923 The Monkees “I’m a Believer” 1966 and “(Theme from) The Monkees” 1966

Penn Jillette: “The Monkees were engineered to appeal to the broadest audience possible with no other concerns. The Monkees were sanitized to fit into America’s living rooms. My mom and dad would watch the Monkees with me, and other than their stupid haircuts, Mom and Dad weren’t bothered much by the Pre-fab Four. The silly Monkees did their thing in the wood veneer TV console under the white doily below the heirloom clock. They didn’t shock. They fit comfortably on the same cathode ray tube as Lawrence Welk” (Eric Lefcowitz, Monkee Business: The Revolutionary Made-For-TV Band, 2013). 

“The Monkees were formed in 1965 by two young television producers [Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider] who pitched the idea of a weekly comedy TV show featuring a young band having wacky, surreal, intertextual adventures that would trade on and draw its inspiration from Richard Lester’s 1964 Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night. The two producers rounded up their young Hollywood friends, hired a song-writing team, auditioned and selected four young men and produced a successful television show that ran for two seasons and a band that was productive for years afterwards” (Matthew Stahl, Popular Music, Oct. 2002).

The Monkees “I’m a Believer”

The Monkees “(Theme from) The Monkees”