The Monkees position in "Billboard" Magazine. The success, however, was not without controversy. Jones had declined to sing on the track, recorded along with two other new songs included in a compilation album, "Then & Now... The Best of The Monkees". Some copies of the single and album credit the new songs to "the Monkees", others as "Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork (of the Monkees)". Reportedly, these recordings were the source of some personal friction between Jones and the others during the 1986 tour; Jones would typically leave the stage when the new songs were performed. The 1980s reunion tours were the
The Monkees television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands. The first long-playing album, "The Monkees", was released a month later, spent 13 weeks at #1 and stayed on the Billboard charts for 78 weeks. Twenty years later, during their reunion, it would spend another 24 weeks on the Billboard charts. This first album is also notable, in addition to containing their debut single, for containing band member Nesmith's first foray into country-rock, "Papa Gene's Blues", which mixed country, rock and Latin flavors. In assigning instruments for purposes of the television show, a dilemma arose as to which