The Monkees’ Ultra Catchy “Last Train To Clarksville” Will Send You Rocketing Back To The Swingin’ Sixties

The Monkees Take The Last Train To Clarksville, 1966

Okay, so we heard this song again and suddenly got really, really excited – who doesn’t love The Monkees? Sure, they were a fictitious made-for-tv band, but when they weren’t making us laugh they were releasing some of the most underrated music in rock and roll. Written in 1966 by songwriting duo Boyce + Hart, The Monkees’ debut smash hit ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ was the first glimpse we ever got of the tv band considered America’s answer to The Beatles; it was loud, it was jangly – and we loved it! It raced to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966, and with a string of other #1 hits helped The Monkees eventually outsell both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles at the height of their career just one year later.

Fun Fact: Originally a made-for-tv band, The Monkees didn’t become a full-fledged band in their own right until 1967, when they began writing and recording their own material.

Though they didn’t actually begin writing and recording their own material as a legitimate band until 1967, songs like ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ did a great job of making The Monkees both a household name and a force to be reckoned with. The Monkees may have begun their career as four actors hired to play a fake band, but by the end of their career they left the music scene as one of the biggest bands on the planet. Not too bad for a made-for-tv band, huh?