RIP Michael Nesmith

[powellrj]

Every time someone from my youth dies it really makes me sad because I feel my own mortality.

 

[Atlas722]

RIP

 

[barkley]

one of my oldest and most cherished childhood possessions that sits in our home office is my monkees thermos. i was such a proud 1st grader to carry my lunch in my monkees lunchbox

 

[goofyernmost]

This is a rumor that was not true. Peter Tork was a musician prior to being cast also.

I believe that the only one that wasn't a musician was Mickey. Davey was on Broadway in a musical as a child.

 

[Diznotyzed]

I believe that the only one that wasn't a musician was Mickey. Davey was on Broadway in a musical as a child.

Davy also knew how to play the drums, but the producers didn't want him behind a drum set, since he was the "dreamy" one.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I was in a large antique mall yesterday and all I could hear from upstairs was very loud Monkees music playing. It was a little strange, but I figured they were honoring Mike’s recent passing. I wasn’t the only one walking around singing the songs while I browsed.

 

[daisyx3]

I am a Monkees fanatic. Musician wise, Micky had his own bands and played guitar before he got into the group. Davy was tony nominated and could play guitar and drums. They didn't make him the drummer because he wouldn't be seen behind the kit as he was only 5'3". Peter could play 7 instruments. George Harrison said Peter played the banjo "like he invented it".
Nesmith was their most prolific writer. He also did a lot of interesting, if not that popular, solo stuff. His 3 albums with the first national band in the early 70s are good. He was country rock before Gram Parsons and the Eagles made it cool. Then in the late 70s he was asked to do a promotion video for his song "Rio". He ended up taking the concept and making a show called "Popclips", which was later sold to become the basis for MTV. The original music playing MTV, not the reality show stuff. His "Elephant Parts" won the first grammy for video.
I've seen the group 13 times in several different groupings--2 of those were Micky, Mike, and Peter, and 2 were Mike and Micky. The first time I saw the two of them was in 2018 the week before they stopped the tour because Mike needed a quadruple bypass. His physical self was much diminished this last time (Just Nov. 2!!) but he was having fun, smiling, laughing, enjoying himself. Micky said he was bound and determined to finish the tour. Then the last three days or so before he passed he was in hospice, which the fanbase just found out after he died. He was a Christian Scientist, and they don't use medical care unless it is absolutely necessary. I am guessing he didn't want the interventions needed for whatever was wrong with his heart. (forgive me if I am misrepresenting Christian Science.)
Every time we have lost one my heart has broken. This one was hard because I just saw him 38 days previously and I was shocked by the news. But Nesmith himself thought death was just stepping into another plane of existence, so I will choose to believe that with him.
I feel horrible for Micky--who has been my favorite since I was 3 in 1966--who will now forever be labeled "the last surviving....."

 

[Mysterian]

His mother invented White-Out.
No idea why I know that.

Heard that too. He was on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast years ago when he layed down that sweet, sweet truth.

 

[Mysterian]

Another thing I picked up from that Nesmith interview:
The Monkees did a movie called Head, which was co-written and produced by Jack Nicholson.
They thought if there was to be a sequel, it would come with the tagline "From the people that gave you Head".

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Davy was a singer and drummer, they put him out front because he was short and cute. Mike started out as a songwriter and guitarist. Peter was a folk musician more than anything, he may have been the most musically inclined at first. Micky, who started out as a child actor, sang in a band in the mid 60s. He sang Johnny B. Goode for his Monkees audition and it got him hired. He got stuck pretending to play the drums, because Davy was cuter and they already had two guitarists. Eventually, he did learn to play.

back in the 80s I lived in LA and I was at the show where Micky, Peter and Davy were touring and Mike joined them onstage.

 

[Micca]

Fun fact: Davy Jones performed as part of the cast of Oliver on Ed Sullivan on the same night The Beatles appeared for the first time. Pretty crazy coincidence.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

also I understand David Bowie, whose birth name was David Jones, changed his name to avoid being confused with Davy Jones.

 

[Mysterian]

also I understand David Bowie, whose birth name was David Jones, changed his name to avoid being confused with Davy Jones.

I saw this on a Bowie appearance on Conan O'Brien. He was David Jones and then suddenly the Monkees became popular, then he wanted to go with Tom Jones, but another Tom Jones just became a hit. Conan joked "and then you became David Cassidy..."