Wiki
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Release Date
9 January 1967
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Length
12 tracks
More of the Monkees is the second studio album by the American pop rock band the Monkees. It was recorded in late 1966 and released on Colgems label #102 on January 9, 1967. It displaced the band's debut album from the top of the Billboard 200 chart and remained at No.1 for 18 weeks—the longest of any Monkees album. Combined, the first two Monkees albums were at the top of the Billboard chart for 31 consecutive weeks. More of the Monkees also went to No.1 in the UK. In the U.S. it has been certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA with sales of more than five million copies. More of the Monkees is also notable for being the first pop/rock album to be the best-selling album of the year in the U.S.
Monkee-mania had reached full swing by the time the album was released. The Monkees' second single, "I'm a Believer"—included on this album—held the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 and they were about to embark on a highly successful concert tour.
The release of More of the Monkees was rushed to capitalize on the band's popularity, catching even its members by surprise. The band learned of the album's existence while on tour in Cleveland, Ohio, surprised it had been released without their knowing. They were dismayed by the cover image of them (which was used in an advertisement for JCPenney) and were offended by production overseer Don Kirshner's liner notes, which praised his team of songwriters before mentioning, almost as an afterthought, the names of the Monkees. The band, particularly Nesmith, was also furious about the songs—selected for the record from 34 that had been recorded—leading Nesmith to later tell Melody Maker magazine that More of the Monkees was "probably the worst album in the history of the world".
The group began to grow concerned over their musical output, since this album and their debut, The Monkees, featured them limited to just vocals with scattered instrumental contributions. Kirshner had a strict rule that the Monkees were to provide only vocals on his productions, though separate sessions produced by Michael Nesmith himself usually featured Peter Tork on guitar. More of the Monkees has Nesmith limited to one song as lead vocalist.
Within weeks of the release of More of the Monkees, Nesmith lobbied successfully with the group's creators, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, for the Monkees to be allowed to play their instruments on future records, effectively giving the quartet artistic control. To make his point clear to Kirshner, who was balking at the idea, Nesmith proceeded to punch a hole in the wall of a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel during a group meeting with Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, declaring to the latter: "That could have been your face!". This outburst came after Moelis snapped to Nesmith, "You'd better read your contract", when Nesmith threatened to quit. Kirshner was later dropped from the project altogether.
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