the boyband species. A made-for-TV pop phenomenon, their DNA fingerprints are on everybody from New Kids on the Block and 'N Sync to Westlife, Take That and, yes, Jedward.

"They were the early Jedward. Boyzone, Take That, all of them. They were the first," says pop impresario Louis Walsh.

"They did in the '60s, with their own TV show, what S Club 7 were trying to do in the '90s and what a lot of acts would love to do today."

At the height of their success in 1967, The Monkees were bigger than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined (even if John Lennon did dismiss them as "The Marx Brothers of Rock") with career sales of 50 million records.

And the TV and marketing executives who created The Monkees set the template for the multi-platform, cross-media marketing of music acts, faithfully followed today by the teams behind Tween superstars like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.

The Monkees arrived on network TV as a fully-formed product, with the music, merchandising and marketing in place to make them a global phenomenon.

But the guys themselves, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones, were also the first made-by-committee pop band to make the classic blunder of wanting to become "serious musicians".

The first manufactured pop act, they were also the first boyband to make the demand that still strikes fear into the hearts of pop Svengalis like Simon Cowell: "We want to write our own songs."

At the very height of their fame, they decided they didn't need genius songwriters (like Neil Diamond) or accomplished session-musicians (the likes of Glen Campbell, Stephen Stills, Neil Young) and could rival The Beatles in terms of creativity.

They couldn't. And The Monkees broke up in 1970, apparently destined to be a novelty footnote in the history of pop.

However, the enduring popularity of pop classics like 'Daydream Believer', 'Last Train To Clarksville' and 'I'm A Believer', added to nostalgic memories of Saturday morning kids TV, have ensured a lasting love for the quartet.

And they have just announced their first major reunion tour since the '80s, with three of the original line-up (Mike Nesmith has declined to get involved), including a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of a 10-date swing through the UK.

At least one music fan who knows a thing or two about making boybands can see the sense in the now-elderly Monkees getting back on the road.

"If they just go out and play those early hits from the TV shows, they will have full houses; it will be mostly housewives, but they'll have no problem filling the place out," says Walsh.

"I loved their early records and watching the TV show on RTE, my sister was in love with Davy Jones.

"People still remember them because of the quality of their songs: they had brilliant writers working for them. Neil Diamond wrote 'I'm A Believer', and Don Kirshner was in charge of the music -- they had the very best of that time."

Don Kirshner was "The Man With the Golden Ear", the legendary pop producer and publisher who had his fingerprints all over the US and UK hit parades of the '60s, discovering talents as diverse as Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond and Carole King.

Kirshner was brought in to look after the music side of The Monkees' TV show, which was inspired by the success of The Beatles and particularly their movie A Hard Day's Night.

Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider wanted to create a US Beatles and hit on the brilliantly simple idea of using a TV show to market their creation to a worldwide audience.

After a casting process which saw them audition thousands of kids in Los Angeles, The Monkees' TV show was launched in September 1966, with a full album of pop tracks already recorded.

Just a few short weeks later, The Monkees' debut album was number one in the US charts and would soon be topping the charts in markets all over the world.

However, with huge success came big egos and the four stars, who had been restricted to providing just vocals at the start of their rise, told their bosses that they wanted to start writing and recording their own songs.

"It's the classic mistake and boybands keep on making it to this day," says Walsh.

"They were picked for their personalities and their looks, then they got a little silly and thought they had the talent to do it by themselves without all of those great songwriters and musicians."

At the height of their fame, the boys made a strange, psychedelic movie with Jack Nicholson (1968's Head) which confused their teenage fans, and started hanging out with The Beatles, popping into the recording sessions for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in Abbey Road.

The Monkees were already over when they split in 1970, but Walsh says they can expect some major paydays on their reunion tour.

"Let's face it, they are probably getting back together for the same reason that most old pop acts reform -- for the cash," says Walsh.

"But if they play all of their big songs, and forget about the ones they wrote themselves, they will sell a lot of tickets."

The Monkees Reunited
By Karen Stephenson
Suite 101
February 23, 2011

The Monkees were originally created for a television show in 1965 that drew a large audience. Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork are together again.

After 45 years since forming The Monkees, the four-man band announced yesterday that they will once again be singing “Hey Hey We’re The Monkees” after releasing their 2011 tour plans. Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, both 65, and Peter Tork, 69, announced plans for a UK tour. The Monkees were a popular band that were originally created for television in 1965. Their overnight fame lasted five years as they went their separate ways in 1970.

The Monkees 2011 Tour:

Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, the veteran band’s original members, will play a series of concerts throughout the UK in May, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Mike Nesmith, born December 30, 1942, has not announced whether or not he will appear with the band. Rumors reported by the Daily Mirror, state that if he does choose to join his former bandmates on stage, it will be a surprise.

Tickets for The Monkees 2011 tour, which includes dates in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Cardiff go on sale on Friday, February 25, 2011.

Mike Nesmith:

Mike Nesmith was the band leader and although he had his funny moments on the show, he was recognized as the most serious of the four band members.

When Nesmith was casted, Screen Gems purchased his songs so that The Monkees could perform them in the show. Many of Nesmith’s songs became minor hits on the charts such as: Listen to the Band, Mary, Mary and The Girl I Knew Somewhere.

As with the other Monkees, Nesmith became frustrated by the manufacturing image they were given and he was only permitted to write and produce two songs per album. Eventually The Monkees ousted their producer, Don Kirshner, and took control of their song choices and albums.

Davy Jones:

Davy Jones is the most searched name of the four Monkees at Google. It may be in part due to the fame of Pirates of the Caribbean; but it may also have something to do with being a heart throb to thousands of teenage girls throughout the 60’s and 1970’s.

His British accent melted the hearts of many over the years. Today, Davy Jones spends most of his time near Miami with his family and occasionally tours as a solo act across the U.S.

The Monkees’ Songs - I’m a Believer:

The Monkees had popular song writers behind many of their hits. I’m a Believer was written by Neil Diamond and this all-time popular song became number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on December 31, 1966; and it stayed there for seven weeks becoming the biggest-selling record in 1967. They sold more copies of their album I’m a Believer than The Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined that year.

Daydream Believer, written by John Stewart (Kingston Trio), also became a number one hit in 1967 with Davy Jones singing the lead.

Don Kirshner:

Rock producer Don Kirshner was the man responsible for starting The Monkees’ career. He recently passed away due to heart failure on January 17, 2011 in Boca Raton, Florida. Don Kirshner originally provided some songs for The Monkees’ television show such as I’m a Believer, but as time went on, the band wanted more control over their artistic abilities.

Kirshner knew that The Monkees were his answer to The Beatles, and at times throughout the late 60’s, The Monkees gave The Beatles competition on the pop charts. He also managed other major songwriting talents such as Neil Sedaka, Carole King and Bobby Darin.

The Monkees Trivia - Some Monkee trivia facts include:

Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith auditioned for the role of“The Fonz” for Happy Days

Mike Nesmith’s mother invented the formula for what would become Liquid Paper.

John Lennon and George Harrison often spoke out about how they enjoyed The Monkees’ television show and their music.

Jimi Hendrix was used as their opening act on their 1967 tour.

Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield and CSN&Y) auditioned for a character on the show.

Michael Nesmith pioneered the idea for the format that eventually became MTV

BBC News - Davy Jones of The Monkees explains why they're reforming

Birmingham gets ready to welcome The Monkees
Express & Star
February 22, 2011

Hey, hey, it’s The Monkees - one of the best-loved pop bands of the 1960s is heading back on tour in the UK for the first time in 12 years.

Three members of the original line-up - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork - will play Birmingham’s NIA on May 21 as part of a 10-date tour in honour of their 45th anniversary.

A source at the NEC said today: “This is very exciting news. The Monkees were a band that caused a huge stir at the time. There is a definite buzz about this show.”

Tickets go on sale on Friday but venue bosses said they had not yet been informed of prices.

The Monkees were responsible for some of the songs that defined the 60s, including I’m a Believer, Last Train to Clarkesville and Daydream Believer.

Despite critics who picked on their manufactured beginnings - they were created specifically to star in a TV show of the same name in 1966 and were accused of never playing live - they amassed a global following and, in 1967, outsold both The Beatles and Rolling Stones combined.

Altogether the band have sold more than 50 million records worldwide with the first 16m selling in their first two-and-a-half years.

Dolenz and Jones last played at Birmingham’s NEC in 2002, but this is the first time in over a decade they have been joined by Tork.

They went on to take greater control of their musical output, eventually racking up a total of nine top 40 hits.

The group has reformed to go on tour several times, in particular following the revival of the TV series in 1986.

It is as yet unclear whether fourth original member Mike Nesmith, who has released a number of solo albums since leaving the band, will take part.

Nesmith left on bad terms following a row with management over the manufactured nature of the band in 1970. He briefly joined in a UK tour in 1997 but once again fell out with his bandmates.

He has not been cited as being in the line-up for the shows but rumours today suggested he could join the others for at least one of the performances.

It is rumoured each band member will earn around 1 million from the tour.

PTsgirl comment: Look at the photo that is included with the article below. I looked at number the number "4" in the corner photo and thought who in the world is that? This numb nut started to laugh after she realized who it was. LOL

The Monkees are back 45 years on with 1m motive: Mail Online

Despite now being of pensionable age, three of the four members – Peter Tork, 69, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, both 65 – revealed plans for a ten-date UK run starting in May.

Fourth member Michael Nesmith won’t join in because, Jones said, he doesn’t like touring.

Jones, the only British-born Monkee, said the trio met over dinner in London on Sunday. ‘We need to share this music once again,’ he added. ‘According to the fan mail, they want it – and so we’re going to do it.’

The band, whose hits include Daydream Believer, I’m A Believer and Last Train To Clarksville, will make 1 million from the tour. If it is successful, they may take the show to the U.S. and return for more UK dates at arena-size venues later in the year.

Drummer Dolenz, who shared vocal duties with Jones, is currently touring the UK in the musical Hairspray. Tork, meanwhile, has been performing with his band Shoe Suede Blues, while Jones is a racehorse owner and does ‘bits and pieces’ on U.S. TV.

The band will hope this reunion proves more successful than previous attempts. In 1996, Nesmith refused to join the band for U.S. dates, and in 2002, Tork, a recovering alcoholic, walked out after a row over backstage drinking.

Jones said: ‘I still want to perform. In these economic times, people want to hear music from familiar times that made them happy.

Peter, Davy, Micky
Getty Images

It's Monkee business again!
By Adam Edwards
Express.co.uk
February 22, 2011

Here they come, walking down the street … 45 years after they first formed the original TV boy band are back - and they are touring Britain this year.

In 1966 Britain ruled the airwaves. We had knocked the US off its rock and roll perch with our pop groups - first and foremost The Beatles but also The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and The Hollies. So America took a leaf out of our book. A group of actors and musicians were brought together for an American network TV show modelled on The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night.

With the show came a soundtrack album that shot to the top of the charts in both the UK and the US. Within a year the band had outsold The Beatles and The Stones combined. Their name? The Monkees.

Here was a phenomenon that nobody had predicted – a manufactured boy band that became for a short time the most successful pop act on the planet. So much so that Jimi Hendrix was once their opening act (dropped after complaints that his act was too erotic). John Lennon called them “the Marx Brothers of rock”. You could even argue that without them there would have been no Take That, Boyzone or JLS. Even the Sex Pistols, who were created by Malcolm McLaren, included a Monkees song, (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone, in their repertoire.

Yesterday it was announced that three of the four Monkees, Britishborn Davy Jones plus Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork, have reformed to celebrate their 45th anniversary and will tour the UK this spring. Only Mike Nesmith – the one with the woolly bobble hat – will be missing.

“At first The Monkees were seen as a poor imitation of The Beatles, particularly in the UK,” says Peter Buckley in his book Rough Guide To Rock.

“They weren’t a proper band who had grown up together and played together. They were strangers who could sing a bit.”

It was a 1965 advertisement in the daily show business newspaper Variety that prompted 437 hopefuls to audition for a TV show about four young men sharing a carefree lifestyle. The format of the show, the first of its kind, involved the day-to-day adventures of a pop group obviously modelled on The Beatles. The music was written and performed by session musicians.

The first episode aired the following year and became an almost instant hit. The songs from the show were put on to an album, called with perhaps a slight lack of originality The Monkees, but which nonetheless became a bestseller around the world with such chart-toppers as Last Train To Clarksville and I’m a Believer.

Merchandising was not slow to follow – from a Monkee Talking Hand Puppet to Monkee toy wallets and pencil cases. Davy Jones became a teenage pin-up – the Justin Bieber of his day – while the others all had large followings and their own fan clubs. A second No1 album followed, which musically had almost nothing to do with the band. However its success put enormous pressure on them to play live. Eventually they would do so – but only after it was revealed that they had not played their instruments on their albums.

“The press went into full-scale war against us,” said Mike Nesmith later. “They said that The Monkees were four guys who had no credits, no credibility whatsoever and have been trying to trick us into believing they are a rock band. It was not true but it stuck.”

By 1968 viewing figures for the second TV series began to drop and after 58 episodes the show was cancelled. A year later Peter Tork announced he was leaving. The Monkees released two albums as a trio, neither of which was particularly successful, and finally in 1970 they were reduced to a duo, Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones.

“The Monkees have been dismissed as the work of a bunch of hired hands,” said Buckley. “But their records are celebrated by many as the pinnacle of trash culture, mixing poppy psychedelic with catchy folk rock. Almost by accident they were a credible band – although the band was never going to make it with the rock crowd.”

They did make one last effort to be taken seriously with the production of the feature film called Head, co-written by the actor Jack Nicholson. It was a dig at hippy culture and had a cast that included boxer Sonny Liston and rock star Frank Zappa. But neither the film nor the soundtrack album was a success.

And that might have been that with The Monkees forgotten like so many other Sixties and Seventies bands. But their undeniably catchy tunes and, most important of all, endless repeats of their hit TV show kept them in the public’s memory.

In 1986, five years after the birth of music channel MTV, the station ran a 24-hour Monkees Special. It sparked a huge interest among a new generation of pop fans. It led Tork, Jones and Dolenz to get back together for a 20th anniversary tour. Nesmith, who had been more disillusioned than the others by the whole Monkees experience in the Sixties, refused to take part. The band later re-issued on all its old albums on CD which all made it into the American charts again.

“The MTV generation loved the Monkees re-runs,” said Buckley. “It has been said that the Monkees were the first MTV band. And certainly they began the idea in the Sixties – albeit accidentally – of using a music video as promotion and the marketing of a TV show to pre-teen audiences.”

Now 45 years after the group was first manufactured, Jones, Dolenz and Tork are to tour once more, with dates lined up at numerous UK venues this May, including Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London’s Royal Albert Hall. Nesmith continues to refuse to rejoin the band.

“Mike Nesmith is not an entertainer in the sense that Mickey, Peter and I are,” said Jones last year. “He has his back to the audience half the time. He’s a brilliant businessman but as a person he’s very aloof and separate.”

They may have been created by television executives and their musical reputation may be a bit suspect, even though the film Head and the album from it are now regarded as cult classics.

However anyone who ever sang along to that catchy Monkees theme tune will be delighted to hear that here they come, walking down the street all over again.

Getty Images

Band back to Monkee around UK
The Sun.co.uk
February 22, 2011

POP legends THE MONKEES are reuniting for a 10-date British tour - 45 years after they first got together.

Three of the band's original members - DAVY JONES, MICKY DOLENZ and PETER TORK- will play a series of gigs in May.

The fourth member, MIKE NESMITH, will not be taking part in the concerts.

Tickets for the tour, which includes dates in Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff Birmingham and London's Royal Albert Hall, go on sale on Friday.

The Monkees - now in their 60s - were put together in 1966 for a TV show and went on to have nine Top 40 hits, including I'm A Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday.

At first critics blasted the band for being too manufactured, but the lads eventually proved themselves, writing more of their own songs.

They even starred in a 1960s cult movie called Head with JACK NICHOLSON.

Peter, Davy, Micky
Getty Images

Hey, hey it's... three-quarters of The Monkees
By Adam Sherwin
The Independent
February 22, 2011

The original manufactured TV band getsback together for greatest hits reunion tour

Here they come, walking down the street... for another lucrative reunion tour. The Monkees, the first pop stars entirely manufactured for television, are re-forming – again – 45 years after they first assaulted the charts.

Simon Cowell has acknowledged the debt that he owes to Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith, the quartet put together for a 1966 US television series that became a global phenomenon.

Devised to cash in on the Beatles' success, the Monkees' wholesome good looks, zany antics and catchy songs, written and often played by backroom musicians, produced record sales in 1967 that exceeded the Fab Four.

But the "prefab four" soon rebelled against their creators and demanded the right to play on their own records and write their own songs.

After more feuds and firings than Oasis, the band – who sold 50 million records– will return for a UK tour in May, a little older, greyer and one original Monkee light.

Jones, the Manchester-born singer, Dolenz, the cheeky drummer, both 65, and goofy bassist Tork, 69, will take to the stage when the tour opens in Liverpool.

However guitarist Nesmith, heir to the Liquid Paper fortune, whom Jones once described as having his head "firmly up his ass", is sitting the tour out.

Tork, who has been successfully treated for a rare form of tongue cancer, was "fired" during a 2001 US reunion tour by Jones and Dolenz for "disagreeable" behaviour.

Tork said then: "Thank God I don't need the Monkees anymore...I'm a recovering alcoholic and haven't had a drink in several years."

Yet he is back in the fold for a new "greatest hits" reunion tour, which Jones said, just three years ago, that he could not envisage.

"The popular demand has been carefully cultivated and they made us an offer we couldn't refuse," Tork told The Independent.

Despite the past disputes Tork, who played the "lovable dummy" in the series despite being a proficient musician, said he was looking forward to the reunion.

"We like each other just fine now," he said. "Whatever ups and downs we have had pale into insignificance. Each one of the tours we do is more fun than the one before."

The Monkees have outlasted many of the instant television stars produced by Simon Cowell, who has said that he wants to create a scripted music show inspired by the original Monkees series.

But Tork is not a Cowell fan. He said: "I don't believe The Monkees were the precursor to his shows. I watched Susan Boyle on YouTube and I thrilled to that. But I gather Simon can be quite nasty on those shows."

Their looks might have faded but it's now the music the fans have come to hear. Once derided as a bubblegum Beatles rip-off, The Monkees' reputation has soared since the short-lived television show was cancelled in 1968.

The band's 1968 psychedelic musical film Head, designed to trash their "teen idol" reputation once and for all, has become a cult classic.

Even the Beatles themselves endorsed their imitators, with John Lennon affectionately calling the band "the Marx Brothers of Rock".

Tork said: "We couldn't hear the music in the old days because of the screaming. These days the audience is more respectful of the music."

The Monkees: models for...

The warring band...

Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis, whose verbal jousting was legendary before they split, have nothing on the "prefab four". Jones once said: "I can't be responsible for Peter, Mike and Micky and their behaviour," while Tork once claimed: "I just couldn't handle the backstage problems." Jones also said of Nesmith: "[He's] a brilliant businessman [but] as a person, I haven't got time for him."

The manufactured TV pop band...

The Monkees paved the way for Girls Aloud, who were stitched together to order for the Popstars: The Rivals ITV talent show. However, their most direct influence was probably on S Club 7, the hit 1990s BBC kids show, which aped the Monkees format directly by creating a fictional teen pop band which went on to sell millions of records in real life.

The band that can't stop reuniting...

By 1970, Tork and Nesmith had both quit the band – but that didn't stop the Monkees from reforming at regular intervals, occasionally without Nesmith. The Who and Led Zeppelin have since proved that the power of the brand can be a bigger live attraction than the original line-up.

The Monkees to Reunite and Tour Europe in Advance of “Rock Band -- The Monkees” Release
By BC Bass
The Bennington Vale Evening Transcript
February 22, 2011

SAN NARCISO, Calif. -- In a surprise announcement Monday, three of the founding members of the original Monkees -- Davey Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork -- told the press that they will start a 10-gig reunion tour around the United Kingdom beginning in Liverpool, May 12. The fourth member, Michael Nesmith, will not be participating in the tour. Nesmith, heir to the Liquid Paper fortune, is rumored to have chronic sinus problems from years of inhaling the correctional fluid. Sources claim that he remains unable to stand, sing or focus on his surroundings for a prolonged period of time.

Hey, Hey, It’s The Monkees...Again...

The Monkees, largely regarded as the precursor to The Arcade Fire by at least one critic in San Narciso County, are allegedly reuniting to promote the release of “Rock Band -- The Monkees’ Edition,” the latest installment in the popular video game franchise by Electronic Arts and MTV.

In January, Bennington Vale Evening Transcript music contributor Wendell “Mucho” Maas observed, “Isn’t The Arcade Fire just Gen X’s The Monkees? If you think about it, ‘The Suburbs’ seems to revisit ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ and ‘Shades of Gray.’ But, you know, with desperation, guilt and a roving brigade of Blackwater agents. Then again, ascribing an in-depth examination of moral relativism to The Monkees might be going too far.”

According to Stephanie Welterhalt, a spokesperson for Electronic Arts, it’s not going far enough.

“The Monkees never got their due,” Welterhalt mused. “Sure other people wrote their material, played their instruments and ruled their creative processes with iron fists, but the songs came alive only through the intense souls of these boys.”

But she also warned the public of potential misunderstandings, akin to those Electronic Arts suffered during the release of the Def Leppard edition of Rock Band.

The Monkees Rock Band...

“We’re still dealing with the fallout over Walmart pulling the Def Leppard version because of the ‘missing drum stick’ non-issue,” Welterhalt explained. “But, as we’ve stated from the beginning, we stand by the authenticity of our games and the experience we’re trying to recreate. That’s why I want to get a jump on any customer service issues that might occur as a result of The Monkees release. It will be as authentic as possible, which could once again lead to confusion.”

The mechanics of the game play, Welterhalt admitted, would present a departure from other Rock Band versions, primarily because The Monkees also strayed from the musical norm at the height of their popularity.

During the initial rounds of the game, players may be disappointed to discover limited interaction with the band. Welterhalt insists that each player’s immersion in the game will progress through subsequent stages.

“At first,” Welterhalt said, “players will be responsible for all the instruments, but will not perform any of the vocals. Their avatars will also be made up of session musicians, not The Monkees themselves. This is because The Monkees, although trained musicians, were only allowed to sing on the tracks when they began.”

After that point, the game takes on a unique puzzle-based feel, where players must renegotiate contracts, strong arm producers, and have key personnel fired. The ability to do so will enable players to unlock on-screen Monkees characters and eventually take full control of Jones, Tork, Dolenz and Nesmith.

Electronic Arts also hinted at the inclusion of a new instrument -- a tambourine with special motion controllers. The game is slated for release on April 1.

Monkees announce 10-date concert tour

LONDON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Three of the four original members of the 1960s pop band The Monkees are to tour the United Kingdom together, it was announced Monday.

Starring Peter Tork, Davey Jones and Micky Dolenz, the shows are being planned in honor of the group's 45th anniversary.

The fourth original member, Mike Nesmith, who went on to record a series of country albums, is not touring with the group, Britain's Mirror newspaper reported.

The Guardian said the 10-date Monkees tour is to begin May 12 at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

The band is known for its hits "Daydream Believer," "I'm a Believer" and "Last Train to Clarksville," as well as its eponymous sitcom, which ran from 1966 to 1968.

Still monkeying around, still busy singing: The Monkees reunite
Alexandra Topping
The Guardian.co.uk
February 21, 2011

Their fans may have thought reunions were only true in fairytales, meant for someone else, but not for them. But those who have kept the faith will be delighted to hear that 1960s pop group the Monkees, spawned from the television programme of the same name, are back.

The band, originally created for the hit show the Monkees, which charted the experiences of four young men in their quest to become rock'n'roll stars, are reforming to celebrate their 45th anniversary.

For the first time in 12 years the TV band – whose hits include Daydream Believer, I'm a Believer and Last Train to Clarksville – will perform 10 gigs in Britain, kicking off on 12 May at the Liverpool Echo Arena and including a performance at the Royal Albert Hall, in London.

Three of the original Monkees, Americans Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork and Briton Davy Jones, will brave aching knees and dodgy backs for the performances, but Michael Nesmith – who went on to create his own business and became a producer and novelist – will not take part in the tour.

After originally being created in 1966 by writer and producer Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the television series, which aired from 1966 to 1968 before re-running extensively in the 1980s, the Monkees gained credibility by taking supervisory control over all their collective musical work.

The show won two Emmy awards in 1967 and propelled its four stars to pop stardom. John Lennon called them "the Marx brothers of rock", but in 1967, The Monkees outsold both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined, and went on to sell 50m records.

After the TV show came to an end in 1968 the band went on tour, and made a psychedelic film, Head, the same year.

Hey, hey, it's the Monkees reunited
Belfasttelegraph.co.uk
February 21, 2011

The Monkees are reuniting for a 10-date tour 45 years after they first got together.

Three of the veteran band's original members - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork - will play a series of gigs in May, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The band, who were put together in 1966 to star in a television show, had nine top 40 hits including I'm A Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday.

Critics initially hit out at the manufactured nature of the band, with Californian rivals The Byrds mocking them in their single So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star.

But the band eventually proved themselves, writing more of their own songs and starring in 1960s cult film Head with Jack Nicholson.

Tickets for the tour, which includes dates in Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Birmingham, go on sale on Friday.

The band's fourth original member Mike Nesmith, who went on to record a series of critically acclaimed country albums, is not taking part.

The Press Association: Hey, hey, it's the Monkees reunited
February 21, 2011

(UKPA) - The Monkees are reuniting for a 10-date tour 45 years after they first got together.

Three of the veteran band's original members - Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork - will play a series of gigs in May, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The band, who were put together in 1966 to star in a television show, had nine top 40 hits including I'm A Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday.

Critics initially hit out at the manufactured nature of the band, with Californian rivals The Byrds mocking them in their single So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star.

But the band eventually proved themselves, writing more of their own songs and starring in 1960s cult film Head with Jack Nicholson.

Tickets for the tour, which includes dates in Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Birmingham, go on sale on Friday.

The band's fourth original member Mike Nesmith, who went on to record a series of critically acclaimed country albums, is not taking part.

The Monkees, '60s Era TV Band, to Reunite for Tour
TheImproper.com
February 21, 2011

Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork, better known as The Monkees, a 1960s made for television band that went on to record a slew of top selling songs, are reuniting for a tour that will begin in the UK this summer.

The trio, absent fourth member Michael Nesmith, will appear on England’s “The One Show” today (Feb. 21) to confirm the rumors. It will be their first tour in 20 years.

Prior to the press announcement, Jones confirmed a new round of shows to begin in the U.K., where they perform ten initial dates in May.

A tentative 30-date U.S. is also in the works and is targeted to kick off on June 3, 2011.

Why get back together, after all these years? After all, band members are all in the 60s.

Eric Lefcowitz, author of the recently-released book “Monkee Business: The Revolutionary Made-For-TV Band” says the group still has a loyal fan base.

“Especially in this day and age, when it’s difficult to sell tickets and legacy rock acts are disappearing. Plus, it’s just a fun brand.

“Hearing Micky belting out hits like ‘I’m A Believer’ and ‘(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,’ and Davy’s classic performance of ‘Daydream Believer,’ is usually worth the price of admission,” he said.

On a human interest level, there is also Tork’s recent throat cancer ordeal and hard-earned recovery.

“Peter’s courage in the face of such a major health scare is also compelling this time around,” Lefcowitz says.

Tork battled the disease and went straight back to performing live shows with his band, Shoe Suede Blues, within months of completing treatment.

“A Monkees tour always produces some drama,” he adds.

“From 1967, when Jimi Hendrix opened for them, to 1997 when they last toured together as a foursome, there’s always some intrigue.

“When you think about it, there aren’t any other TV show casts touring, unless you include recent arrivals like ‘Glee’ and ‘American Idol.’ So The Monkees are a rare breed, indeed.”

Hey Hey, It’s...The Monkees reformation
Telegraph.co.uk
February 21, 2011

The Monkees are to reform for a series of gigs to celebrate their 45th Anniversary.

The original TV boyband are back together for their first UK tour in 12 years. British-born Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork return to perform in front of their British fans.

The Monkees, responsible for some of the biggest hits of the 60s, will be touring the length of the country including a memorable show at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London.

The original TV boy band are the example to all those who have since found musical fame via television. The Monkees wrote the script for modern day pop music.

Selling 50 million records with hits such as Daydream Believer, Last Train to Clarksville, I’m a Believer and (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone, The Monkees provided the soundtrack to teenage lives on both sides of the Atlantic from the ‘60s onwards. With the TV series being repeated throughout the 1980s, a whole new legion of fans were exposed to their crazy antics.

Controversially created for TV, they eventually broke their shackles and became a respected band in their own right, embedded in the revolutionary 1960s pop fraternity. The Beatles were one of The Monkees’ biggest supporters with John Lennon naming them “the Marx Brothers of Rock”. In fact in 1967, The Monkees outsold both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined.

Following the TV show, the band went on to tour the world, release hit albums and singles, make a cult psychedelic, surreal film (1968’s Head) and inspire generations of bands to follow their winning formula.

Without The Monkees, there would be no Backstreet Boys, no Take That, no Boyzone, no Busted and no JLS. Even the Sex Pistols made (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone part of their repertoire.

To clear up unfinished Monkee Business, don’t miss your chance to see the seminal TV show band ‘sing and play’ as The Monkees celebrate over four decades at the top, on tour in the UK this May.

The Monkees (from left to right) Peter Tork, Davey Jones and Micky Dolenz announce the band's UK tour (Pic: Getty Images)

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