The Monkees, (L-R) Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith. (Photo: Entertainment International)
For years, former Rolling Stone magazine founder and editor Jann Wenner imposed his own peculiar and sometimes baffling musical tastes on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
But in Sept. 2023, the hall foundation board ended the co-founder’s 39-year reign in a swift and sudden coup over “racist” and “misogynistic.” remarks in a New York Times interview.
John Sykes, formerly of Chrysalis Records and a co-founder of MTV took over as chairman.
Right off the bat, Sykes re-established the board and put a band aid on the fading credibility of the Hall.
Since then, he has personally championed the entry of such artists as Kate Bush, Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow, and the Spinners,
Acts, like Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band and others have been inducted under his tenure.
At last month’s ceremony, two long-denied artists were finally admitted: British blues singer Joe Cocker and ’60s chart topper Chubby Checker, who launched a worldwide dance craze known as the “Twist.” Cocker was honored posthumously.
Sykes was personally responsible for Checker, Cocker, Bad Company, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes.
They lead a list of true rock and roll heroes who were overlooked during Wenner’s tenure, including his years as board chairman, from 2006 to 2020.
Among them are groups like The Guess Who, America, Alice In Chains, Anthrax, Argent, Badfinger, Blind Faith, Steppenwolf, the Raspberries, the New York Dolls, Stay Cats, Ten Years After and Stone Temple Pilots.
Artists with solo careers have also been overlooked, including powerhouses like Phil Collins, John Fogarty, Annie Lennox, Huey Lewis, Meatloaf, Oasis, Iggy Pop, Sting, Don Henley and David Lee Roth. Again, the list could go on.
But perhaps the most compellng omission is non other than… The Monkees.
Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith, started out as a made-for-television band for a 1960s NBC television sitcom based on the early, zany antics of The Beatles.
The band was dismissed early on because of its origins as a fictional group, but the boys had real musical talent.
Tork and Nesmith were accomplished folk singers and guitar players, and Dolenz was a multi-talented singer, guitarist and actor.
Jones was also a talented singer and Tony-nominated stage actor fpr roles in such Broadway and West End productions as the Artful Dodger and Oliver.
The sitcom aired from 1966 to 1968 and yielded multiple hit albums and singles.
Their 1966 song “Last Train to Clarksville,” reached No. 1 on the charts. A month later, The Monkees’ self-titled debut album was released and spent 13 weeks at No. 1. It remained on Billboard’s charts for 78 weeks.
The band’s second single, “I’m a Believer” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” propelled their second album, “More of the Monkees” to No. 1 for 18 weeks. It remained on the charts for 70 weeks and was the third-highest-selling album of the 1960s.
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“I’m a Believer” written by Neil Diamond, became the biggest-selling single in 1967.
The show and the music’s popularity created huge demand for live shows. They performed their debut concert in Dec. 1966 in Hawaii at the urging of their label, Capital Records.
Their reception rivaled the fan delirium of Beatles concerts.
Initially, their sound was scuplted by top-notch studio musicians like the Wrecking Crew, who also backed up The Byrds, Beach Boys, Turtles, Mamas & Papas among others and signature songwriters like Boyce & Hart.
When The Monkees’ music began to eclipse ther television show, friction developed over artistic control and finally reached a peak in 1967.
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The band gained full control over their recordings that year and began playing their own instruments, leading to the release of an early version of Nesmith’s top 40 hit single “The Girl I Knew Somewhere.”
The Monkees’ third album, “Headquarters” was largely performed by the boys with some accompaniment on bass and horns. They also played on their fourth and fifth albums.
“Headquarters” topped the charts for week in 1967 until The Beatles’ classic “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” knocked it down a notch. But “Headquarters” held at No. 2 for 11 weeks after that.
Despite such success — or perhaps because of it — the rock world’s opinion was sharply divided on the band.
Wenner, a leading critic, said The Monkees were “manufactured,” not a real band, and would never get into the rock hall as long as he held sway. Forget the fact that many inductees used backup musicians and did not write their own songs.
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Tork said Wenner’s criticisms were “vicious,” and took them personally. He once said Wenner was the main obstacle to their induction and was “blackballing” them. But the music editor wasn’t alone.
During a European tour one tabloid wag branded the band the “Pre-Fab Four,” a play on a Beatles moniker “The Fab Four.”
Rock god Jimi Hendrix, who once opened for The Monkees when he was lesser known, also viscerally dispised the band. “Oh God, I hate them!” he infamously proclaimed.
Stephen Stills, who auditioned for The Monkees, but was rejected reportedly due to his teeth and hairline, expressed disdain early on before warming up to the group and eventually playing with them.
Stills recommended Tork, who was a well-known folk singer in Greenwich Village at the time.
Other artists, most notably The Beatles, were big fans.
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Nesmith and John Lennon became fast friends and Nesmith contributed to Sgt Peppers. Dolenz was one of Lennon’s sidekicks during his famous “Lost Weekend,” along with Alice Cooper, Harry Nilsson, and Ringo.
Paul McCartney publicly expressed his respect for The Monkees, and sang one of their songs in his concert film.
Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys co-founder, supported for the band and singer/songwriter Carole King wrote “Pleasant Valley Sunday” for them.
The Monkees heyday came to an end when the band broke up in 1970. Reunion tours and solo performances followed, and their music has endured and crossed generations like few other groups.
The TV show’s syndication, combined with reunion tours, sparked mini explosions of “Monkeemania.” After a 1984 reunion tour, their songs exploded in the charts for 14 weeks.
More Reading: Michael Nesmith, Who Transcended Monkees to Leave Stellar Music, Televison Legacy, Dies at 78
The Hall of Fame’s induction criteria cites the importance of “the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.”
The Monkee’s massively successful music certainly qualifies on its own. The band sold more than 75 million records worldwide and scored four No. 1 albums in one calendar year, a feat unmatched by any other rock group.
The Monkees were also instrumental in ushering in music video era. Nesmith was involved in developing the concept for MTV, and the show went into regular rotation when MTV launched in 1981..
The comedy show pioneered such production techniques as “breaking the fourth wall,” jump cuts, and sped-up footage, all of which were ahead of their time and became TV and music video staples.
Jones died of a heart attack at 66 in 2012, and Tork, 79, died from cancer in 2019.
Nesmith and Dolenz performed their last sold out tour in Sept 2021 three months before Nesmith died. Dolenz is the lone surviving member and still performs at 80.
The Monkees-legacy will likely endure long after the band members are gone, but their contributions to rock and roll need to be recognized and enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The Hall was first started in 1983 by music empresarios Ahmet Ertegun, Wenner, Allen Grubman, Jon Landau, Seymour Stein; Bob Krasnow and Suzan Evans.
They were part of an exclusive club in the music business. Ertegun (who started Atlantic Records) and Wenner were best buds back then and tightly controlled the museum.
Landau, as a music critic for Wenner’s Rolling Stone, had just annointed some kid from New Jersey as the next Bob Dylan. Stein, who worked for Billboard doing charts at age 13, started Sire Records and Krasnow ran Blue Thumb Records.
This group literally ran the music business. Grubman, buy the way, was the go-lawyer then.
Ertegun passed, as did Stein and Krasnow, and Wenner — who had just sold Rolling Stone — released his autobiography in 2022.
In it, he quite candidly stated that certain artists would never, ever get in owing to their gender, their music or just a certain dislike. The book led to his New York Times interview and his swift departure.
It’s ironic that the Hall’s latest inductees read like an MTV-playlist from the 80’s. Still not in however are The Guess Who and The Monkees. said Dolenz spokesman, David Salidor.
“It’s no secret that Jann Wenner said The Monkees would never get in and they never did, but the tide has turned. I would even predict The Monkees nomination for 2026.”