Some nice tunes and a cute lead singer does not a great band make (but try telling that to Louis Walsh!!!).

As manufactured purveyors of bubblegum go, not bad at all.

Yes, it is true that they were prefabricated and a media creation, and often didn't play on their own records. On the other hand, they look pretty damned good compared to the more or less equivalent bubblegum frauds and poseurs of today..Some of their tunes get on my nerves, and Davy Jones' songs did tend to be cutesy sugary confections with little real substance, such as the abysmal "I'll Be True To You" from the first album, which would rank high on any worst tunes of the era list I could conjure. They did have some hits that were pretty solid on their own terms, the "Head" album may have been a flop, though nowhere near as big of a flop as the weirdly inscrutable film it served as the soundtrack for, but it had some of their better tunes. Actually, this act's best material was often b-sides like the great "Goin' Down"and rather obscure album tracks such as "For Pete's Sake," which accompanied the ending credits on some of the later episodes off the show, rather than the familiar, overplayed hits. If nothing else, Mickey Dolenz proved to be a pretty fair vocalist, and some of Nesmith's tunes, like the excellent "Circle Sky" were mostly country- like, but even fairly bluesy at times. Some of their big hits are annoying, others are quite good. They also were a little bit like Three Dog Night, i.e. a commercial band with lots of instant hits that helped expose the tunes of talented songwriters ( Harry Nilsson, to give just one example) to a wider audience. Overall, The Monkees were a mixed bag, but, even though they were a studio creation, weren't great on their instruments even when they started playing them for real, didn't have to spend years playing in lousy clubs, and only had one truly above average vocalist, if recent pop/ mainstream music history has taught us anything, it's that you can have even LESS talent and go far... really far... Ashlee Simpson anyone?

OK, just a bit of fun really but I do love "Daydream Believer"

not really a band, Duhhhhhh

Somewhat silly, feel good music from an over commercialized group.

A very pleasant sounding band

Not funny, girls.

History has been kinder to the Monkees than their critics were and these days so am I. The Monkees were a corporate attempt to recreate and direct the magic that the Beatles had brought to film with A Hard Day's Night. But just as none of the Woodstocks has ever equalled the original, magical times cannot be recreated or controlled by people who have financial interests as their main objective. What made the Monkees so likable were the boys themselves, essentially 4 guys who were looking for a job and hoping to perhaps make a musical contribution in the process. Instead of being allowed to evolve as most bands do, the Monkees were viewed as a money making machine, cranking out poorly produced records almost as fast as Boyce and Hart could write them. Controversy over their musical ability made them the subject of ridicule and by the time they took creative control their records were bombing and the writing was on the wall that the end was near. In the end, it has been their TV show which has entertained generations more so than their music. In that sense, the magic will never die.

Moose you just kill me. You put so much effort into deficating all over a band that everyone knew was a fake, has been history for low these many years, and was created to basically appeal to 11 year old girls...which they did in a big way. I should know because I was one of them and I make no appologies for my crush on Micky, my collection of albums and the fact that I never missed the show. I also don't cringe when I think that I once went around wearing mouse ears, playing with dolls and stuffed animals and watching Captain Kangaroo. It's called being a child...something you obviously missed out on. What do you do for fun - hit the playgrounds and make fun of the fat kids?

Some of the worst dreck ever crapped out by the mutant U.S. record industry. A pre-fab, manufactured fab four whose sole reason for being was to populate a second-rate sitcom and sell records to pre-pubescent teenyboppers. The only one of these dorks who could write songs and actually play his instrument with any facility was Nesmith, and he has vociferously denounced his participation in this cultural afterbirth for the past quarter of a century. The music is ersatz, plastic, overproduced, obnoxious and irritating. These guys had absolutely no soul whatsoever, and as such, The Monkees are kinda like Pat Boone x4. This was the first notable instance of suits at the record labels coming up with a concept band, not actually discovering a band in development, making up the name, style, etc., then assigning hacks to puke out some inane ditties for the no-talents to karaoke with, have studio drones lay down tracks and some hack producer to mix it all down into something bland, nonthreatening and idiotic, which is a perfect blend if you want to go over big with the boorish and retarded American public. Such a formula has been employed with varying degrees of success ever since, much to the detriment to those of us who can tell the difference between music and flatulence.

Another awesome band from the 60s, with great, upbeat songs that are just plain enjoyable. Some of their best works include Daydream Believer and Valleri!