I absolutely love The Monkees! I met Peter Tork a few years ago and even though I was in my 40s, I was suddenly 6 years old again. He was so amazing and it's something I will always treasure. I wish they were recognized for being as talented as they were. Their music was fantastic.

I grew up with The Monkees. I still listen their music.

Mike and Peter played instraments before the show, Ive heard. They are the best have loved and listened to them since I was a kid, Im 62 now!! Also were down to one remaining Monkee now, Mickey!!! RIP Davey, Peter and Mike!!!!!!!!

I knew all of the "crazy facts", but I've been a Monkeemaniac since I was very young and watched the show religiously in syndication (in the '70s). I still have the 4 original albums released back then, as well as CDs of those, plus all of their other albums, and several of their Greatest Hits and Missing Links. I was ecstatic when they toured in the '80s when I was a teenager and actually able to see them in concert (I managed to go to 5 of their concerts!) I also went to a concert in 2013 (after Davy had passed which, altho I was an adult, made me sob like a young girl). I was also fortunate enough to see Peter perform with his band, Shoe Swede Blues and got to meet him and get his autograph (was so nervous and excited to meet him that, again, that "young girl" in me came back and I stumbled over my words. He was very sweet about it.) Losing Peter, and Mike were just as gut-wrenching as the loss of Davy. I can't imagine what it will be like when there are no more Monkees, and I pray that Micky hangs in for a long time, even tho he will no longer be touring. (Micky was, and is, still my fave ever since I was very young). I still listen to their music and actually have several of their CDs in my truck. It has a way of lighting up a dark day and I'm so grateful that they've been a part of my life for nearly 50 yrs. I can't imagine being without.

It's hard to believe that only Micky is left! 😭

By far this is my favorite band of all time. I love watching their show although I wish the love scenes weren't so goofy; but it was a sitcom after all.

Peter Tork(a/k/a Thorkelsson) was already a practicing musician before the show Michael Nesmith was already a songwriter and musician before the show Davy Jones played The Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver! Mickey Dolenz, as a child actor, had been the star of a tv show called Circus Boy. He, also, was already a musician before The Monkees All of the group were annoyed(at LEAST) that they weren't allowed to play their own instruments in the first season

Was an absolute Monkees FANATIC as a kid! Had a mad crush on every one of them at one point or another, and even went as Davy Jones for Halloween one year. The fact that they only lasted 2 seasons (not to mention all the behind the scenes crap that went on) shows the kind of power the networks and production studios had (and still have) over artists. Mike Nesmith was a true musical artist, and the other 3 were just as talented. If they had been allowed to blossom even more, who knows what might have been?

I met Mike Nesmith in 1985 when his father was in the hospital in Galveston, Texas. I worked as a RN in the hospital there. Was tempted to ask for his autograph but didn't think it'd be appropriate as a healthcare professional, and with his father being sick.

I have a lot of respect for these guy's, they made the rabbit come out of the hat and became a really good band.

The monkeys did some really great songs, I've got their greatest hits lp in my collection and play it now and then

There's a clip here on YT of David about 2 weeks before his passing at an autograph convention, maybe during a break. He picks up his guitar and remarkably jams on it. Probably the last 30 second video of the Manchester Cowboy. Then look for Peter playing Bach on an old cinema organ. Truly remarkable musician who played 8 instruments extremely well, and maybe can get by on 4 others. He was the only one with a university degree too.

I was going to marry Micky "when I grew up." Guess that'll never happen as I'll never grow up. Bahaha. Was a fun show to watch and The Monkees will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Monkees made some really great music. Papa Gene’s Blues is still a major favorite. And Daydream Believer and so many more.

Fact No. 11: David Bowie's real surname was Jones and he had been playing under the name Davy Jones until 1966 when he became aware that there was a Davy Jones in The Monkees and so he began performing under the name David Bowie to avoid confusion.

Those were the days, my friends. To be a kid and watching CLEAN comedy show like this on Saturday mornings! Wish that would return- our kids badly need it!

i was little then, but i loved the Monkees! watched their tv show every saturday morning. had all their records! many years later i worked on a revival tour video they did. at the end of the two day shoot they played a lot of their songs for us. it was great! everyone was there except nesmith. it was 1987.

Peter also played guitar on Sweet Young Thing, Mary Mary, and The Kind of Girl I Could Love. Mike played the steel solo on the latter

The success of the Monkees revolutionized the music industry. Producers realized that rather than hiring successful talent and paying large percentages in contracts, they could "manufacture" successful artists and keep most of the profits. This really showed up more in the 80s as videos because big and how a person looked was more important than they're talent.

I was lucky enough to see Michael Nesmith in concert,a few years ago, and he was so kind ♥️.

Great show. Great musicians.

I first saw The Monkees as a kid in the 80s and loved it.

Micky's the only one left. He's 77 now. Hang in there, Micky!

Just watched a bunch of reruns and documentaries on the Monkees. I've always loved them❤. Met Davy in 1992. He was adorable 😘

I think we all knew that the Monkees were a response to the Beatles. Nevertheless, we lapped it up. I lived in the UK then. I'm 70 now.

Michael Nesmith Facts: #1 - BEFORE the Monkees, he wrote the song, "A Different Drum", which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt. #2 - When he was in his early teens, Mike's mom invented Liquid Paper and became VERY rich!

Just imagine MIcky Dolenz as Fonzie. Woulda been a completely different show.

People may make fun of them, but how many other shows had Frank Zappa playing the car?

me too its hard to believe that micky is only surviving member just like the mamas and the pappas only michlle philps is left very sad it just goes to show that nothing lasts forever

Stepping Stone....Classic 👉🇬🇧👈

They were terrific.

The Potridge Family recorded songs too. I always thought that they were a clone of The Cowsills.

Another fact: Davy Jones was almost drafted into the US Army during the Vietnam War, right when the show was on the air.

I'm a daydream believer for thinking I can take the last train to Clarksville so I can visit my auntie Griselda.

I've always had a big crush on Mickey!

Fact #11: Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees a couple of times while they were on tour.

Let’s not forget Davy in The Brady Bunch! I loved his song Girl.

Had they shut up and not fought with the network and hadn't worked so hard to get their producer fired, they could have gone much further. "Stars" who got in the way of their own success.

Davy Jones was in _Oliver!_ a musical *adaptation* of the book _Oliver Twist,_ when he was on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as the Beatles' US TV debut. Charles Dickens never wrote the song "Consider Yourself."

Brian McKnight of Love also auditioned for Monkees as well as Paul Peterson of Donna Reed

Good stuff I was born in July 15 1972 loved that stuff

Van Dyke Parks(lyricist of Brian Wilson's "SMILE" album) also auditioned unsuccessfully to be a Monkee.

It was a silly show, but a damn good group.

Actually, the show itself was not inspired by "A Hard Day's Night". Bob Rafelson had already conceived the idea a couple of years earlier, but he couldn't get it sold. The Beatles movie inspired him to try again, and it inspired the studios to purchase it.

I grew up watching the Monkees’ tv show, thing’s I didn’t know!!!!

Love the monkees

Another little known fact, "Last Train to Clarksville" was an antiwar, protest song but they kept that under wraps for fear NBC wouldn't allow it to be played on TV. Also, I read somewhere that the bit about The Monkees outselling the Beatles and Stones combined in 1967 was something Mike Nesmith made up just to see if it would get printed without being fact-checked. He told some journalist from Australia he was going to say they sold 30 million records that year during his next interview to prove a point about the media running with whatever they are told. Is that true? I really don't know. I have never done the math and I have heard it preached as gospel in documentary's about the group. That sort of thing would be right up Mike's alley and fits his dry sense of humor and love of irony. If it is true, well played Mike. RIP boys. Micky will be along when God is ready for a Monkee reunion.

DUH! The Rutles are the pre fab four and always have been!

The Monkeys were the Nickelodeon version of the counterculture in the 60s.

5:15 “studio musicians” in this context is most likely a reference to “The Wrecking Crew”

Another fact: The show's pilot got both,at the time,the lowest and highest audience test scores in NBC network history

I believe that the Monkeemobile was designed by the same guy who did the Batmobile for the Batman TV show.

The producers of the show basically used everything about The Beatles that wasn't nailed down. If they could've,they would've renamed the 4 guys John,Paul,George,and Ringo.

The Monkees may have been the first AMERICAN sitcom to lose the laugh track, but in plenty of other countries we had been making them without canned laughter for years. Jeez!

Interesting video!, I found out that Michael Nesmith sang lead in their hit song, listen to the band !, also, the monkeemobile was built by the legendary Chuck Barris of custom/ hot rod fame !!

Boyce and Hart were the studio musicians who were working the Monkees “ at first. They also wrote the songs that the Monkees performed.

In ‘67 they sold more records than the Beatles/Stones combined !!!

In the 80s, Davy walked past us in Havant Hampshire uk.He lived a couple of miles from us at the time,when he left America and we didn't know.

If I recall there was an episode where Mike was using an alias of "Mr Woollenhat!"

I don't believe the story about Michael Nesmith trying out for Happy Days. It's common knowledge that Micky did but not once in 50 years has anyone ever said Mike did. After the Monkees Mike focused 100% of his energy into his recording and songwriting career. He had no interest in acting unless it was for one of his own projects.

I always preferred the laugh track on the Monkees episodes as it added to the show. Without it, the show wasn't same.

Davy Jones was under contract to *Colpix Records* which, along with sister label, *Colgems,* were owned by Screen Gems Inc. In 1969, Screen Gems would replace the Colgems and Colpix labels by buying out the *Bell/Amy/Mala* label group, Redesigning the Bell label while ditching the Amy, Mala, Dyna-Voice and Elf labels hitherto owned and distributed by the Bell/Amy/Mala Group. In 1975, Screen Gems would rebrand the label as *Arista* but in the late 1980s both Arista and RCA-Victor would be gobbled up by the big German recording and magazine publishing company, *Bertelsmann Verlag AG,* a company that got its fingers burned badly when their magazine, *Stern* which is *Star* in English published the fake Hitler Diaries. Bell and RCA-Victor fell under the recording division, BMG, Bertelsmann Musikgruppe GmbH.

Still remember when they were on Friday nights

Neat, I really did learn some new things. Often, you get rehashed info on these things.

My favorite song is you will not find me in your book of loos . This was my favorite song

Don't know why they didn't change their name and go it alone after the studios wouldn't give in. Who knows, they might have snotted them good. On the other hand, I understand that Tork and Nesmith weren't exactly friends.

I knew all of these! 🤩

Was a good show ,to bad it got canned.

I've seen 4 times how a company had a key player who played a major role in the company's success. He was taken for granted and either fired or driven off the job. And because of that, the company itself fell completely apart. The Monkee's show was very successful for two years. Don Kirchner was hired in the beginning to supervise the musical aspect of the show because he knew what he was doing. Four actors were hired for a show that was based on a very popular rock band at the time. (Needless to say which one) Kirchner hired song writers, as well as people who knew the business to produce the songs. Due to the popularity of the show, as well as Kirchner's expertise, the record albums sold off the charts. Only two of the actors had a real musical background, but had not had any success before the show. Kirchner said what would work and what would not. However Kirchner was seen as despotic. After two years it was set it up where Kirchner was fired. Although the show was highly succesful, after the firing the show was canceled for the third season. Kirchner however went on to produce a succesful children's cartoon show, about a rock band. The show had a number of number one hits.

2:55 - The show negotiate with Pontiac to get cars for the show, i.e., early product placement. Pontiac was excited to provide them for the publicity into the youth market, however, the show's producers were not completely honest or upfront. There was a new GTO for each Monkee's personal use and three for the show, but the three for the show were to be customized into the Monkeemobile, which did not really promote the new GTO all that much for Pontiac.

really neet! I always liked them... fun and funny !1 :) :)

Dean Jefferies designed the " Monkee mobile "

was cool to watch them

Not totally true about #10,in fact Peter Tork played guitar on the tracks Mike Nesmith produced for those albums as Mike was allowed to use anyone he wanted for his sessions.

Very Good!... 86 🐄🦉🏴‍☠

On a British interview Mickey Dolans revealed he felt like a fraud when he met the Beatles and other recording stars, while in the UK. Lennon called him Monkey Man 'in a friendly way'. From the interview it sounded as though he had been star stuck.

I was a 11 year old boy when it was on and loved it. but it was a horribly immature show so it would appeal to a small boy. My dad absolutely hated the one who played Mikey. He looked just like a enemy he had in the Navy. I think my dad felt like punching the TV screen out every time he seen him.

I surprised you didn’t say liquid paper!

The Rutles are the prefab four.

I knew all this lol.

If you want to get an idea of what The Monkees had in mind for a 3rd season of the show,watch 33 And 1/3rd Revolutions Per Monkee.

One of the producers who worked with The Monkees was Snuff Garrett.

I went to 3 concerts in the 80's with my mom. She likes them alot. Even met Mickey at the Autorama with Scott Valentine once. He's the boyfriend of Alex P Keatons sister!! Long hair. Rode a motorcycle. Yeah! Really! Mickey's a total, um, jerkwad!! ✌💖from Gen X

also Michael nesmiths mom invented liquid paper

That's not irony, that's just a coincidence.

アメリカのシンガーソングライターの協会や作詞作曲家の組合に通知が来て、ビートルズの初期のテイスティングの楽曲が出来て、提供してもいいと思ったら、デモテープでもいいから聴かせていただきたいと書いてあった。ボイス&ハートのコンビとかモンキーズのヒット曲はその中から出たものも多い。

Honestly i like when sitcoms dont have a laugh track. It feels like the director and a writer sitting in a room saying "oh my god look how funny i am" you dont tell me when a joke is funny. Tom and jerry had no laugh track neither did loony toons and those where the mvp. But subpar comedies depend on laugh tracks because most of their jokes are shit.

Watched them as a kid...I BEGGED my mom for a hair cut like Davy Jones...she was having none of that though.🙃

Harry's name was Nilsson NOT Nielson!!!

👍

What about the fact that Michael's mom invented White Out???

You missed their tour paired with Jimi Hendrix !

The urban legend of Charles Manson auditioning to be a Monkee went on for years.

Monkee is not misspelled. Monkee is the slang term for an uncredited musician.

Monkees over the beatles any day!

There's an urban legend that Charles Manson was one of the people who auditioned for the show.

I hated that you kept resetting the music loop for every point, and you didn't even include the fact that they were high every episode.

No Boyce and Hart reference.

You forgot one very infamous audition, charles manson. He auditioned for Micheal Nesmith part.

You didn't mention that Charles Manson was one of the auditioners for the show.