The Monkees Information

During 1967, the Monkees created two albums (Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.) and two singles ("Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "Daydream Believer") as a full-fledged musical unit with only minimal use of outside musicians. However, by November of '67, the individual Monkees had decided to pursue their recorded exploits separately. In 1968, the Monkees starred in their one and only feature film, Head. A collaborative effort with Jack Nicholson, the movie found only a limited initial audience, but has gone onto to become a cult classic. Towards the end of '68, the Monkees taped a television special for NBC called 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. It was to be Peter Tork's last original project with the band. Dissatisfied with the separate direction the group's recordings had taken, he split in December '68. Micky, Davy and Michael continued as a trio for the next year. They mounted a nationwide tour with a backing band called Sam & The Goodtimers, but found their popularity diminishing. Record-breaking Saturday morning reruns of The Monkees series in '69 provided something of a rebirth, but record sales did not rebound. In early 1970, Michael Nesmith split from the Monkees to form the First National Band. Micky and Davy recorded one further album (Changes) and single ("Do It In The Name Of Love") before going their separate ways. In 1975, Micky and Davy reunited with songwriters Boyce and Hart for live shows and records as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. Ten years later, promoter David Fishof organized a massively successful tour featuring Micky, Davy and Peter. Just a few days short of the 20th anniversary of The Monkees series' debut, Nesmith briefly rejoined his bandmates on stage at Los Angeles' Greek Theater for performances of "Listen To The Band" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday. After this, the four Monkees taped a Christmas video for MTV, but this reunion was fleeting. Nevertheless, 1986 proved to be a phenomenal year for Monkeemania. By November, seven Monkees albums were on the Billboard ...