Mike Nesmith’s Claim ‘There Never Really Was a Monkees’ Will Blow Your Mind
When speaking to reporters, Mike Nesmith was typically the most reflective of all The Monkees members. He would always sprinkle an offhanded statement or two within his interviews that left readers scratching their heads. He once said, “there never really was a Monkees,” and blew fans’ minds with his reasons.
Mike Nesmith says The Monkees ‘worked out’ despite their many differences as performers
In an interview for John Gilliland’s “Pop Chronicles,” Mike took a deep dive into the backstory of The Monkees. He spoke of how quickly he, Peter Tork, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz got together and formed a musical group in a certain amount of time ahead of their TV series debut.
“It’s almost self-evident how it worked out,” Mike replied. “It worked out OK. But not because we learned to work as a unit, a group, or anything like that.”
Mike explained, “We are at our best when we work alone, together. The only thing that took us time was learning not to step on each other’s toes. We learned the things we had to give up for the other person to express themselves wasn’t that important anyway.”
‘There never really was a Monkees’ claims Mike Nesmith
Back in 1967, shortly after the release of HEADQUARTERS, The Monkees visited England and had this press conference. If you had the opportunity to ask them a question, what would you ask?
— The Monkees (@TheMonkees) November 14, 2022
Photo by Mike McLaren pic.twitter.com/7SNcpX8fh7
In an interview with Pop Culture Classics, Mike said, “there never really was a Monkees.” He elaborated on that head-scratching remark by claiming the band was a “fabrication.”
“There really never was a `Monkees,’ ” Mike says. “It was a fabrication in a television show.”
“It was a television show about an out-of-work rock ‘n’ roll band with no ties to anything except each other. And it was just their hijinks. So, when people say, ‘Are you guys The Monkees?’ There really are no Monkees. It’s just us,” he joked.
Mike continued, “The media of the ’60s shouldn’t have regarded it as a scoop that we weren’t a real band. There’s no such thing as the Starship Enterprise, and Laurence Olivier’s not the prince of Denmark.”
“I watched this unfold. And I was nonplussed. Now, when you talk to anybody about it, there’s just no confusion. What they’re confused about is why anybody was confused about it. ‘You mean people thought you were really a band? Geez, that was weird, wasn’t it?’“ he concluded.
There’s no denying The Monkees influence on the Billboard charts
Despite Nesmith’s keen observations, there is no denying The Monkees’ impact on the music business. The band hit a chart record that still stands today. In 1967, they became the first and only act to have four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 in a calendar year, reported Billboard.
Their first album, The Monkees, was atop the Billboard chart at the close of 1966. It remained there for the first five weeks of 1967. This feat was followed in Feb. by their second release, More of the Monkees, which placed number one for 18 weeks.
The band’s third album, Headquarters, spent only one week at the No. 1 position before sliding down a notch to No. 2 behind The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In December 1967, The Monkees were back on top with their fourth release, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.
Subsequently, The Monkees topped a record set by The Beatles. The Fab Four had three albums in one calendar year, and Elvis Presley scored two.
