They started as a pretend band for a TV show, they had the finest of session performers and writers doing the songs with the boys doing the singing while session performers done the music, later on all four members learned the craft and were doing the writing, performing and playing themselves.

Here is a selection of my favourite The Monkees songs

Daydream Believer

‘Daydream Believer’ was the third and last Monkees song to hit No. 1 on the charts in the United States and No. 2 in Australia, it is perhaps their best-known song.

It was written by John Stewart who was part of successful group The Kingston Trio just months earlier, the song was recorded by The Monkees in June and August of 1967 and released on October 25 of that year.

Davy Jones sang lead on this song.

Last Train To Clarksville

The Monkees debut single ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ started the Monkees off with a bang, No. 1 in the United States, a start that very few artists can dream of, and it did help that the band did have a TV show.

Pleasant Valley Sunday

‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ was paired up with the song ‘Words’, a solid combination with the A-Side peaking at No. 3 and the B-Side peaking at No. 11 just missing a Top 10 double.

She

One of my favourites after hearing it on a Monkees cassette tape, ‘She’ is a Mickey Dolenz singing lead song that was not released as a single, it would have done well if it had been given the opportunity.

That Was Then, This Is Now

The Monkees were back in the 80s thanks to repeats of their TV series reaching a new audience and one of the songs released in that period was ‘That Was Then, This Is Now’.

The song peaked at No. 20 in the United States, giving the band their last Top 20 hit in the United States.

It must be noted that only Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork represented the group, Davy Jones would join them in a tour that year while Michael Nesmith dropped out of a reunion after it became clear a tour would be widespread.

‘Listen To The Band’ was written by Michael Nesmith and was originally the B-Side to ‘Someday Man’ but DJ’s had taken a liking to ‘Listen To The Band’ and soon it became the A-Side.

The song only reached No. 63 in the United States but hit No. 8 in Australia, their last Australian Top 10.

I’m A Believer

I’m A Believer was their second No. 1 hit and was written by Neil Diamond, he also played acoustic guitar on the recording back when The Monkees had professionals doing everything but sing.

The combination of Smash Mouth and the movie Shrek brought the song back into greater popularity in the 2000’s.

(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone

The B-side to ‘I’m A Believer’, ‘(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone’ is a popular Monkees song among fans.

Whenever somebody is trying to use me, I think of this song because nobody should be used as a stepping stone.

Valleri

Valleri hit No. 3 in the USA and No. 4 in Australia, I love how this song sounds from the guitar and drums to the way they say Valleri and this song is short and sweet, but it makes an impact on the listener, it is a song that is hard to get tired of.

Words

‘Words’ is a favourite because of the way it is sung combined with the music, the way the words were said in the chorus like ‘Words with lies inside’ with words and lies being said with more gusto makes it very interesting and easy to want to join in.

So, that’s it for my thoughts on some of The Monkees hits, for a band that started off as fictional and the work almost completely done by others then they became real from songwriting to performing, they had done pretty good for themselves.