Biography
In 1975, half a decade after both the Beatles and the Monkees had disbanded, public hopes still centered on a Beatles reconciliation and reunion. The possibility of reigniting Monkeemania, however, seemed far less certain. With no active projects at hand, Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones opted to explore a revival. Peter Tork had already withdrawn from the music business and disappeared from view, while Mike Nesmith rejected any conversation about the Monkees, let alone a return. Dolenz and Jones therefore approached the group’s original songwriters, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and assembled a new lineup. Legal restrictions barred use of the Monkees name, so the four performers toured the fair circuit under their own names, delivering Monkees songs—promoted in ads as “the guys that sang ’em and the guys that wrote ’em”—alongside various rock & roll oldies. Capitol Records sought to exploit the resulting attention by signing the quartet to a 1976 recording contract and sending them into the studio. The finished album refreshed the Monkees sound with new Boyce and Hart compositions, several Dolenz and Jones originals, and a handful of covers. Listeners remained largely indifferent. Although the group kept touring and appearing on talk shows such as Dinah and Mike Douglas, the record made no impression on the charts. Once their live commitments ended, the four members went their separate ways. Dolenz and Jones later reunited the Monkees intermittently in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Tommy Boyce committed suicide in the early ’90s.
Albums