"Here we come,
Walking down the street,
Get the funniest looks from,
Everyone we meet…"

Whenever something is a resounding success, there will always be imitators that follow. Often they are pale comparisons to the original, but in the rare case, it turns out that they have charm and appeal all their own.  Such was the case with The Monkees. It wasn’t hard to tell that they were Hollywood’s answer to The Beatles and their film, A Hard Day’s Night, but this quartet was just quirky and original enough that the public embraced them nonetheless.

Producers Bert Schneidr and Bob Rafaelson interviewed over 400 potential Monkees before they settled on two musicians, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith, and two former child stars, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. These four would become stars of their own television series, The Monkees, which chronicled the zany adventures of the quartet as they played almost a comic book version of the Fab Four. Each had their own distinct personality – Mike was the intellectual, Peter the introvert, Davey the heartthrob, and Micky the class clown. There was nothing malicious about any of them, just four fun-loving guys always willing to help out someone in need – and always finding themselves in a bizarre set of circumstances as a result. They might be spending the night in an eerie castle, or decide to help Davey’s newfound boxing career, or heading to England to save Davey’s family’s estate. No matter the situation or location, there was sure to be plenty of high jinks to follow.

When they weren’t traveling around the world, they resided in a beach loft and drove around in a modified GTO dubbed “The Monkeemobile.” And like any group of good-looking guys living at the beach, there were always plentiful members of the opposite sex to keep them company - and usually a jealous boyfriend or two to contend with. But The Monkees never wanted any trouble, they just wanted to have fun – and make some music. Long before there was MTV, each episode of The Monkees generally featured two songs, each presented in a filmed segment much like a music video, and with the same madcap feel of the show in general.

Although the show only ran for a mere two seasons (in which they managed to pick up an Emmy,) it still managed to launch their careers into superstardom. They released numerous albums, sang some great songs, went out on a major tour, and steadily built a following of adoring and screaming female fans. When they released The Monkees in 1966, the album was an amazing success, managing to outsell all of the Rolling Stones albums to date – combined! It was simply impossible to not find something to like in a collection of material that included “Daydream Believer,” Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” “Stepping Stone” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.” It was an impressive body of work from the four kooky, fun-loving guys.

A feature film followed, Head, which was co-written by Jack Nicholson and featured a very young Terri Garr in her first film appearance. Soon after, Peter Tork quit to pursue other interests, and the remaining three kept things afloat by releasing two more albums. When Mike Nesmith decided to throw in the towel shortly thereafter, Micky and Davy released one more album before The Monkees officially called it a day in 1970.

Then, in the 80s, a whole new generation was introduced to The Monkees, thanks to MTV who started showing reruns of the old series. Suddenly, the boys found themselves popular again and it wasn’t long before they were recording new albums (although, only one would include Mike Nesmith) and watching history attempt to repeat itself in the form of The New Monkees, a television series that cast four new wacky upcomers in the title role. And while the TV show was gone almost as soon as it arrived, the older, wiser Monkees still took advantage of their returned popularity and reunited for an extensive string of touring.

And while, they may not have been quite as prolific as The Beatles, nor achieved the same iconic status, their place in history has certainly been assured. Few acts that were originally considered imitators have ever achieved the same longevity and popularity as The Monkees, for it turned out that they were pretty darn special in their own right.

"Hey hey, we're The Monkees,
And people say we monkey around,
But we're too busy singing,
To put anybody down…"