THE MONKEES

The Monkees. Possibly the most underrated band in the history of music. No, I'm not kidding.  Although I wasn't alive when they first got together, I got to relive their journey through re-runs on MTV. My Brother and I watched every episode, every day, and left with the ear worm of their awesome music.

The show originally aired from 1966 to 1968 and was considered a hit for its generation. Eighteen years after its last episode, the viewing public got another taste of The Monkees. Thanks to the re-runs in the mid eighties, I was able to enjoy the shows and became an instant fan.

The band consisted of three Americans, Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, and one Englishman, Davey Jones. The four were originally joined as musical actors and kind of fell into becoming a band. Davey Jones is most notably known for being the lead singer, but in the early days, there was some back and forth as to who actually should be the lead. Many people credit Mickey Dolenz for The Monkees' unique sound. 

The premise of the show was about an imaginary band that wanted to be the Beatles, but never were successful. In reality, The Monkees' music was quite successful and even outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1967. Not too shabby for a band originally brought together for a TV show. Many of their critics described their show as a made for TV knockoff of The Beatles.

Mickey Dolenz

It's been noted, The Beatles were actually quite fond of the Monkees. At times, they were spotted hanging out and had a mutual affection towards one another. Is it possible for a year stretch they were actually bigger than The Beatles? Absolutely yes. Were they better than the Beatles? I would say yes, but millions would disagree.

I never got the fascination with The Beatles, and for the life of me, can't understand why they are so worshiped today. Americans in general have always been fascinated with young Brits coming over and singing a little tune. There are plenty of examples. That's probably why Davey Jones was part of The Monkees. He might have been the face of The Monkees, but he was never the architect. That label belonged to Mickey.

The Beatles continue to be well known, but guess what, so are The Monkees. I'm positive if one of their tunes were to be played on the radio, most people would be able to sing along with it. Who can forget "Last Train to Clarksville," or "Daydream Believer."  Let us also not forget "I'm a Believer," and "Pleasant Valley Sunday." My personal favorite is "Shades of Gray."  

Admit it. You already can't stop singing "Daydream Believer" now that I mentioned it. If you need help, click on the YouTube video to the right and sing along with the band. Their songs are classic, and like The Beatles, will stand the test of time. The only difference for me, I prefer to listen to The Monkees.

Ask any thirty or forty something what they think about The Monkees.  I bet most of their responses would be, "I loved The Monkees."  For us thirty and forty somethings, we would probably talk about the reruns that were played daily on MTV in 1986. The sixty and older crowd will likely smile as they talk about watching the shows from 1966-1968.  
I guarantee if they were to start playing the reruns again, lets say on Nick at Night, MTV, GAC or VH1, the younger generation would fall in love with them too. This is exactly why they are the most underrated band in the history of music. Not only are they underrated, they continue to be under appreciated. You can't help but love them. And if you don't, go listen to The Beatles.

Information for this blog was gathered from IMDB.com and wikipedia.org