The Monkees

I don't know what to say except that I first saw this series on MTV in 1986 and I was almost immediately hooked on it. It's a great deal of fun to watch because it has plenty of genuinely funny laughs and awesome music. It is very easily the best of the 'fictional band' series of that era.

Every now and then, on TV, they repeat The Monkees, and when they do, you know you're in for half an hour of lunacy.

I've been to a few staff parties at the places I've worked over the years, and when "Here we come..." blasts out, the dance floor's always packed in seconds.

LONG LIVE THE MONKEES!

No-one has ever tried to pretend that 'The Monkees' were anything more than a pop group specifically created for a television show, and to sell bubblegum music to kids. That said, it should also be noted how talented Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, David Jones, and Micky Dolenz were as comedy performers, far more so than the members of 'Herman's Hermits' and 'The Dave Clark Five', both of whom tried and failed to reach the same audience. The show took its cue from the Beatles' movie 'Help!', with the band constantly running across rooftops, chased by screaming girls, and famous actors hamming it up for all it was worth in cameo roles. John Lennon likened The Monkees to the Marx Brothers, and its not hard to see why. The show caught the mood of the time; it was colourful, daft fun, just what the world needed as the Vietnam war raged. And the songs were good too, particularly 'Last Train To Clarksville'. Such was the show's popularity in Britain that it was being rerun long after the group disbanded.

The Monkees may have been created as a Beatles-of-America series, but like The Fab Four the show and the group within had a pivotal role in pop music history. While the concept of quick-edit rock music pieces began with A Hard Days Night and its sequels, it was The Monkees that really fleshed out the concept that today is known as the music video.

The power of television proved itself with Monkee-mania, and seeing the series and listening to the records four decades after their debut reveals how fresh and engaging both still are. The sit-com concept was basically parodied, and the free-wheeling styles of Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and David Jones made the parodies all the more cutting and funny. There is a magnetism to Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy that still shows in the show and the music; the use of session hipsters in the backing tracks certainly created a strong baseline at the beginning, but in concert with session help or all on their own (in the album Headquarters and the songs from which the show made use), it was Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy who gave the music a stamp that was undeniably theirs.

The same is true of the show - other singers have shown engaging humor (Alison Krauss is one of the funniest), but none show the magnetic zaniness of The Monkees (if anything, Ms. Krauss' sense of humor is more like Mike Nesmith's than anything).

This is why the show and the group will always endure.

The Monkees was one of the most unique television shows ever created! The show featured great music and comedy that had people laughing for hours. All four of the guys were extremely talented and no one else could have taken their place. The show should be run more often so that today's generation of kids can enjoy them too.