Davy Jones
From 1966 to 1971, Jones was a member of the
Monkees, a pop-rock group formed expressly for a television show of the same name. With Screen
Gems producing the series, Jones was shortlisted for auditions, as he was the only Monkee who
was signed to a deal with the studio, but still had to meet producers Bob Rafelson's and Bert
Schneider's standards. Jones sang lead vocals on many of the Monkees' recordings, including
"I Wanna Be Free" and "Daydream Believer". The DVD release of the first season of the show
contained commentary from the various bandmates. In Peter Tork's commentary, he stated that
Jones was a good drummer and had the live performance lineups been based solely on playing
ability, it should have been Tork on guitar, Mike Nesmith on bass, and Jones on drums, with
Micky Dolenz taking the fronting role, rather than as it was done (with Nesmith on guitar, Tork
on bass, and Dolenz on drums). Mostly playing tambourine or maracas, Jones filled in briefly for
Tork on bass when he played keyboards.
Micky Dolenz
In 1965, Dolenz was cast in the television
sitcom The Monkees and became the drummer and a lead vocalist in the band created for the show.
He was not actually a drummer and needed lessons even to be able to mime credibly, but
eventually was taught how to play properly. By the time The Monkees went on tour in late 1966,
Dolenz was competent enough to play the drums himself. He learned to play right-handed and
left-footed because of a leg disease called Perthes making his right leg weak.
Tommy Boyce
and
Bobby Hart, writers of many of The Monkees' songs, observed quickly that when
brought into the studio together, the four actors would try to make each other laugh. Because of
this, the writers often brought in each singer individually. The antics escalated until one time
Dolenz poured a cup of Coca-Cola on Don Kirshner's head; at the time, Dolenz did not know
Kirshner on sight.
Michael Nesmith
From 1965 to early 1970, Nesmith was a
member of the television pop-rock band The Monkees, created for the television situation comedy
of the same name. According to his May 2015 interview on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast, someone
showed him a copy of the famous press advertisement asking for "four insane boys" so he applied
for the job. Nesmith won his role largely by appearing blasé when he auditioned. He rode his
motorcycle to the audition, and wore a wool hat to keep his hair out of his eyes; producers Bob
Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered "Wool Hat", and called Nesmith back.
Once he was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs so they could be used in the show. Many of the
songs Nesmith wrote for The Monkees, such as "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", "Mary, Mary" and
"Listen to the Band", became minor hits. One song he wrote, "You Just May Be the One", is in
mixed meter, interspersing 5/4 bars into an otherwise 4/4 structure.
Peter Tork
Stephen Stills had auditioned for the new
television series about four pop-rock musicians but was turned down because the show's producers
felt his hair and teeth would not photograph well on camera. They asked Stills if he knew of
someone with a similar "open, Nordic look," and Stills suggested Tork audition for the part.
Tork got the job and became one of the four members of the Monkees, a fictitious pop band in the
mid-1960s, created for a television sitcom written about the fictitious band. Tork was the
oldest member of the group.
Tork was a proficient musician, and though the group was not allowed to play their own
instruments on their first two albums, he was an exception, playing what he described as "third
chair guitar" on Mike Nesmith's song, "Papa Gene's Blues," from their first album. He
subsequently played keyboards, bass guitar, banjo, harpsichord, and other instruments on their
recordings. He also co-wrote, along with Joey Richards, the closing theme song of the second
season of The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake".