The Late Great Michael Nesmith

I am not sure when I was first exposed to The Monkees. The show debuted when I was three years old, but I don't have any memories of watching it at the time. That having been said, my sister (who is 17 years older than I am) owned The Monkees' albums, and their songs were played frequently on the radio at the time.

While I can't say for certain when I was first exposed to The Monkees, I can pinpoint when I became a fan. In 1969 CBS began rerunning The Monkees on Saturday morning and I was hooked. Michael Nesmith was my favourite Monkee from the beginning. Looking back, it made perfect sense that he would be my favourite, as we had a lot in common. He was "the quiet Monkee," the contemplative, intellectual member of the group. He also had a sardonic sense of humour. As I got older I learned of his musical contributions to The Monkees and his solo career as well. As I grew up, I remained a fan of The Monkees and Michael Nesmith. Sadly, Michael Nesmith died today at the age of 78 from heart failure.

Robert Michael Nesmith was born on December 30 1942 in Houston, Texas. His parents divorced when he was only four years old. His mother, Bette, then moved to Dallas to be closer to her family. Michael Nesmith was 13 when Bette Nesmith invented Liquid Paper, a typewriter correction fluid. She headed the Liquid Paper Corporation until 1979 when she sold it to Gillette. She died on May 12 1980 following a stroke at age 56. 0

Michael Nesmith enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1960, before he could graduate from highs school, although he earned a high school equivalency diploma during his service. He attended San Antonio College, where he and John Kuehne won the first San Antonio College talent award. It was also during this period that he began to write songs. In 1964 he moved to Los Angeles to further pursue his music career. It was in 1963 that he released his first single, "Wanderin'," on the Highness label. In 1965, with bassist John London and drummer Bill Sleeper, he released the single "How Can You Kiss Me" on the Omnibus label under the name Mike & John & Bill. Using the name "Mike Blessing," he released two singles on the Colpix label, "Until It's Time for You to Go" and "Just a Little Love." It was also during this period that Michael Nesmith wrote the song "Different Drum" The song was first recorded by The Greenbriar Boys and included on their album Better Late Than Never!.  In 1967 it was recorded by The Stone Poneys and released as a single. It went to no. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It was in 1965 that Michael Nesmith answered an ad that had been published in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter which read, "Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys, age 17–21. Want spirited Ben Frank's-types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview." Michael Nesmith found himself cast as one of four struggling musicians on the television show The Monkees. The Monkees was a multi-media project that saw the recording of songs that would also be released as singles and on albums by The Monkees.

Michael Nesmith wrote and even sang lead on many of the songs recorded by The Monkees, including "Sweet Young Thing," "The Kid of Girl I Could Love," "You Just Maybe the One," "Circle Sky," "Listen to the Band," and others. Everything would not go smoothly in the early days of The Monkees. Music supervisor Don Kirshner would not allow The Monkees to play their instruments on their songs. This ultimately led to the band rebelling against Kirshner's control. In the end Kirshner was dismissed as music supervisor in February 1967.

As one of The Monkees, Michael Nesmith appeared in the movie Head (1968), which initially failed at the box office, but would later become a cult film. He also appeared in the television special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. In 1970 Michael Nesmith left The Monkees, his last participation in the group being appearances in commercials for Kool-Aid and Nerf. It was while he was with The Monkees that he released what could be considered his first solo album, The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, in 1968. It was after he left The Monkees that he formed The First National Band. The First National Band recorded three albums, and had a hit with the single "Joanne" (which went to no. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Following the break-up of The First National Band, Michael Nesmith formed The Second National Band. The Second National Band released one album. Following the break-up of The Second National Band, Michael Nesmith recorded eight more solo albums. In 1974 he formed Pacific Arts Corporation to develop various media projects.

It was in the late Seventies that Michael Nesmith became a pioneer in music videos. He created a music video for his single "Rio" in 1977. The video for "Rio" led Michael Nesmith to develop the television show PopClips. PopClips was an early music video show, hosted by Jeff Michalski. It proved successful following its debut on Nickelodeon in 1980. In fact, it was so successful that Warner/Amex wanted to buy both the name and the concept from Michael Nesmith. When he refused, they developed their own concept, MTV. It was in 1981 that Michael Nesmith released the video album Elephant Parts. The success of Elephant Parts led to a short-lived television show on NBC in 1985, Michael Nesmith in Television Parts.

Michael Nesmith also served as executive producer on the movies Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982), Repo Man (1984), and Tapeheads (1988).

Michael Nesmith would eventually reunite with his fellow Monkees. In 1986 MTV aired a marathon of episodes of The Monkees, reigniting interest in both the show and the group. The Monkees then played a 20th Anniversary Tour in North America. Due to his commitments to Pacific Arts Corporation, Michael Nesmith was unable to take part, but did play with the group at the concert at the he Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on July 9 1989. He reunited with The Monkees in 1995 to record the album Justus, as well as the television special Hey, Hey, It's The Monkees. He toured the United Kingdom with the other Monkees in 1997. Following the death of Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith toured with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2016 he contributed to The Monkees' album Good Times. He would tour with Micky Dolenz in 2018 and again in 2019. They toured for one last time this year. Michael Nesmith's last appearance on November 14 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

As one of The Monkees, Michael Nesmith appeared on the shows Laugh-In, The Hollywood Squares, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and The Johnny Cash Show. He also appeared on Saturday Night Live and Portlandia. He appeared in the movies Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann, Repo Man, Burglar (1987), and Tapeheads (1988).

Of all the celebrity deaths this year, Michael Nemsith's death has been the most difficult for me to handle. Mike was always my favourite Monkee. On The Monkees he was the level-headed one, the one who generally got The Monkees out of the various scrapes they found themselves in. In " The Devil and Peter Tork," it was Mike who convinced Peter that the talent to play the harp existed within him, thus denying the Devil Peter's soul. Michael Nesmith's songs were always among my favourite Monkees songs. Indeed, "Sweet Young Thing" is my second favourite Monkees song after "She" (a Boyce & Hart composition). I followed Michael Nesmith's career after his stint with The Monkees, including "Rio" and Elephant Parts.

While Mike on The Monkees was essentially a fictionalized version of Michael Nesmith, Michael Nesmith shared a good many of qualities with his television counterpart. He founded Pacific Arts Corporation, which at one time had the biggest catalogue of non-theatrical video titles. With "Rio" he pioneered one of the earliest American rock videos. With PopClips he spurred the popularity of music videos, leading to the creation of MTV. As a solo artist he continued to write a number of memorable songs, including "Joanne," "Rio," "Cruisnin'," and others. While he will always be remembered as a Monkee, Michael Nesmith was so much more.