Album of the Day

Inspired by the success of The Beatles and their film A Hard Day's Night, The Monkees' TV show premiered on NBC-TV on this day in 1966 and the results were magical. Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork were a barrel of fun onscreen, and the music – penned by some of the top songwriters in the business – stands with the most engaging pop-rock of the decade. Among the dozen songs on the band's self-titled debut are “I Wanna Be Free,” “Papa Gene's Blues” and the smash hit “Last Train To Clarksville.” Though the band was just beginning its storied run, the dozen songs on THE MONKEES show the foursome already firing on all cylinders and the quintuple-Platinum collection topped the Billboard chart for nearly three months.