# RIP Michael Nesmith, of the Monkees **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death, music\ **Created:** [December 10, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845 "2021-12-10T18:17:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/41 "2021-12-10T22:37:31Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > > [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > > > I’ve seen that bit done in a standup routine, probably by the same woman. Google suggests that her name is Lois Bromfield. > > She mentions her name at the beginning of the sketch when she introduces herself to her date. It just didn’t occur to me that this was her actual name. Haha, I didn’t notice that either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/42 "2021-12-10T22:39:25Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > What’s a lavender marriage? A marriage of convenience between a man and a woman, which serves as a cover for one or both of the partners being homosexual, particularly in the case in which one or both of them is a public figure or celebrity. > **[Lavender marriage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_marriage)** > > A lavender marriage is a male–female mixed-orientation marriage, undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatised sexual orientation of one or both partners. The term dates from the early 20th century and is used almost exclusively to characterize certain marriages of public celebrities in the first half of the 20th century, primarily before World War II, when public attitudes made it impossible for a person acknowledging homosexuality to pursue a public career, notab... ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/43 "2021-12-10T23:10:00Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > What’s a lavender marriage? It’s when two people marry to disguise the fact that one or both of them is gay. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/44 "2021-12-10T23:20:26Z")
**Oh** and **No**. Nobody who wasn’t around at the time can conceive of how radical _The Monkees_ were in 1966. Rock music was entering into another “devil music” period. _Shindig_ and _Hullabaloo_ had been cancelled earlier in the year. Only a few groups appeared on variety shows. Sitcoms incorporated fantasy but not lack of structure. And nobody ever anywhere showed young people on their own without adult authority figures. (Yes, there was kinda one for about an episode and a half. Poof, gone.) The Monkees were innocent and cute and harmless and like a bomb. They lived together in a house that made even the Addams Family mansion look like Levittown. They had fun constantly. They played with toys. Yet they earned their own money and succeeded. They mocked the “suits,” the “establishment,” and the “man.” And got away with it. Nobody told them off, or grounded them, or sent them to their rooms. Then once or twice a show, they romped through music videos. The music was cheesy in the beginning but was sold by the videos. The first two albums spent the entire tv season - 31 straight weeks! - at number one. After a one-week break (to Herb Alpert!) their third album, _Headquarters_, on which they wrote all the music and played all the instruments, they went back to number one for one week. What happened? _Sgt. Pepper’s_. For 15 weeks. Yet _Headquarters_ stayed number two for almost that entire stretch. And their fourth album spent five weeks on top at the end of 1967. They had the number one or two album in the country for a full year. Like everything else in the 60s, by the end of season two the tv show spiraled out of control. Rock purists professed to hate them and all the plastic marketing they stood for. The Byrds put out “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” about them, even though The Byrds had themselves been replaced by studio musicians for “Mr. Tambourine Man.” None of it mattered. People who remember love The Monkees. Their tours were incredible fun. The Beatles had reintroduced fun into the grey 60s world before their fame destroyed that. The Monkees brought that fun into living rooms and did so simply because they weren’t “adults.” And despite they’re not being adults. Pure dynamite. You can think about them as the candy before the storm, but they were far more important. They really were the American Beatles in terms of impact. The world changed. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/45 "2021-12-10T23:21:51Z")
I just learned the sad news, and I haven’t read anything of this thread, not even the OP, but I’m shattered, just shattered by these news. And I’m angry, because the source from where I got it from, [spiegel.de](http://spiegel.de), only calls him “the former Monkees singer” and only mentions his other, later achievements only in passing in the last sentence of the article. He was so much more, a pioneer of country rock (even when he was with the Monkees), one of the most clever and witty songwriters of his generation and all in all just a likable guy. I know a solo live recording from some time around the late seventies where he retells some of the crazy hi-jinks he had with fans when he was a Monkee, and it’s hilarious. RIP Mike Nesmith, you done good, as Snowboarder\_Bo would say, if he hasn’t already. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/46 "2021-12-10T23:22:15Z")
Well, this news make me very sad. The world has lost a lovely and talented person. Rest in Peace Mike. What a gift you were. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/47 "2021-12-10T23:50:50Z")
That’s a shot of Mike Nesmith and Frank Zappa.Can you tell who is who? [![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-77B0kN7aAHI/Wl_finzmXHI/AAAAAAAAXks/cxgwc5-IuosuIOj2-5_JgtLeXlMqicGpwCLcBGAs/s1600/Nesmith%252C%2BMichael%2B%2526%2BFrank%2BZappa%2B%25282%2529.jpg) ](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-77B0kN7aAHI/Wl_finzmXHI/AAAAAAAAXks/cxgwc5-IuosuIOj2-5_JgtLeXlMqicGpwCLcBGAs/s1600/Nesmith%252C%2BMichael%2B%2526%2BFrank%2BZappa%2B%25282%2529.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/48 "2021-12-10T23:55:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > 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 From other threads I know you’re a country music fan. You should check out Michael Nesmith’s work with the First National Band and his solo recordings, you really can’t hear much better country rock. Look out for his congenial pedal steel player Red Rhodes, especially on the ironically titled album “And The Hits Just Keep On Comin’”, where the two, out of cost-reducing matters, are just dueting without a rhythm section. It’s wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/49 "2021-12-10T23:59:51Z")
I’ll check Nesmith’s country album out. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/50 "2021-12-11T00:04:50Z")
They did a whole interview in those roles. [Mike Nesmith & Frank Zappa - The Monkees - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLXVz5fms10) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/51 "2021-12-11T00:18:40Z")
To break the sadness a bit, here’s a joyous song: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZokXbu2Cmc) ETA: I’m listening to it right now, on the second Nesmith album I’ve listened to in a row since I heard the news. It’s 1:19 AM where I live, but I will be listening to him the whole night… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Conrad\_Shadowdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ea924/32.png) [@Dr.Conrad\_Shadowdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Conrad_Shadowdale)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/52 "2021-12-11T00:31:10Z")
There is a fairly compelling case the The Monkees should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, especially given Mike’s pioneering work with country rock and their use of videos long before MTV. Given that bands like The Dave Clark Five have been in it for years, I’ve always been convinced that the Mike, Micky, Peter and Davy got screwed by Jann. I’d heard he’d been ill of late but Mike’s passing greatly saddens me. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/53 "2021-12-11T00:39:17Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > They did a whole interview in those roles. [Mike Nesmith & Frank Zappa - The Monkees - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLXVz5fms10) Thank SO much for that! I never knew that there was in interview, I only knew the pictures. It’s hilarious! I love how “how to play a car” is a shout out to “how to play a bicycle”, Zappa’s first TV appearance ever. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/54 "2021-12-11T00:53:37Z")
Here’s another cheery song, an instrumental the Buckaroos couldn’t have played better: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-2kL09Nz7qY/maxresdefault.jpg "Rose City Chimes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2kL09Nz7qY) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/55 "2021-12-11T01:11:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ll check Nesmith’s country album out. Thank you You gave me some good tips on country music I should listen to in the past, especially the one for Emmylou Harris’s live album “Last Date”, which I love. If you like Emmylou, Michael Nesmith should be right in your ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/56 "2021-12-11T01:33:18Z")
My favorite Monkees cover - Michael Nesmith’s **Mary, Mary** by the Butterfield Blues Band. Apparently some blues purists were a bit outraged when they found out that this ostensible blues-rock band had covered a “teenybopper” song 😃. RIP Mr. Nesmith: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RflG4g39amw/hqdefault.jpg "Paul Butterfield Blues Band ~ Mary, Mary") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RflG4g39amw) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/57 "2021-12-11T01:46:14Z")
_I have no more than I did before_ _But now I’ve got all that I need_ _For I love you and I know you love me_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZkL-w7Q1gvw/maxresdefault.jpg "The Monkees - Papa Genes Blues 1966") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkL-w7Q1gvw) ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/58 "2021-12-11T01:50:17Z")
As a young teen the Monkees introduced me into fandom. Mike was my favorite. My girlfriends thought that was crazy because he wasn’t the cutest. Even then I knew he was the most talented. So sad to hear this news. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/59 "2021-12-11T02:04:52Z")
Mike didn’t write this one, but it’s one of the prettiest songs he ever did as a Monkee: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FfruDTmFDUA/maxresdefault.jpg "The Monkees - Me & Magdalena (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfruDTmFDUA) ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845/60 "2021-12-11T02:09:16Z")
Betcha never heard this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pWwpN8a6g_A/hqdefault.jpg "Michael Nesmith - Magic") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWwpN8a6g_A) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-michael-nesmith-of-the-monkees/955845.md?page=4)