Madcap Monkees are back

Press, 4 July 1985, Page 19

Madcap Monkees are back

Hey, hey it’s “The Monkees” back for a return season this evening at 6.30 on Two. The 1960 s comedy, aimed at the youthful viewer, features a rock quartet who were supposedly the United States’ answer to The Beatles. The television series was inspired by The Beatles’ films, “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help.” “The Monkees” was similarly unconventional, utilising surrealistic film techniques (fast and slow motion, distorted focus, comic film inserts), oneliners and non sequiturs all delivered at a very fast pace. Coinciding with their weekly show The Monkees ran a highly successful career on records, a fact which has driven some rock critics into paroxysms of fury as they were obviously a manufactured group. The four members — Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork — were carefully

picked from nearly 500 applicants in auditions in 1965. They were then drilled and rehearsed until they could pass as reasonably competent musicians. Dolenz had had previous television experience. He had starred in “Circus Boy” under the name of Mickey Braddock. Nesmith and Tork had no musical experience, while Jones had been a jockey in his native England. The four spent most of the summer of 1966 learning improvisational acting techniques (the producers wanted spontaneity) and had little time to learn to play music together. They were not allowed to play their instruments on their early records, supplying only the vocals — a fact which led to some embarrassment when they went on tour and could not recreate their recorded sound. It also led to dissension among the group as some had real musical ambitions. Nevertheless, their discs,

heavily promoted — and carefully co-ordinated with the television series, sold in the millions — more than eight million Monkees’ albums had been sold by the end of 1966. The successful discs included “Last Train To Clarksville,” “I’m A Believer” aNd “Words.” Finally there was a showdown with the programme’s producers after a 1967 press conference in which Nesmith bitterly complained: “We’re being passed off as something we aren’t.” They were later allowed to “do their own thing” musically. In spite of its commercial success, however, the group broke up shortly after the series left the air in the United States in 1968. Mike Nesmith remained in the music business primarily as a song writer. He had a number of hit solos including “Joanne” and “Rio.” Micky Dolenz branched out into theatrical and television production. He produced the childrens’

series “Metal Mickey,” which finished screening on Two recently. Little is known of Davy Jones although a recent report has him working as a disc jockey in England and, when last heard of, Peter Tork was working as a school teacher.