‘The Monkees’: Micky Dolenz Thought It ‘Seemed Stupid’ to Tour With Just Mike Nesmith
The Monkees were one of the most popular bands of the 1960s. Band member Micky Dolenz revealed why he and the remaining group members wouldn’t tour as The Monkees in later years.
The Monkees were created for a TV show
The Monkees were created in 1966 as part of a TV show of the same name. The group comprised Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones. They all starred on The Monkees as themselves.
The band sold more than 75 million records worldwide, with hits like “Last Train to Clarksville,” I’m a Believer,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” and “Daydream Believer.” Their show was equally popular, despite running for just two seasons.
All the popularity and success caused tensions within The Monkees, and Tork quit the band in 1969. Nesmith left the group a year later. Dolenz and Jones released their solo music but continued to tour together throughout the 1970s.
Why Micky Dolenz thought it was ‘stupid’ to tour alongside Mike Nesmith as The Monkees
Tork and Nesmith would occasionally rejoin The Monkees for reunion tours, but it wasn’t until 2012 that Dolenz and Nesmith rekindled their friendship. Nesmith decided to tour with Dolenz following the death of Jones.
The pair recorded music together and went out on tour, but they decided not to use The Monkees’ name for one perfect reason.
“After Peter [Tork, who died in 2019] passed — hell, after Davy passed — Mike and I wondered what we were going to do,” Dolenz told Variety. “What we found out was that our fans wanted us to go out there. Same with the buyers, promoters and our management. People wanted to see Nes and I.”
He explained that he and Nesmith “didn’t think that we could go out…as The Monkees” without Tork and Jones, joking, “We couldn’t call ourselves the Two-kees.”
“It all seemed stupid, until one of the agents suggested ‘The Monkees Present…’ Which was cool, as that harkened back to when Mike and I were doing the television show in the 1960s,” Dolenz concluded.
Dolenz also shared that pairing up with Nesmith seemed inevitable. In their early days on The Monkees, Dolenz said he and Nesmith had the same sense of humor and musical sensibilities and that they often joked, “One day, it’s gonna be ‘The Mike & Micky Show.'”
Micky Dolenz’s touching tribute to Mike Nesmith after his death: ‘I’ve lost a dear friend and partner’
Sadly, Nesmith died in 2021. Dolenz, the last remaining Monkee, shared a touching statement about his death, writing , according to Deadline, that he was “heartbroken” and “grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best – singing, laughing, and doing shtick.”
“I’ve lost a dear friend and partner,” Dolenz continued. “I’ll miss it all so much. Especially the shtick.”
