Editing The Monkees (section)

==== Tork's resignation, ''Instant Replay'' and ''The Monkees Present'' ====
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Tensions within the group were increasing. Tork, citing exhaustion, quit the band by buying out the last four years of his Monkees contract at $150,000 per year. Tork departed shortly after the band's September–October Far East tour in December 1968 and after the band completed work on their 1969 NBC television special, ''[[33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee]]'' (which rehashed many of the ideas from ''Head'', only with the Monkees playing a strangely second-string role). In the DVD commentary for the television special, Dolenz noted that after filming was complete, Nesmith gave Tork a gold watch as a going-away present, engraved "From the guys down at work." Most of the songs from the ''33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee'' TV Special were not officially released until over 40 years later, on the 2010 and 2011 Rhino Handmade Deluxe boxed sets of ''Head'' and ''Instant Replay''.

In February 1969, the Monkees' seventh album, ''[[Instant Replay (The Monkees album)|Instant Replay]],'' without Tork's involvement beyond playing guitar on "I Won't Be the Same Without Her", was released, which reached No. 32 on the charts,<ref name="SandovalPage226">Sandoval (2005), p. 226.</ref> and No. 45 in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.5975.pdf|title=RPM Top 50 Albums - April 14, 1969|website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca|access-date=October 23, 2023}}</ref> The single from the album was "[[Tear Drop City]]", which peaked at No. 56 on the U.S. Billboard chart, No. 27 on the Canadian chart,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.5923.pdf|title=RPM Top 100 Singles - March 31, 1969|website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca|access-date=October 23, 2023}}</ref> and No. 34 on the Australian chart.<ref name="SandovalPage227">Sandoval (2005), p. 227.</ref> According to Rhino Handmade's 2011 Deluxe Edition reissue of this album, Davy Jones told ''[[Melody Maker]]'', "Half of the songs were recorded over the last three years, but there are also about six new ones." The Monkees wanted to please the original 1966 fans by offering up new recordings of some previously unreleased older styled songs, as well as gain a new audience with what they considered a more mature sound. Nesmith continued in his country-rock vein after offering straight ahead rock and experimental songs on the two prior albums.

Dolenz contributed the biggest and longest Monkees' production, "Shorty Blackwell", a song celebrating his cat.<ref name="SandovalPage161">Sandoval (2005), p. 161.</ref> Dolenz called it his "feeble attempt at something to do with ''Sgt. Pepper.''"<ref name="SandovalPage161" /> Jones contributed an electric guitar rocker, "You and I". Both Jones and Dolenz continued their role of singing on the pop songs. Lyrically, it has a theme of being one of the Monkees' most melancholy albums.

[[File:Monkees 1969 Joey Bishop Show.jpg|thumb|The Monkees (without Tork) performing on ''[[The Joey Bishop Show (talk show)|The Joey Bishop Show]]'', backed by the Goodtimers, in 1969. The images of Jones and Dolenz were re-used for the cover art of the 1970 Monkees album ''[[Changes (The Monkees album)|Changes]]''.]]Throughout 1969 the trio appeared as guests on television programs such as ''[[The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour]]'', ''[[The Johnny Cash Show]]'', ''[[Hollywood Squares]]'', and ''[[Laugh-In]]'' (Jones had also appeared on ''Laugh-In'' separate from the group). The Monkees also had a contractual obligation to appear in several television commercials with [[Bugs Bunny]] for [[Kool-Aid]] drink mix as well as Post cereal box singles.

In April 1969, the single "Someday Man" b/w "Listen to the Band" was released,<ref name="SandovalPage253">Sandoval (2005), p. 253.</ref> which had the unique distinction of the B-side, a Nesmith-composed country-rock song, charting higher (No. 63) than the Jones-sung A-side (No. 81).<ref name="Discography" /><ref name="SandovalPage253" /> In Canada, "Someday Man" was No. 74<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.6006.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - May 19, 1969}}</ref> and "Listen to the Band" reached No. 53.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.5928.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - July 7, 1969}}</ref>

The final album with Michael Nesmith from the Monkees' original incarnation was their eighth album, ''[[The Monkees Present]]'', released in October 1969, which peaked at No. 100 on the Billboard charts.<ref name="SandovalPage253" /> It included the Nesmith composed country-rock singles "Listen to the Band" and "Good Clean Fun" (released in September 1969)<ref name="SandovalPage251">Sandoval (2005), p. 251.</ref>(No. 80 Canada<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.6092.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - October 18, 1969}}</ref>). Other notable songs include the Dolenz composition "Little Girl", which featured Louie Shelton on electric guitar, joining Micky on acoustic guitar,<ref name="SandovalPage249">Sandoval (2005), p. 249.</ref> along with "Mommy and Daddy" (B-side to the "Good Clean Fun" single) in which he sang about America's treatment of the Native Americans and drug abuse, and in an earlier take, released on Rhino Handmade's 2011 Deluxe Edition of ''Instant Replay'', sang about JFK's assassination and the Vietnam war. 

In the summer of 1969, the three remaining Monkees embarked on a tour with the backing of the soul band Sam and the Goodtimers. Concerts for this tour were longer sets than their earlier performances tours, with many shows running over two hours. Although the tour was met with some positive critical reception (''Billboard'' in particular praised it), other critics were not favorable of the mixing of the Monkees' pop music with the Goodtimers' R&B approach. Toward the end of the tour, some dates were canceled due to poor ticket sales. The tour failed to re-establish the band commercially, with no single entering the Top 40 in 1969. Dolenz remarked that the tour "was like kicking a dead horse. The phenomenon had peaked".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monkeesconcerts.com/1969-north-american-tour.html |title=Monkees 1969 Tour - The Monkees Live Almanac |publisher=Monkeesconcerts.com |access-date=August 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816110832/http://www.monkeesconcerts.com/1969-north-american-tour.html |archive-date=August 16, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>