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TL;DR:

  • Micky Dolenz said The Monkees’ theme song had an impact on fashion.
  • He said the Prefab Four changed how certain types of clothing were perceived.
  • A famous author from the 1960s counterculture had a similar opinion.
The Monkees' Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz near chairs
The Monkees’ Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

Micky Dolenz said The Monkees‘ theme song had a huge impact on fashion. In addition, he discussed what John Lennon, Frank Zappa, and Andy Warhol thought of the group. Dolenz recalled a famous author from the 1960s had a lot to say about the Prefab Four.

Micky Dolenz said John Lennon compared The Monkees to a famous comedy troupe

During a 2016 interview with Yahoo! News, Dolenz discussed the reception of the Prefab Four. “John Lennon was one of the first people to make that observation — he said, ‘I like The Monkees; they’re like the Marx Brothers,'” Dolenz recalled. 

“A lot of people, our peers, did get it — Frank Zappa was a huge fan,” Dolenz added. “He got it. Andy Warhol, I remember, got it. That pop culture thing.”

Micky Dolenz said The Monkees’ theme song showed parents that it was alright for their children to wear bell-bottoms

Dolenz said counterculture author Timothy Leary had a strong opinion of the group. Leary was known for writing The Psychedelic Experience, which advocated the use of psychedelic drugs. He also popularized the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

“Timothy Leary, he wrote a book called Politics of Ecstasy and he wrote half a chapter about The Monkees, ‘bringing long hair and that zeitgeist into the living room,'” Dolenz said. “Which is probably the legacy, or would be one of the legacies: making it OK to have long hair and bell-bottoms in 1966. Because at that time, the only time you saw long-haired kids with bell-bottoms, they were being arrested!” 

Dolenz then discussed the lyrics of the band’s theme song. “The Monkees came along and said, ‘We’re too busy singing to put anybody down,'” he said. “And the kids would go, ‘Hey Mom, see? The Monkees aren’t committing crimes against nature! It’s OK!'”

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How the theme song and its parent album performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

The band’s theme song was not a single and did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The track appeared on the group’s debut album The Monkees. The album topped the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks, staying on the chart for 102 weeks altogether.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Theme From (The Monkees)” did not chart in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, The Monkees was No. 1 for seven weeks. The album remained on the chart for a total of 37 weeks.

The group’s theme song is catchy — and it may have had a social impact.

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