Miley Crisis ✨: Were The Monkees a real band or a fictional one for the TV show?

Were The Monkees a real band or a fictional one for the TV show?

Both - they were formed for the tv series but they were musicians and chosen because they could play and they went off and became an actual band

Oh cool! So they like actually toured?

Yes they still do in a way (the surviving band members do monkees nostalgia dates every so often)

Yep. And some of them would write some amazing songs for other artists as well.

Indeed and dolenz has had an astonishing career

i love reading about the Monkees because yeah they all had talent in music first but they were barely allowed to perform on Monkees tracks at first, they were meant to be a TV gag first, it took a little fame and a power struggle to go from a fictional band to a real band

first of all could i say first another damn time

you're now on a watchlist

they got me on so many lists they just call me Santa's Little Helper down at the Hoover building

Oh thank you for the extra context! In hindsight this makes sense. The network missed a real good opportunity to let them tour and make bank

Hard to fault the studios for that.. the Monkees were playing air guitars to the famous Wrecking Crew. The execs wouldn't want to mess with something that works

I had the same thought about Bing Crosby because he's in almost every movie from the 50s and I know he was on all their soundtracks too so I figured his music was just for his movies but it turns out his music career was even hotter than his acting career. He had more #1 hits than Elvis

Oh cool! I don't know, I just remembered seeing the show as a kid but I was young enough to think that it was all real lol. It just kind of dawned on me that maybe it wasn't lol

Yeah and their sound is so quintessential it feels manufactured or something haha

Yup, Bing Crosby has sold a billion or more "records." He's in a four-way with The Beatles, Elvis and Michael Jackson.

The power struggle the Monkees went through to try to be a "real" band is fascinating to read about. And there's great music to accompany!

both

And davey jones was English to cash in on the Beatles

To truly delve into Monkees lore, I'd rec watching the bizarre and awesome film "Head" from 1968. It's on tubiTV in the USA, which you can access elsewhere with a good VPN.

fictional, just like the beatles

I knew it! Thanks!

Mike Nesmith is one of the most underrated musicians of all time and I am prepared to die on this hill

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