By David Flynn
‘Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees’ is a catchphrase from the theme song of both the Monkees pop band and a hit 1960s television series, that became even more popular in the following decades.
It was a tv sitcom about four lads who became the band members of the Monkees. The chosen four were musicians and had acting experience when they joined the 400 wannabes who applied to the audition to become the Monkees.
Davy Jones had appeared in Britain on ‘Coronation Street’ as Ena Sharples grandson, and went to USA to play the Artful Dodger in the Broadway musical, ‘Oliver’. Mike Nesmith was a singer/songwriter when he answered the advert to join the tv series/band. Peter Tork was a folk musician when he auditioned. Micky Dolenz was probably the most experienced in acting, because he had starred as a child on the 1950s series, ‘Circus Boy’.
The series was about the four young musicians (they were all around 20 years of age), living in a house together, and trying to develop their band in Los Angeles. The producers struck gold with the four actors, because they had good chemistry, and were the ingredients of a very successful 1960s band, which wasn’t too dissimilar to the Beatles which were beginning to take the world by storm.