THE RETURN OF THE PRE-FAB FOUR: Four Reasons The Monkees Are Back on Top.

As bubblegum as they were (especially when compared to the Beatles, whose movies inspired the TV show), the Monkees had some great songs, courtesy of Brill Building songwriters such Gerry Goffin, Carole King, and Neil Diamond. Though as a kid, I was more a fan of Mike Nesmith’s pioneering country rock material, and the psychedelia the band dabbled in during their show’s second season, after they broke with Don Kirshner.

The return of the Monkees certainly makes sense from a timing perspective — since we currently have a president who’s the second coming of LBJ, we might as well have a soundtrack from that era as well.