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TL;DR:

  • Micky Dolenz said one of The Monkees’ albums proved they “were a pretty damn good band.”
  • In addition, he said The Monkees were not a real band, they were the cast of a sitcom.
  • The album in question features recordings of several famous songs.
The Monkees in black-and-white
The Monkees | Bettmann / Contributor

Micky Dolenz said one of The Monkees‘ albums is “very punk.” In addition, he said The Monkees were the first garage band. Notably, The Monkees’ “punk” album was not a hit, even though it features recordings of several famous songs.

Micky Dolenz said 1 of The Monkees’ albums could not have happened early in their career

The Monkees’ Headquarters was their first album to feature major input from the members of the Prefab Four. Dolenz even wrote the most famous song from the album: “Randy Scouse Git.” During a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, Dolenz said Headquarters could not have been The Monkees’ first album. 

“But in all honesty, I don’t think we could have recorded Headquarters before we did,” he said. “We’d only just met. And not long after that, we were rehearsing to go on the road to perform.” Dolenz said he was not a studio musician, so he did not learn how to play the drums more than was absolutely necessary. Despite this, going on tour forced him to play the instrument.

Dolenz said going on tour transformed The Monkees. “There’s no way we could have recorded a whole album at first,” he said. “But after we went on tour for a year or however long it was, and we played together as a band on those shows, we came back and we were a pretty damn good band. Did you ever hear that CD Rhino [Records] released called Live 1967?” 

Micky Dolenz said the Prefab Four were ‘the 1st garage band’

Live 1967 features raw live renditions of many of The Monkees’ most famous songs, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.” You can hear The Monkees’ fans screaming wildly as they performed.

Dolenz discussed his opinion of Live 1967. “It’s very punk!” he said. “I think we were the original garage band, but we didn’t intend to be. It was like, ‘Oh s***! We gotta play this s*** now.’ Most bands go through some primitive growing-up period. But The Monkees wasn’t a band. It was this cast of a TV show that suddenly had to get out there and play. It was trial by fire.”

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How The Monkees’ ‘Live 1967’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom

Live 1967 was released in 1987. This was during a period of nostalgia for The Monkees and 1960s artists in general. Notably, The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, The Beach Boys, and other 1960s stars had hits around that time. Despite this trend, Live 1967 did not chart on the Billboard 200. 

According to The Official Charts Company, Live 1967 did not chart in the United Kingdom either. 

Live 1967 was not a hit but it showed The Monkees had a punk/garage rock side.

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