ITEM: VINYL LP 33 1/3 RPM

ARTIST: THE MONKEES

TITLE: Greatest Hits

COUNTRY PRINTED: OZ

CAT No: ARISTA, L37208, 1972

COVER: (Grade at EXCELLENT++) light seam wear

LABELS: (Grade at MINT-)

VINYL: (Grade at EXCELLENT+ to NEAR MINT-)

TRACKS: (See scans)

COMMENT: Wiki

The Monkees were an American pop-rock band. The band was created originally for a comedy television series of the same name which aired on NBC, from 1966 to 1968. The members of the group were Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz. They had hits with "Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", and "Daydream Believer". Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were songwriters and producers who worked with the Monkees. Another writer/producer for the Monkees was Chip Douglas. Many of the songs recorded by the Monkees came from the Brill Building writers in New York City.

The members

Four actors with musical skills were chosen, out of 437 hopefuls who auditioned for the series. Britisher Davy Jones was under contract to Columbia Pictures, had issued records, and performed on British and American television. Columbia was looking for a project for Jones, and Screen Gems, who would produce the show, was their TV division. Nesmith was from Texas, played in country and rock bands, and had published his own songs. Dolenz was a grown-up child actor from Los Angeles, California, who sang and played in cover bands. Tork had been a working folk musician in New York's Greenwich Village. Each had their own wit and personality, could entertain an audience, and could also sing.

Other young men who auditioned for the show included Stephen Stills (who showed great talent, but looked too old for a role; he referred Tork, an old friend who looked a little like him), Danny Hutton (who later found fame with Three Dog Night), Harry Nilsson (who later met the Monkees, wrote for them, and recorded with them), and Paul Williams (who had lost a role in Circus Boy to Dolenz ten years earlier; the Monkees later recorded his song "Someday Man"). Charles Manson was later rumored to have auditioned, but he was imprisoned at the time.^[source?]