The Monkees: That Was Then, This Is Now Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply. Close

The Monkees Then and Now

The iconic pop group celebrates its 50th anniversary with the new disc Good Times

Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork keeping the Monkees' legacy alive Henry Diltz Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Dolenz: We had a lot of demos that we didn't finish back in the '60s. We found some amazing tracks. Some of them were half-finished. Some just had the lyrics and vocals, some without. There's a tune on the disc that was never released, a song on which Davy sang. And the title track is a song that wrote; it features him singing and playing piano. It [also] has Mike Nesmith on guitar, and the [in-demand Los Angeles-based studio session musicians] on some of the other instruments. And it was multitrack, so I sang a duet with Harry on that. I just did a vocal on the Neil Diamond song featuring Davy. What was it like singing on the tracks in which Davy was singing lead? Was it tough keeping your composure? Dolenz: It was intense. I had a moment or two of wistfulness. Sometimes it felt like he has never left because we're still hearing him sing on these songs. I had to stop at one point during the recording to compose myself. Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > Tork: In those days, it was pretty well known among the kids — as we thought of ourselves in those days — that the established political hierarchy had completely lost it moral compass. It had no sense of what it was doing in terms of its job, which was to take care of the country. It had no sense of whom its children were, so we were left on our own. Before The Monkees, every TV show involving young adults or kids had a senior adult. Sometimes it was a buffoon; sometimes it was a wise doctor or something — like Father Knows Best or My Three Sons. The Monkees TV show had no senior adult figure. It was just us, except for the landlord who was a very minor figure. The Monkees demonstrated that it was possible for us to take care of ourselves without senior adult figures and be cheerful about it. The show was revolutionary in that sense. Dolenz: wrote a book called The Politics of Ecstasy, which contained half a chapter about the Monkees. He argued that we brought the longhaired kids into the living room. It's true. At the time, the only time you saw longhaired kids wearing bell-bottoms on television was when they were being arrested for one reason or another. So it was quite an accomplishment to just get this show on the air — a show about these four longhaired weirdos that were the masters of their destiny. It was debatable at the time if the networks would even put it on the air. Nevertheless, the show got on the air, and the kids related to us. More on entertainment AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS