Michael Nesmith of The Monkees passes to a better place - RIP

Michael Nesmith, co-founding member, vocalist, and guitarist of The Monkees, has died at the age of 78.

And another brick of my childhood foundations has been taken away.

I'll always love Nesmith and The Monkees... Fun songs, sad songs, love songs... songs of an era long gone.

R.I.P. Michael



consequence.net...

originally posted by: Encia22

Michael Nesmith, co-founding member, vocalist, and guitarist of The Monkees, has died at the age of 78.

And another brick of my childhood foundations has been taken away.

I'll always love Nesmith and The Monkees... Fun songs, sad songs, love songs... songs of an era long gone.

R.I.P. Michael

consequence.net...

Man, he was my sisters' favorite, of course, they loved Mickey, Peter, and Davy. Wasn't his Mom a secretary at 3M the inventor of WhiteOut?

RIP

a reply to: Encia22
I have happy memories of that show as a kid. That band was alway kind and positive. Thanks dood.

a reply to: Encia22

When I was young, I liked the monkeys better than the Beatles. My sister really liked the Beatles, she was a complete nut about their music. I liked the show the monkeys, it was kind of funny and mellow back then.

Sad day. Nesmith finally took the last train to Clarksville.

a reply to: Encia22

RIP

Fun Fact...Nesmith's mom invented Liquid Paper or White Out.

The show was on syndicated TV everyday during daytime tv kids line up in the 80s and I watched it. Even the movie with Terri Garr...yowza!

I don't care if The Monkees weren't a real band. They had some great songs.

R.I.P. Mike.

Written by Bob Lefsetz
lefsetz.com...

[...]

And that brings us down to Michael Nesmith. He was actually a musician. He wrote "Different Drum" for the Stone Poneys, a certified smash, a classic.

And he was the one with the wool hat. As identifiable as the others, if not even more so. And despite the hijinks, he was the voice of reason, the elder statesman on the show, he was the only one with gravitas, if we can say so. And when it was all over...he flew the coop (or the tree, maybe it should be).

So when it was over, Nesmith was the only one who had any traction as a musician. Dolenz stayed in TV, Jones went to legitimate theatre and Tork faded away, but Nesmith had the First National Band, and consensus was they were good, and credible, which was quite a leap if you consider his start in the public eye as a member of the Monkees.

And then Nesmith was on the bleeding edge of video, remember when his " Rio" was a breakthrough, back when video was the cutting edge? I can still remember him flying in the sky in that clip, but today everybody has a quality video camera in their phone and is making their own clips and posting them online.

But Nesmith kept pushing the envelope, and you started to wonder as the years went by, how could he afford it?

a reply to: ColeYounger

I have a decent number of Monkees songs nestled in my library.

Maybe before my time, but a good song is timeless.

a reply to: musicismagic

'Different Drum' is a really good song. I was never a Linda Ronstadt fan, but her vocals on that song are spectacular. (Cool harpsichord too)

Written by Mike Nesmith:

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: ColeYounger

I have a decent number of Monkees songs nestled in my library.

Maybe before my time, but a good song is timeless.

I agree. I have about 8-9 of their songs in a playlist.

From a thread I made awhile back . . .

I grew up with the Monkee’s TV show when it was in syndication in the 1970's and was a fan of their music. I was aware of the stigma attached to the Monkees, esp. the "Pre-Fab Four" title they were given by British newspapers during their 1967 UK tour. Everyone thought that they were just TV actors that didn’t play a musical instrument or that were taught to be musicians after being cast for the show. Well, not true, they all played and had musical experience before becoming the Monkees.

Monkees maligned, was this a conspiracy?

Davy is gone, Mike is gone, only two left. I could have went to the show in Grand Rapids just before Davy died, but my GF wasn't interested. I should have insisted. Even though Mike wouldn't tour with the other guys, I wanted to see that show. I missed a Led Zeppelin show because John Bohnam died. It has been that way with a lot of bands for me, just late to the show I guess.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

The only one left of the Monkees is Micky,Peter has
passed away as well.

originally posted by: mamabeth
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

The only one left of the Monkees is Micky,Peter has
passed away as well.

Yeah, my GF told me that this morning, but I don't remember Peter passing away. Maybe I expect to keep hearing about old celeb deaths and have tuned out. These deaths are the death of an era and it foreshadows my approaching mortality, nothing I want to dwell on and things like Monkees dying off just remind me I'm next.