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Monkee Business: The Revolutionary Made-For-TV Band: Revised 2024
The Monkees had everything—a popular TV show, hit records, and adoring fans. Everything but control over their careers. Author Eric Lefcowitz chronicles the kaleidoscopic journey of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, following each of the four Monkees, together and apart, from 1965 to the present day. A must-read for music fans, Monkee Business is the definitive biography of a rock and roll legend.
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Published March 5, 2024
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November 27, 2025In Monkee Business: The Revolutionary Made-For-TV Band, Eric Lefcowitz covers some of the same ground he touched on in his earlier The Monkees Tale, but in this 2024 revision he completely tells the story of how The Monkees came to life in a TV test tube but became an iconically enduring pop-rock sensation. On TV, Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork played characters with their own names who were trying to became a successful band. In real life, they became not only successful but legendary, despite critics and misguided purists who dismissed them for completely invalid reasons.
Over the decades, The Monkees went through all kinds of permutations in various combinations of the four guys. Even though fate cast them as Monkees for life, the four of them forged separate professional careers and personal lives. One of them served prison time. One of them inherited a family fortune. One of them left the country and became a successful director in England. The one with arguably the most appealing stage persona was a constantly negative force in Monkee World.
There were two moments in Monkee Business where my Monkee fandom intersected with the narrative. I saw Micky, Peter, and Davy at Arlington Stadium in Texas in 1986 on their 20th Anniversary Tour. Monkee Business reveals that Mike Nesmith was also in the audience at that show in disguise wearing a fat suit. Lefcowitz says that Nesmith was spellbound by the stagecraft of his Monkees brothers and began to seriously consider rejoining them after an extremely successful post-Monkees career in music and video. I also saw one of the final performances of the farewell tour called The Monkees Present The Mike and Micky Show in Rosemont, Illinois just 35 days before Papa Nez's passing. Monkee Business specifically covers the joys and challenges of that tour when Mike's failing health was obvious to everyone, including me.
Like many others, I've been a Monkees fan for going on sixty years. We may no longer be "the young generation, " but "we've [still] got something to say," and I say time has caught up to the Monkees naysayers. The Monkees legacy stands up to any level of scrutiny, except for that from determined grouches. Eric Lefcowitz's Monkee Business is a trip through a wild musical, artistic, show business phenomenon that has fascinated me for most of my life.
Over the decades, The Monkees went through all kinds of permutations in various combinations of the four guys. Even though fate cast them as Monkees for life, the four of them forged separate professional careers and personal lives. One of them served prison time. One of them inherited a family fortune. One of them left the country and became a successful director in England. The one with arguably the most appealing stage persona was a constantly negative force in Monkee World.
There were two moments in Monkee Business where my Monkee fandom intersected with the narrative. I saw Micky, Peter, and Davy at Arlington Stadium in Texas in 1986 on their 20th Anniversary Tour. Monkee Business reveals that Mike Nesmith was also in the audience at that show in disguise wearing a fat suit. Lefcowitz says that Nesmith was spellbound by the stagecraft of his Monkees brothers and began to seriously consider rejoining them after an extremely successful post-Monkees career in music and video. I also saw one of the final performances of the farewell tour called The Monkees Present The Mike and Micky Show in Rosemont, Illinois just 35 days before Papa Nez's passing. Monkee Business specifically covers the joys and challenges of that tour when Mike's failing health was obvious to everyone, including me.
Like many others, I've been a Monkees fan for going on sixty years. We may no longer be "the young generation, " but "we've [still] got something to say," and I say time has caught up to the Monkees naysayers. The Monkees legacy stands up to any level of scrutiny, except for that from determined grouches. Eric Lefcowitz's Monkee Business is a trip through a wild musical, artistic, show business phenomenon that has fascinated me for most of my life.
February 8, 2025
3.5⭐️
I have been a Monkees fan for most of my life. They were the first concert I saw, in 1987 during their 20th Anniversary tour, and I have owned most of their records in some form of another. I knew quite a bit about them going into this audiobook but I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that this book, Monkee BUSINESS, was about the business behind the Monkees and not just a cute, cliché for a title.
This book's narrator was well chosen bc he sounds older and read with emotion and not just reading some words on the page. This book almost would have been better in physical form bc the voices they used for the individual members was cringeworthy at times.
I walked away with more knowledge and understanding surrounding their fight for the opportunity to write, sing, play, and produce their own music. I also learned that their cohesiveness and solidarity was almost never cohesive nor solid. Davey was a sell out and Mike was very power hungry at times. They were 4 people thrown together. They each had different ideas of where they wanted the show and the band to go. And they almost always had different ideas from where their producer wanted them to go. Resulting is chaos, hurt feelings, and animosity.
I would recommend this to anyone who, like me, just wants to learn more about these 4 quirky guys and their rise to fame. I would not recommend this to anyone who is not a Monkees fan. You'll be bored to tears.
I have been a Monkees fan for most of my life. They were the first concert I saw, in 1987 during their 20th Anniversary tour, and I have owned most of their records in some form of another. I knew quite a bit about them going into this audiobook but I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that this book, Monkee BUSINESS, was about the business behind the Monkees and not just a cute, cliché for a title.
This book's narrator was well chosen bc he sounds older and read with emotion and not just reading some words on the page. This book almost would have been better in physical form bc the voices they used for the individual members was cringeworthy at times.
I walked away with more knowledge and understanding surrounding their fight for the opportunity to write, sing, play, and produce their own music. I also learned that their cohesiveness and solidarity was almost never cohesive nor solid. Davey was a sell out and Mike was very power hungry at times. They were 4 people thrown together. They each had different ideas of where they wanted the show and the band to go. And they almost always had different ideas from where their producer wanted them to go. Resulting is chaos, hurt feelings, and animosity.
I would recommend this to anyone who, like me, just wants to learn more about these 4 quirky guys and their rise to fame. I would not recommend this to anyone who is not a Monkees fan. You'll be bored to tears.
October 23, 2024
Review for audio:
Absolutely enjoyed this being a fan of the show and group back in the day. A lot of this is information any fan probably already knew but a wonderful nostalgic trip down memory lane!
Absolutely enjoyed this being a fan of the show and group back in the day. A lot of this is information any fan probably already knew but a wonderful nostalgic trip down memory lane!
February 25, 2025
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Monkees. Found this backstory dryly written but so interesting I had to give it 4 stars. I thought I knew a lot but I didn’t.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews