It was a Sixties TV smash that turned four relative unknowns into pop superstars. Roger Crow* looks back on The Monkees’ success, and music expert Neil Brand analyses their songs’ feel-good formula.

Illustrations by Roger Crow

The Monkees left to right: Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith

* Thanks to Neil Brand and Tony Greenway for their help with this feature

Remember The Beatles? Popular lads. Could carry a tune; looked good, especially on the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night proved that in ‘64. Even those who weren’t fans loved John, Paul, George and Ringo’s irreverence.

“Could the same magic be repeated on TV?” asked TV bosses, keen to tap into that lucrative brand of foot-tapping silliness. While a telly series featuring the Mop-Tops was unlikely given their white-hot status, a show capturing that same bonkers energy was only a matter of time. Just find four triple threats who could sing, play instruments and act; have them get up to weekly nonsense; sit back and watch the ratings soar. In theory.

One of the brains behind ‘TV’s (mostly) American Beatles’, was actor and film maker Paul Mazursky. He joined forces with Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson’s Raybert Productions, while TV company Screen Gems (makers of beloved shows like Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie) were also in the mix for the sitcom with music.

By 1965, Raybert wanted The Lovin’ Spoonful to be their TV guys, and this was even before Summer in the City became a solid gold smash. However, as contractual obligations scuppered that idea, the DIY band option was called for.

“We just tried to make them four footloose, improvisational zany guys,” remarked Mazursky.

Finding the “zany guys” was the next step, so an advert went out in the trade papers seeking ‘Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series’. Once the batch of 17-21 year-old-hopefuls were whittled down, that final quartet were put through an intense boot camp of singing, playing music and improv work.

But who were the ‘Prefab Four’?

GETTING THE BAND TOGETHER

Brit David Jones was born and raised in Manchester. The actor/musician moved to Newmarket to be an apprentice jockey, but when he landed the part of the Artful Dodger in stage smash Oliver!, Broadway beckoned. After being offered a taste of the spotlight, it wasn’t long before he was the one saying, “Please sir, can I have some more?”.

A move to California was inevitable. Screen Gems were keen to find David a vehicle, and when The Monkees project whirred into life, he was a shoo-in.

Jones was perfect for American TV; he was a good looking, freshfaced guy, and his height was a bonus. In the right context, short is funny, especially when cast against tall people. Talking of which...

Only Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz appear in every episode of the TV show. But the other two had good excuses. Davy Jones had to be written out of an episode so he could attend his sister’s wedding. Michael Nesmith missed three shoots due to a tonsillectomy, the birth of his son Jonathan and a family trip to Texas