Singer-songwriter Michael Nesmith, who was a member of the Monkees, and later was a pioneer in the music video industry, died today of natural causes at age 78. As quoted in the Rolling Stone article:
As a kid, I loved the Monkees TV show; as an adult, I came to appreciate them as musicians, and their struggle to be able to write and perform their own music.
One little Monkee sitting in a tree…
I too, loved The Monkees when I was little. I have the DVDs.
He was a hell of a musician in his own right, and his time with The First National Band produced some of my favorite music.
Michael is the one with the knit hat?
I’ve heard the Monkees hits. Last Train to Clarksville was written by Boyce & Hart. I’m a Believer by Neil Diamond. Very solid material that The Monkees turned into hits.
RIP
Great band. RIP, Michael … offspring of the inventor of Liquid Paper.
Yes. The story goes that he rode his motorcycle to his audition for the TV show, and wore the knit cap to keep his long hair out of his eyes; the cap stood out to the show’s producers, and when they called him back, they asked for “the wool cap guy.”
I have them too! I still have many of the LPs (reissued in the 1980s) and the CDs
Here’s a bit from Television Parts, a short’lived TV series that ran in the mid 80s.
Listening to NPR right now, and they just had a quick story about Nesmith’s passing; according to that story, Nesmith passed away from heart disease.
His credits include executive producer of the film Repo Man.
RIP
I had recalled that he had helped to finance a few films; the Rolling Stone article I had shared says that he inherited a fortune when his mother (inventor of Liquid Paper) died in 1980, and used some of that money to back films.
Now Micky’s all alone…
Mike wasn’t my favourite Monkee (that’d be Micky), but he was close. He also wrote or co-wrote a lot of of my favourite songs by them - Papa Gene’s Blues, Mary Mary, You Just May Be the One, Sweet Young Thing (don’t know whether he, Goffen or King was responsible for the line ‘I’m either feeling very good, or else I’ve gone insane’, but whoever it was deserved an award for it), etc…
And for an ‘innocent’ ‘made-for-TV’ band, some of their hits were a bit subversive; e.g., Pleasant Valley Sunday reveals the banality of Suburbia, (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone is pretty bitter song about a social-climbing girlfriend, Last Train to Clarksville (considering when it came out) makes people think about the war in Vietnam, Randy Scouse Git blasts the recording industry (specifically, EMI).
In the ‘portable record player’ boxes?
Well since it is almost Christmas, how about a little a cappella music from the Monkees in his memory.
He know realizes he is in the universe of light,
In every direction of thought, everywhere there is light,
The darkness is powerless against it
Wherever there is darkness, the light destroys it
Mike Nesmith, intro to “Rays”
RIP, thanks for everything, Mike.
Mike was always my favorite. An amazing songwriter.
RIP, Michael.
He wrote Different Drum for Linda Ronstadt.
I always wished I were old enough (and talented enough!) to have been in the Monkees. Mike was my role model.
There aren’t many celebrities that I care about their passing. RIP Mike.
In the late 80’s while attending college my apartment was broken in and several VCR tapes were stolen. Most were adult but one was Elephant Parts. When telling the police what tapes were taken I remember emphasizing that Elephant Parts was a COMEDY, least they think I had a bestiality fetish.