45 Years Ago Tonight ‘The Monkees’ Premieres – September 12th [VIDEO]

It was 45 years ago tonight (September 12th) that 'The Monkees' television series premiered on NBC. The show featured four relative unknowns; Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork playing band members living in a beach house. The show took them from one hilarious scenario to the next.

It was the music that made the show. The Monkees performed songs by the biggest songwriters of the day including Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and more. To their credit, The Monkees actually had a lot of musical talent. Davy Jones had a background doing stage musicals, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were decent musicians from the outset, and Micky Dolenz had a great voice. Nesmith had already achieved musical success, writing the song 'Different Drum' for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. Here's a video to reminisce: