The Monkees consisted of four fresh-faced actors who were hired through newspaper ads in the 1960s to star in a TV series about a …
The Monkees consisted of four fresh-faced actors who were hired through newspaper ads in the 1960s to star in a TV series about a fictional rock band made up of goofballs. But in their heyday, few in and around the music industry took the “Prefab Four” seriously. Singing such squeaky-clean hits as “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer,” the band was designed in a Hollywood studio to serve as replacements for the Beatles, whose turn to drug-fueled music alienated a core audience of small children. Of people like me – a tot who eagerly saw the Monkees play, live, at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium with my older sister, my screams of joy disguising the fact that, at the time, these guys were frauds. Originally, the four mop tops didn’t write their own music or even play their own instruments.
