More of the Monkees output, since this album and their debut, "The Monkees", featured them limited to just vocals with scattered instrumental contributions. Kirshner had a strict rule that the Monkees were to provide only vocals on his productions, though separate sessions produced by Michael Nesmith himself usually featured Peter Tork on guitar. "More of the Monkees" has Nesmith limited to one song as lead vocalist. Within weeks of the release of "More of the Monkees", Nesmith lobbied successfully with the group's creators, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, for the Monkees to be allowed to play their instruments on future records, effectively giving the
The Monkees a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz) who had starred in the TV series "Circus Boy" as a child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock, and he had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links before the Monkees, which had recorded and released a very minor single, "Don't Do It". By that time he was using his real name; he found out about "The Monkees" through his agent. During the casting process Don Kirshner, Screen Gems' head of music, was contacted to secure music for the pilot that