Songoftheday 12/20/14 - You always say you like my style, you say I'm tough and kind of wild...

The Monkees - "That Was Then, This Is Now"
from the album Then & Now...The Best Is The Monkees (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7

Today's Song of the Day was a "comeback" hit of sorts for an act that started out as a television concept more than a band, The Monkees made its debut in September of 1966, with four musicians cast as bandmates in a California pop outfit patterned after the comical film hijinks of the Beatles movie efforts. By that time, their first single "Last Train To Clarksville" was climbing the charts, eventually reaching #1 in America that November. Sounding like the Fab Four's work from a couple years before, the new sets of teens ate it up, and in no time a second album and another #1 hit in America, "I'm A Believer", that also topped the chart in Britain as well. By the time twelve months passed by, the "Pre-Fab Four" had four #1 albums under their belt, and not long after nabbed a third U.S. #1 hit with "Daydream Believer". Originally using behind the scenes studio musicians, the actor/singers new clout allowed them to delve into their own music, which became progressively experimental and downright trippy. Like most teen idols, their success on television didn't last, with the "musical sitcom" being cancelled in 1968 and the band going on to film the psychedelic freak-out of Head. Bowl-haired guitarist Peter Tork then left the Monkees, followed by Michael Nesmith, with the act sputtering out at the turn of the decade.

Funny thing is, television just couldn't let go of the Monkees, and reruns showing in the 80s on nascent cable channels like MTV reignited interest in the band, so much so that their older albums started charting again. Capitalizing on this, the band (minus a couple of members at times) started touring again. A new greatest hits collection was released with three "new" tracks, with only drummer/singer Mickey Dolenz and Tork recording. One of the songs, "That Was Then, This Is Now" (written by Vance Brescia originally for his own group the Mosquitos), was released as a single, and with MTV behind them, they made it back on the pop charts...

"That Was Then, This Is Now" went to the top-20 on the American pop chart in August of 1986, while climbing to #24 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") chart. Internationally, the single came one notch from making the top-40 in Canada, and charted in the low sixties in Britain and Australia.

With original singer Davy Jones back on board for a tour, the Monkees recorded a new album, Ppol It, but by that time their star had faded yet again, nicking the Hot 100 in 1987 with "Heart And Soul".  In 1996, Rhino Records would release a new Monkees album, Justus, with Michael Nesmith finally reuniting with the others, but it sadly stiffed. They would tour, though Nesmith would again exit, only to return after the death of Davy Jones in 2012.

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and here's Dolenz, Tork, and Jones on tour with the song in 2011...

Up tomorrow: Robin Thicke's mom scores a hit from her soap opera with a Judas of a singer.