The news was heartbreaking ... but certainly not a surprise ...
Other than it coming so fast after the conclusion of their Farewell Tour
(which sadly takes on a whole new meaning now within the context of Michael Nesmith's passing)
He did not look well when we saw him here in Chicago this past November ... frail and fragile ... yet still the consummate entertainer when it came to giving the fans what they wanted (and mustering up the effort to do so.)
The Mike Nesmith catalog within The Monkees was significant ... especially when one considers that the entire concept was a manufactured image, tailor made to succeed with an audience of teenage girls and perfectly crafted pop songs that would appeal to millions ... which, of course, they did.
And because every album by the band included at least a couple of Nez-tunes, he reaped HUGE benefits in the way of songwriting royalties when these records sold well into the millions of copies. (The fact that he also inherited millions more when his mother, the inventor of Liquid Paper, passed away only sweetened the pot.) Suffice to say that after The Monkees split up and Michael Nesmith ran his personal course fronting his own First National Band, there was more than enough money leftover to create movies and experimental (and very successful) video projects like "Elephant Parts" and (later) "Television Parts." Books and music anthologies continued ... and while Michael sat out most of The Monkees reunions that at other times brought together his former bandmates Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork, he was still able to lead an influential and high profile life outside the public eye. (Michael developed his own music video production company, years before MTV launched to concept. Through his company The Video Ranch, Nesmith developed "Pop Clips," later selling the intellectual property to Time Warner, who then used the concept to develop and launch MTV.) His own videos were very inventive ... but he also produced clips for many other artists, including country stars Roseanne Cash and Jim Stafford. Many of these clips ran on his short-lived (but excellent) television series, "Television Parts."
Some of the material he contributed was given to Micky Dolenz to sing ... tracks like "Mary Mary" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," both of which were EXTREMELY popular cuts from early in their career ... but Michael also took the spotlight (adding a bit of country flavor to the band, thanks to his Texas roots) with tracks like "Good Clean Fun" (which opened the show on the farewell tour), "Listen To The Band," "Circle Sky" (from the film "Head"), "Love Is Only Sleeping," "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round" (written by Boomer Castleman and Michael Martin Murphey), "You Told Me," "You Just May Be The One," "Sunny Girlfriend," "Papa Gene's Blues," "Sweet Young Thing" and "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love." (Not to mention the fact that he COMPLETELY blew me away with his track "Don't Call On Me" from The Monkees' "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." LP, a HUGE #1 Hit from late 1967 that also happens to be my all-time favorite by the group. Nez becomes "lounge singer" Michael Nesmith on this one and executes it to perfection.)
Don Kirshner had lined up a Who's Who of songwriters, including Gerry Goffin and Carole King (with whom Nesmith shared songwriting credit on "Sweet Young Thing"), Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, the songwriting teams of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Hank Medress, Jay Siegel, Mitch and Phil Margo, David Gates, Nilsson, John Stewart, Paul Williams and others. Collectively, they kept The Monkees at the top of the charts with perfectly crafted pop tunes for two solid years.
(Dolenz told the story during the farewell tour about how Michael once presented his song "Different Drum" to the television show producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider and musical director Don Kirshner, who turned it down flat, dismissing it by saying "That's not a Monkees song." Nesmith responded, "Well, I'm a Monkee ... and I wrote it ... so how is it not a Monkees song?") They still refused to let the band record it (although there is a VERY brief segment in one of the episodes where Mike and Peter play strolling musicians, passing the table where Davy and his date are dining, singing a short snippet of the tune.) When it became clear that Kirsner was never going to let The Monkees record the tune, Nez gave it to an up-and-coming, young female singer named Linda Ronstadt ... and it launched her career, reaching The Top 20 in early 1968. (Micky Dolenz also covered the tune earlier this year on his "Dolenz Sings Nesmith" album.)
The conflict with Kirshner continued. When The Monkees (led by Nesmith who, with Peter Tork, were the two real musicians in the group) demanded more artistic control (including being able to choose their own material as well as playing on their own records), the falling out between The Pre-Fab Four and Music Director Don Kirshner ended up in the group's favor, with the firing of Kirshner. (During one confrontation, Nesmith put his fist through a wall and then told Kirshner "That could have been your face." They did not end on good terms!)
If Davy was the heartthrob and Micky was the nut and Peter was the dumb one, then Michael was the smart one and quite often, the voice of reason ... whether he was negotiating with The Mayor ... or The Devil, he always seemed to be the only adult in the room. One episode had him fighting to protect his song "Gonna Buy Me A Dog," (a song he didn't even write!) from an unscrupulous publisher ... and in another favorite episode of mine, Mike played both the narrator and the Fairy Princess. (If you haven't seen it, don't ask ... just watch the "Fairy Tale" episode and enjoy it for its comedic genius.)
His post-Monkees solo career produced four charting singles, "Joanne" (#13 in Record World, 1970 - but only #21 in Billboard) being the biggest. His follow-up release, "Silver Moon," made The Top 40 in both Cash Box (#28) and Record World, but fell short (#42) in Billboard. His songs were covered by everyone from Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys to The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to Andy Williams to Susanna Huffs.
I had the pleasure of meeting him once, a few years back, when The Monkees performed as a trio shortly after the passing of Davy Jones at The Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana. Michael wore these incredibly sparkly shoes on stage for the concert ... but refused to put them back on backstage for a photo. Instead, I had to settle for a shot of me and Mike (with the top of his head cut off!!!)
I am SO glad we were able to make it to their Farewell Tour ... I'd be beside myself now if I had missed it. It was one last chance to say goodbye to the music and the artists that were such a HUGE part of my life growing up in the '60's.
Part of me feels like Michael fulfilled his ultimate fantasy ... his whole life he dreamed of being a successful musician ... and that dream came true a million times over. Despite obvious recent health issues (keep in mind that he also suffered a heart attack a couple of years before Covid side-tracked the tour all-together), he STILL came out (at significant risk to himself) to do the farewell tour with Micky. Micky had just released a tribute album to Mike's music ("Dolenz Sings Nesmith"), released to universally critical acclaim. I prefer to think that Nez went out on a high note ... he completed the tour, took his final bow ... and then he went home to die. I believe he finally came to accept his legacy with the fans, rather than downplay what he often referred to as "just one chapter in my career."
We love you, Michael. You made a HUGE impact on my life ... and I have been (and will continue to be) eternally grateful. Thank you for the music. (kk)
From Micky Dolenz ...
And poor Andrew Sandoval ...
It took an extra year and a half to get his INCREDIBLE "Day By Day" Monkees book out into the market ... and now it's already out of date! (Another Covid casualty!)
You'll find a beautiful tribute ...
