By Sarah Thomas
On September 12, 1966, the first-ever episode of a sitcom about four madcap, mop-haired characters trying to make it in the music industry aired on US television.
Fifty years on, the Monkees – or at least half of them – are still touring the world, with their new album, Good Times!, their 12th, released to huge critical acclaim.
Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork from the Monkees are back on the road. Credit: Sherri Hansen
Micky Dolenz, the band's twinkly-eyed 71-year-old singer and drummer, says he's "very chuffed and proud" of their current achievements.
"In fact, it's funny. If you think about it, the equivalent would have been back in 1966 that an act with a top 20 album and a very successful international tour would have originally been around in 1916," he says.
The Monkees TV show, despite its enduring popularity, only lasted for two seasons.
It may be in jest, but it does help put into perspective the longevity of the act who started with a casting call in the Hollywood Reporter for "4 insane boys" for a new TV series.
At the height of Monkees-mania – surprisingly the show ran for only two seasons up until 1968 – the band outsold the Beatles and Rolling Stones combined, with an armoury of hits including Last Train to Clarksville, I'm a Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday and Daydream Believer.
Dolenz likens the show now to something like Glee, or even a Broadway musical, for the thoroughness with which the producers sought talent who could tick all the boxes of singing, playing, acting and touring.
"It was extensive," he says of the audition process. "The producers would have been looking for that magic, or charisma, or compatibility, or whatever you want to call it – the 'it' factor.
Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork in Brisbane earlier this month. Credit: Mitch Lowe
"But that's what you do on every TV show or movie. Something like Friends, for instance, I'm sure they get asked, how did that magic happen? You can't really take it apart and reduce it in any scientific sense, it's impossible.
"You do your best, you cast the people who you think are going to work, you surround yourself with good writers and directors and producers, and then you just sort of keep your fingers crossed."
In the late-60s, the band were bigger than the Beatles and the Rolling stones. Credit: Getty Images
Dolenz says one of the the charms of the TV show is that, despite their real-life success, the fictional band never made it big. "Which does beg the question of how we managed to have a Malibu beach house when we never got any work," he wisecracks, before adding that it was the band's struggle that has connected them to generations of aspiring musicians in basement or garage bands across the world.
Despite their initial fame, the band were dogged by criticisms over the fact that they were the "prefab four", a manufactured group – a concept unheard of at that time. That, and an increasing sense of exhaustion and rising tensions saw the band implode by 1970.
Fast-forward to 1986 and reruns on MTV sparked a second wind and a 20th anniversary tour, a reunion wave they have ridden regularly since then.
"It just seems that about every eight to 10 years, it all starts up again and by now I'm kind of used to it," says Dolenz. "I feel very blessed, obviously, that the fans and the crowds come out to the show. I feel just totally blessed, it's such a wonderful ride."
The response to Good Times! has been overwhelmingly positive, with critics calling it their best album since the 1960s. Producer Adam Schlesinger, formerly of Fountains of Wayne, has succeeded in bringing the band full-circle to working with many contemporary artists who were once inspired by the Monkees, including Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller.
Touring Australia are Dolenz and bassist Peter Tork. Frontman Davy Jones dies 2012, while guitarist Michael Nesmith only appears sporadically on the reunion tours.
The show itself, Dolenz says, remains "90 per cent Monkees hits ... I've always been a stickler for making sure we keep that unspoken contract that you have with an audience – they want to hear the hits."
The Monkees play the Palais Theatre, Melbourne on December 7, Llewellyn Concert Hall, Canberra on December 9, the State Theatre, Sydney, on December 10, the Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide on December 11, Perth Concert Hall on December 13, the Enmore Theatre on December 15, and Jupiters, Gold Coast on December 16.