‘It took us all by surprise’: Micky Dolenz still marvels over the Monkees’ comeback

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Micky Dolenz had moved on. Really, all of the Monkees had. But two decades after their hey day, a massive rerun campaign for their old television show hurtled the group back to fame in the mid-1980s.

Suddenly, they were caught up in a new wave of Monkee-mania. There would be a few concert dates, the thinking went, to capitalize on things. Maybe an album. Then, they’d go back to their former lives. Or so Dolenz thought.

“I was very surprised,” Dolenz tells X-Rock. “It was supposed to be a very short, little summer tour. It took us all by surprise. I was supposed to go back to England and start producing another television show, and I never did. [Laughs.]”

They gathered in the studio to complete Pool It, featuring the single “Heart and Soul” — then released a video that played on the band’s long layoff, depicting Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones rising out a deep freeze. The impish humor of their original TV show was reborn.

“It was just a joke — like Rip Van Winkle,” Dolenz says, laughing again. “I think Austin Powers used the same gag years later in one of the movies, if I’m not mistaken. It wasn’t too deep.”

Dolenz and the rest of his bandmates have been recording and touring as the Monkees ever since. Mike Nesmith rejoined the group on stage after the death of Jones in 2012.

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