Chapter 20: American Responses to the British Invasion
The Monkees may be the most successful marketing creation in rock history. Unlike Paul Revere and the Raiders, who were already an established band when signed by Dick Clark, the Monkees were assembled from scratch for a television show. Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider created the group in 1965 as a fictional American answer to the Beatles, inspired by the Fab Four’s comedic personas in A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The Monkees TV show, which premiered in September 1966, followed the antics of four aspiring musicians, blending slapstick comedy with spontaneous musical numbers. Like the Beatles, the Monkees took their name from a two-syllable animal with one purposefully misspelled letter. Actor Micky Dolenz later described it as “a television show about an imaginary band that wanted to be the Beatles but was never successful.” The group was affectionately nicknamed the “Prefab Four”—a wry nod to both their fabricated origin and the Beatles’ “Fab Four” title.
A casting call placed in Daily Variety sought “folk and rock musicians who could act and do comedy.” Over 400 performers auditioned—including Stephen Stills (later of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash), Danny Hutton (later of Three Dog Night), and Paul Williams (who would go on to become a successful songwriter and solo artist)—before producers settled on Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. All had some background in performance. Jones, an English-born Tony nominated Broadway actor and teen heartthrob, was cast as the band’s frontman. Dolenz, a former child actor, played drums and contributed vocals and songwriting. Nesmith was already a capable guitarist and wrote several tracks. Tork, with roots in the Greenwich Village folk scene, rounded out the group as bassist.
In their early phase, the Monkees functioned primarily as vocalists, layering their performances over backing tracks recorded by seasoned studio musicians. Much of their repertoire came from an impressive roster of Brill Building under the direct musical supervision of Don Kirshner and pop songwriters, including Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Neil Diamond, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and John Stewart of the Kingston Trio. These songs were designed not only to chart but also to promote the television series. Boyce and Hart were behind several of the group’s signature tunes, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Valleri,” and the instantly recognizable theme song. Neil Diamond contributed two major hits: “I’m a Believer,” which became the Monkees’ best-selling single, and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.” King and Goffin’s “Pleasant Valley Sunday” offered a sharp critique of suburban monotony beneath its bright pop exterior, while John Stewart’s “Daydream Believer” became another million-seller and a lasting favorite. These tightly crafted songs, paired with the Monkees’ telegenic appeal, cemented their commercial success—even if critics remained skeptical of their artistic credibility.
“Last Train to Clarksville” (1966), written and produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, marked the Monkees’ debut and quickly climbed to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Its jangly guitar riffs and sonic palette closely echoed Beatles hits like “Day Tripper” and “Paperback Writer,” combining the Brill Building songwriting model with a slightly edgier rock sound. Structured in a simple verse form, the song broke convention by varying the length of each verse—an unusual feature for a pop single at the time. Although the Monkees sang the vocals, all instrumental parts were performed by professional studio musicians. Yet early albums gave no credit to these players, leading many fans to assume the band had recorded the tracks themselves.
Once it became widely known that the Monkees had little control over the recording process, music critics and rock traditionalists were quick to label them as inauthentic. As rock’s definition of artistic legitimacy shifted in the late 1960s, bands were increasingly expected to write their own material and oversee their sound in the studio—traits associated with artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. In contrast, the Monkees were seen as a manufactured product, designed for the screen rather than the stage, with minimal input into their music. Like the girl groups produced by Phil Spector earlier in the decade, the Monkees were often viewed as performers delivering someone else’s creative vision. The Monkees may have had their naysayers among the rock and roll purists, but they were, for the most part, a smash hit with American audiences.Their upbeat sound and zany humor were tailor-made for teen fans at the height of American Beatlemania and in 1967, they sold more records than either the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.