2 Songwriters Felt a Monkees Album Was ‘the Chance of a Lifetime’
The Monkees broke through with their first album: The Monkees. A pair of songwriters thought they had “the chance of a lifetime” when they were hired to produce the album. In addition, the songwriters spent months obsessing over the Prefab Four’s image and musical direction.
Several of The Monkees’ most famous songs were written by the same pair of songwriters
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were a songwriting duo called Boyce & Hart. They wrote Monkees songs such as “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I Wanna Be Free,” and “Valleri.” In his 2015 book Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem Into Miracles, Hart discussed Boyce’s reaction when they were chosen to produce The Monkees’ self-titled album.
“Tommy reflected, ‘Some of the hottest record producers ever had been in studios around the world cutting Monkee records before we had even gotten our chance,'” Hart wrote.
“‘Yeah,’ I responded, ‘why had we been the ones who finally got the green light to produce the first Monkees album?'” Hart recalled.
Boyce & Hart felt other producers did not see The Monkees’ 1st album as anything special
Boyce and Hart came to a conclusion about why they stood out. “To the busy veteran record producers, this was just another in a long line of run-of-the-mill projects and sessions,” Hart wrote. “To us, it was the chance of a lifetime!
“In the 11 months between our first meeting with the show’s producers and our first recording sessions with the group, Boyce and I had been just short of obsessed with thinking about and planning ahead for our big break,” Hart continued.
“Having created in our minds a clear-cut image and musical sound for the group, we were easily able to actualize it when [Monkees supervisor Don] Kirshner finally gave us our project back,” Hart added. “‘Boyce summed it up succinctly, ‘We had done our homework and we were ready.'”
How the album and its lead single performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom
The Monkees became a huge hit. The album topped the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks, staying on the chart for 102 weeks in total. It stayed on the chart longer all of the Prefab Four’s subsequent albums in the United States. The Monkees also included the group’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single: “Last Train to Clarksville.”
The Official Charts Company reports The Monkees was also a hit in the United Kingdom. There, the album reached No. 1 for seven of its 37 weeks on the chart. In the U.K., “Last Train to Clarksville” became a more modest hit, peaking at No. 23.
Other producers might have considered The Monkees run-of-the-mill, but to Boyce & Hart, it was “the chance of a lifetime.”
