Davy Jones was on stage in “Oliver” long before the Monkees. And Nesmith could already play. Dolenz had messed around with drums but wasn’t serious. You have to remember these guys were recruited for a TV show, not a band.
And Tork was proficient on about eight instruments. These guys were never musical slouches. They simply didn’t come together independently to form a unified sound the way other bands did. Also, it was said that Davy would have been the best drummer, but the producers wanted him out front instead of lost behind a big set of drums.