Micky Dolenz Looks Back on Nearly Six Decades With The Monkees: ‘A Journey I’ll Always Cherish’

When The Mon­kees debuted on NBC in 1966, it was designed as a light­heart­ed sit­com about four young musi­cians chas­ing fame. What fol­lowed was far greater than any­one imagined—a cul­tur­al wave that mixed tele­vi­sion com­e­dy with gen­uine pop music suc­cess. Near­ly six decades lat­er, Micky Dolenz, the last sur­viv­ing mem­ber of the group, is still keep­ing the band’s spir­it alive.

On Sep­tem­ber 12, Dolenz marked the 59th anniver­sary of The Mon­kees TV show—and the sub­se­quent birth of The Mon­kees band—with a heart­felt Insta­gram post. He shared vivid mem­o­ries of the ear­ly days, recall­ing the long hours on set, the youth­ful ener­gy, and the unex­pect­ed fame that quick­ly fol­lowed. Above all, he expressed grat­i­tude to the fans who have sup­port­ed the band through the years, writ­ing that he is “for­ev­er grate­ful” for the joy, chaos, and music the jour­ney has brought.

Music & Mem­o­ries

Accord­ing to Yahoo! Enter­tain­ment, The Mon­kees’ sit­com last­ed only two sea­sons before its can­cel­la­tion in 1968. But their impact stretched far beyond tele­vi­sion, thanks to chart-top­ping hits like “Day­dream Believ­er” and “I’m a Believ­er.” Over the years, Dolenz reunit­ed with late band­mates Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith for anniver­sary tours and spe­cial projects, intro­duc­ing new gen­er­a­tions to their music. Now, as the last torch­bear­er, Micky Dolenz con­tin­ues to hon­or the band’s his­to­ry while mov­ing for­ward.

At 80, Dolenz remains active and enthu­si­as­tic about per­form­ing. His Songs and Sto­ries tour has brought him across the coun­try, blend­ing Mon­keesfavorites with per­son­al anec­dotes from his career. Audi­ences not only hear beloved tracks but also the behind-the-scenes sto­ries that shaped them, keep­ing both the music and mem­o­ries alive.

Despite the years, Micky Dolenz shows no signs of slow­ing down. In inter­views, he jokes that retire­ment is not in his vocab­u­lary, com­par­ing him­self to the “Ener­giz­er Bun­ny” when on stage. His most recent release, Live at the Trou­ba­dour (2024), cap­tures the time­less­ness of The Mon­kees’ cat­a­log while high­light­ing his love for clas­sic rock cov­ers.

For Dolenz, it is not sim­ply about revis­it­ing the past. He views his per­for­mances as a way to cel­e­brate with fans who have car­ried the music with them for decades. Near­ly 60 years after the show first aired, Micky Dolenzcon­tin­ues to stand as a liv­ing link to a cul­tur­al phe­nom­e­non that shaped tele­vi­sion and music his­to­ry