Well I was a huge monkeys fan as a kid with the re- runs. but as to the musicians part:
Mike and Peter were the only ones who know how to play. Micky started learning the drums after joining. he is pretty deacent nowdays. Davy was hired mainly for his poster boy looks, but it helped that he could sing.
The only reason Mike and Peter got any songs on the first 3 records was cause they fought for them. (they knew about publishing royalities) so Kirshner let Nesmith put 2 songs on and peter one. ( Mikes songs actually were some of my favorite! Listen to the band, You just may be the one, sunny girlfriend,and Sweet young thing!-heavy for the times!)
the shows writers and music producer (Kirshner) ran everything. They hired the best songwriters and studio musicians they had. Yes he had Neil Diamond, but also carol King and Neil Sadaka. The majority of the songs were written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Heart.
here is the history for ya, gotta love VH1- this is part one, just follow the links for the rest- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDrxFJFScAM
just so you can get your fixes check these links out (first 3 whole records) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ8xIRwzjXQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APsUKo0 … J8xIRwzjXQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3uH9z … J8xIRwzjXQ
(HEADQUARTERS was teh first record they actually played "some" of the instruments on)
ENJOY