By Bob Berry

It started on September 8, 1965, with an ad in The Hollywood Reporter for “4 insane boys” for acting roles in a new TV series.

In a year, history would be made, and The Monkees were born.

Sure, we had seen something like it already, The Beatles in “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”.

But The Beatles didn’t live in cool Malibu pad, nor drive one of the coolest cars ever. And as for the songs, nothing touches The Beatles catalog; but the combined efforts of Boyce and Hart, Neil Diamond, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, plus LA’s Wrecking Crew made the Monkees’ music pop perfect.

And for 3 short years, Mickey, Davy, Mike and Peter ruled TV and Radio. The concerts, the record sales, the merchandising, were a phenomenon. And then it died, done in by the poorly received movie “Head“, changing tastes and well, time.  The Monkees soon had a new “first name”, “whateverhapppenedto”.

Then 1986 happened. The Monkee Marathon on MTV, followed by the 20th anniversary reunion tour, with the Keener Generation, now mostly in their mid-30’s, was primed for a blowout with their idols. Mickey was still goofy cool. Davy was still “OMG”, according to my then-girlfriend Mary, when we and 15,000 friends saw them in concert (and sang all the words!) outdoors in Grand Haven, Michigan.

And now, it’s 50 years later. Davy is gone, sadly missed. Mike, still the reluctant one. Peter, and especially Mickey, the Monkees heartbeat, carrying on the flame. And we are about to find out if history will be repeated. Rhino has announced the entire remastered TV series, plus the movie “Head”, the 1969 TV special and TONS of bonus material will be released on January 28th, 2016, and only on sale through the Monkees’ website. All the details are here.

The Monkee Mania, is here.

Jack Benny stopped counting his birthdays at age 39 and seemed to remain locked in time at that magic number. When the Monkees‘ Mickey Dolenz turned 63 on March 8, it was another reminder that, while the music of the Keener era stays the same, time marches on. Mickey was the only one of the four with previous television experience, starring in the Circus Boy series from 1956-58 under the name Mickey Braddock. He auditioned for the part of the drummer and had to learn how to play the instrument before the Monkees debuted in September, 1966. That’s his voice singing lead on many of the group’s hits, starting with the “Last Train to Clarksville”. Penned by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the tune is purportedly an anti-war song about a draftee who is headed for his army base and fears he may die in Vietnam.?Four decades later, it still resonates with a new generation of soldiers. In later years, Mickey found success behind the camera as a director for the BBC, Disney and ABC.