I do listen to The Monkees sometimes. They were of course, manufactured by the Americans as a rival to the British Invasion and didn't play their own instruments on early recordings however, they used some excellent songwriters and there is no denying the quality of some of their output.
As for the million dollar question, do I prefer them to The Beatles, No. I am very biased but honestly believe that nobody compares to The Beatles when you consider their total output. Some bands may have rocked harder, some may have been more psychedelic, but no band encompassed so many different styles so for me, file The Monkees with The Rutles.

But the Beatles had genius. Well, two geniuses anyway.

... but that's mostly because they're not (quite) as overplayed out there in the world.

Yes, they were manufactured, but as already stated, they had some of the best pop writers ever (Neil Diamond, Goffin & King, Boyce & Hart) working for them, plus the best session players, and in their own rights they were decent vocalists (and comic actors.) Me, I'd have no problem whatsoever in another "plastic" act coming along that made records of that quality...

On my list of favourite artists from the 60s, The Beatles are way down the line. The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces, Otis, Aretha, Motown, Donovan even are all above them. Starting secondary school just as the Beatle I share a surname with was killed probably didn't help. But also my parents weren't big fans. My mum - who had Elvis as her first love - thought they weren't rocknroll enough, and my dad preferred the more soulful sounds of the 60s. I think I like the Monkees theme and Stepping Stone more than most Beatles tunes actually.

(It's not that I don't like The Beatles, I just don't rate them as much as some do around these parts. Makes me feel like an atheist in a Catholic family. Oh wait I am.)

has been kind to the Monkees. Back in the day they were derided by serious music fans and pretty-much written off as an attempt to manufacture a band to rival the Beatles for a mass TV audience.

As time went by however, they enjoyed something of a renaissance and it finally became OK to like them. When they were tiny (and knew no better), my kids actually preferred them to the Fabs (the endless Hard Day's Night-alike TV series was the clincher, more so than the music), so in the 80s I probably got to hear a lot more of the Monkees than I did the first time around.

They had good songwriters to start with and they later wrote some decent stuff of their own. But when all is said and done, the Monkees are not even in the same universe as the Beatles.

stick and don't stick. As mentioned above the Stepping Stone Hit Makers early on had some of the finest tunesmiths of the day behind them (Carol King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson and the fab Boyce & Hart). But they were good students and learnt how to play and write pretty well, too.

Back in the day I cut a kitsch figure at X, Black Flag and Minutemen shows in my Monkees t-shirt. Real credit to their resurgence goes to Rhino (and Bill Inglot especially) for their excellent repackages.

I love The Monkees - they should be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. The Headquarters and P,CA&Jones Ltd. albums, the ones they played on, are perfect. It's the lesser known tracks I love: Daily Nightly, Door to Summer, Nine Times Blue (I'm a Nesmith man)

In 2003 I bought this: Three CDs of The Headquarters Sessions. Top stuff, if you like listening to incessant studio takes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Headquarters_Sessions

Because they were always on TV when I was a little lad I have a very soft spot for The Monkees.

When all I knew of The Beatles was the chorus to Yellow Submarine, I could recant the complete Monkees Theme, Last Train To Clarkesville and even Stepping Stone.

As I grew older, I learned better. But for me, Pleasant Valley Sunday will always knock many of the late-period McCartney-led Beatles tracks into a cocked hat. I don't care who wrote it or who played on it, it's just a great pop song and I play it often.

But if I hear I'm A Believer again it'll be too soon. There's so much Monkees stuff and we always hear the same old thing.

My favourite: She

is one of the mostly divinely wonderful pop singles ever made

This also became an 'earworm' a couple of months back

Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina.......

...when it became OK to like the Monkees.

Frank appeared in the TV series, too.

The tiny tots probably had nightmares for weeks after this:

I am of the generation that watched the Monkees TV show first time round.

(was it ITV or BBC ?)

I loved the music, but hated the TV show.

for recycling all our plastic beatles. Oh, hang on...

and the HJH were, despite what you'd imagine, both fans of each other. It would have been great to hear them performing some Lennon and McCartney or Harrison, now there's a thought, Monkees playing sitar.

but the Monkees still have a special place in my heart. I was only listening to them yesterday...

Many routes to making a record and doesn't matter to me what they are, manufactured pop or tortured genius who abhors commercial success, no need to rule either method out. A great record is a great record and The Monkees made a few. The Archies 'Sugar Sugar' is pretty fantastic and made for a TV show too. No need for a hip connection either.

came on my ipod recently and thought what a great tune. They have loads of them. They couldn't have done a better job of pitching a band halfway between the Ballad Of John And Yoko hitmakers and the Universal Mind Decoder instrumentalists.

the uncompromising lurve I felt for Mike Nesmith as a 13 year old. Thankfully it was Peter Tork that my friend felt the same about, so no massive fallouts there.

I was at boarding school then and the Monkees were the thing. I'm surprised the common room didn't combust from hormonal pressure on Saturday evenings

So, yes I do still listen to the Monkees and am a fan of some of my Mike's later stuff. And they did introduce me to Zappa.

My fave rave was

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/7137995/The_Monkees_The_Girl_That_I_Knew_Som...

black leather jacket! Aaaaaaaa
motorbike!! Aaaaaaaaaaa
white tie..............

I'm just popping out for some fresh air

Fell in love with the sliced-up 'For Pete's Sake' over the end credits as a child. It would be many years before I got my hands on the song itself, and, now I think about it, it would probably be near the top of my 'one thing you can look back on that makes you happy' list. Instantly conjures up childhood, sunshine, slapstick, Saturday morning contentment...

"We were born to love one another
This is something we all need.
We were born to love one another
We must be what we're goin' to be
And what we have to be is free."

Always had a soft spot for them since being sent to a movie theater in Jellico, Tennessee at age 10, where myself and two hippies watched Head. Didn't quite know what to make of it at that age, but thought it was very cool. It wasn't until Head became a staple of late night television years later that I saw it again, and realised it really was very cool.
The story of the Monkees, as I was told somewhere, was that Bob Raefelson needed to raise money to make a movie (Easy Rider? Five Easy Pieces?) and put together a TV show with a group based on the Beatles to do so. Years later, Mike Nesmith still liked the idea of making videos for music on the Monkees show, and developed a show for cable TV called Popclips to show music videos. Time Warner bought the concept from him and turned it into MTV. At least the way I heard it.

could well be my favourite album ever. My older sisters owned it and played it to death when I was very young. It is so evocative to hear those songs now. They are probably everybody's second favourite band. Love them.

2 minutes of perfect pop, "You Just May Be The One"

...mentioned the (subsequently) famous auditionees for the Monkees?

Stephen Stills, Harry Nilsson and Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night) were just three of the hopefuls who tried out for the band/TV series.

Rumours that Charles Manson also auditioned were later quashed.