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127-536: Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their TV series of the same name (1966–1968). His songwriting credits with the Monkees include " Mary, Mary ", " The Girl I Knew Somewhere ", " Tapioca Tundra ", " Circle Sky " and " Listen to the Band ". Additionally, his song " Different Drum " became

254-462: A 1980 interview with Playboy , he said of that time: "I had to start telling little tales to the tax man while they were putting tags on the furniture." Nesmith did not participate in the Monkees' 20th anniversary reunion, due to contractual obligations with his production company, but he did appear during an encore with the three other Monkees at the Greek Theatre on September 7, 1986. In

381-423: A 1987 interview for Nick Rocks , Nesmith stated, "When Peter called up and said 'we're going to go out, do you want to go?' I was booked. But, if you get to L.A., I'll play." Nesmith next joined his fellow Monkees for the 1986 "Monkees Christmas Medley" video for MTV appearing throughout dressed/disguised as Santa Claus until the finale, when he revealed his identity to all. "The question I am most often asked

508-469: A I major to a VI minor—those kinds of things. So it was a little kind of a new wave country song. It didn't sound like the country songs of the time, which was Buck Owens." Their next single, "Daydream Believer" (with a piano intro written by Tork), shot to No. 1 on the charts, letting the Monkees hold the No. 1 position in the singles chart and the album chart with Pisces simultaneously. "Daydream Believer" used

635-438: A band in the sitcom. Music credited to the Monkees appeared in the sitcom and was released on LPs and singles beginning in 1966, and the sitcom aired from 1966 to 1968. At first, the band members' musical contributions were primarily limited to lead vocals and the occasional composition, with the remaining music provided by professional songwriters and studio musicians. Though this arrangement yielded multiple hit albums and singles,

762-490: A diverse mixture of musical style influences, including country-rock, folk-rock, psychedelic rock, soul/R&B, guitar rock, Broadway and English music hall sensibilities. At the height of their fame in 1967, they also suffered from a media backlash. Nesmith states in the 2007 Rhino reissue of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , "Everybody in the press and in the hippie movement had got us into their target window as being illegitimate and not worthy of consideration as

889-580: A few of Nesmith's original songs. Nesmith began to write more songs and poetry, then he moved to Los Angeles and began singing in folk clubs around the city. He served as the "Hootmaster" for the Monday night hootenanny at The Troubadour , a West Hollywood nightclub that featured new artists. Randy Sparks from the New Christy Minstrels offered Nesmith a publishing deal for his songs. Nesmith began his recording career in 1963 by releasing

1016-432: A five-date tour of California with a revamped version of The First National Band, including a date at The Troubadour , where he performed before The Monkees. On February 20, a tour was announced as "The Monkees Present: The Mike and Micky Show", their first tour as a duo. The pair would play Monkees music and promote the tour under the Monkees banner, but Nesmith stated, "there's no pretense there about Micky and I [sic] being

1143-524: A follow-up tour, "An Evening with the Monkees", to begin in early 2020. The tour was delayed, however, due the COVID-19 pandemic . It was announced by Nesmith and Dolenz on May 4, 2021, that the Monkees would disband following a farewell tour. Dubbed "The Monkees Farewell Tour", the tour consisted of over 40 dates in the United States from September to November. However, because of restrictions due to

1270-565: A hit for the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt . After leaving the Monkees in 1970, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band , with whom he had a top-40 hit, " Joanne " (1970). As a solo artist, he scored an international hit with the song " Rio " (1977). He often played a custom-built Gretsch 12-string electric guitar with

1397-544: A hole in a wall and saying, "That could have been your face!" However, each of the members, including Nesmith, accepted the $ 250,000 royalty checks (equivalent to approximately $ 2,300,000 in today's funds). Soon after, Colgems and the Monkees reached an agreement not to release material directly created by the group together with unrelated Kirshner-produced material. Kirshner immediately violated this agreement in early February 1967, when he released " A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You ", composed and written by Neil Diamond , as

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1524-527: A joint venture called Colgems Records ; the primary purpose of the venture was to distribute Monkees records. Raybert set up a rehearsal space and rented instruments for the group to practice playing in April 1966, but it quickly became apparent they would not be in shape in time for the series debut. The producers called upon Kirshner to recruit a producer for the Monkees' sessions. Kirshner called on Snuff Garrett , composer of several hits by Gary Lewis &

1651-467: A lawsuit that went to jury trial in federal court in Los Angeles. On February 3, 1999, a jury awarded Nesmith and his company Pacific Arts $ 48.875 million in compensatory and punitive damages , prompting his widely quoted comment, "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief." Six months after

1778-407: A musical force [or] certainly any kind of cultural force. We were under siege; wherever we went there was such resentment for us. We were constantly mocked and humiliated by the press. We were really gettin' beat up pretty good. We all knew what was going on inside. Kirshner had been purged. We'd gone to try to make Headquarters and found out that it was only marginally okay and that our better move

1905-540: A musician since early 1963 and had been recording and releasing music under various names, including Michael Blessing and "Mike & John & Bill", and he had studied drama in college. Of the final three, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter . Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician and had shared

2032-622: A number of LPs for his label, and had a moderate worldwide hit in 1977 with his song " Rio ", the single taken from the album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing . In 1979, Nesmith released the single Cruisin' , also known as "Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam", which was popular on AOR rock stations and in New Zealand. In 1983, Nesmith produced the music video for the Lionel Richie single " All Night Long ". In 1987, he produced

2159-518: A rural word for "party" or get-together. It can refer to a folk music party with an open mic , at which different performers are welcome to get up and play in front of an audience. According to Pete Seeger he first heard the word hootenanny in Seattle, Washington in the summer of 1941 while touring the area with Woody Guthrie. It was used by Hugh DeLacy's New Deal political club to describe their monthly music fund raisers. After some debate

2286-569: A single on the Highness label. He followed this in 1965 with a one-off single released on Edan Records followed by two more recorded singles; one was titled "The New Recruit" under the name "Michael Blessing", released on Colpix Records , coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones , though they did not meet until the Monkees formed. Barry Freedman told him about upcoming auditions for a new TV series called The Monkees . In October 1965, Nesmith's confident, carefree and laid-back manner impressed

2413-599: A single with an early version of "She Hangs Out", a song recorded in New York with Davy Jones's vocals, as the B-side. (This single was only released in Canada and was withdrawn after a couple of weeks. ) He was consequently dismissed from the project. Propelled by the band's second single, "I'm a Believer" b/w "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", More of the Monkees became the band's biggest-selling LP. The album spent 70 weeks on

2540-511: A son, Jason, born in August 1968 to Nurit Wilde , whom he met while working on The Monkees . In 1976, he married his second wife, Kathryn Bild. In 2000, he married his third wife, Victoria Kennedy, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2011. The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz , Davy Jones , Michael Nesmith , and Peter Tork . Spurred by

2667-476: A song from the film's composer, Ken Thorne. The album had a mylar cover, to give it a mirror-like appearance, so that the person looking at the cover would see his own head, a play on the album title Head . Peter Tork said, "That was something special... [Jack] Nicholson coordinated the record, made it up from the soundtrack. He made it different from the movie. There's a line in the movie where [Frank] Zappa says, 'That's pretty white.' Then there's another line in

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2794-524: A songwriter with Linda Hargrove , resulting in the tune " I've Never Loved Anyone More ", a hit for Lynn Anderson and recorded by many others, as well as the songs "Winonah" and "If You Will Walk With Me", both of which were recorded by Hargrove. Of these songs, only "Winonah" was recorded by Nesmith himself. During this same period, Nesmith started his multimedia company Pacific Arts, which initially put out audio records, eight-track tapes, and cassettes, followed in 1981 with "video records". Nesmith recorded

2921-455: A strong lead voice and did sing lead on several Monkees recordings, Dolenz's voice is regarded, particularly by Nesmith, as distinctive and a hallmark of the Monkees' sound. Unlike most television shows of the time, The Monkees episodes were written with many setups, requiring frequent breaks to prepare the set and cameras for short bursts of filming. Some of the "bursts" are considered proto-music videos, inasmuch as they were produced to sell

3048-510: A suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel , each actor received a $ 250k royalties check, yet Nesmith still threatened to quit. Moelis rebuked him, "You'd better read your contract". Nesmith defiantly punched a hole in the wall, declaring to Moelis, "That could have been your face, motherfucker!" Weeks later, due to a breach of (verbal) agreement over the next single release, which was promised to Nesmith by Rafelson and Schneider, Nesmith led

3175-573: A week later and remaining at No. 2 all through the entire 1967 Summer of Love . For the remaining five Monkees LPs, ironically, the original Kirshner formula of hired studio musicians and songwriters again became the norm, although Nesmith, Tork, Dolenz and Jones contributed about 50 percent of the original compositions, Nesmith the majority of those. By the end of the Monkees run, Nesmith was withholding many of his original song ideas from Monkees albums, planning to release them in his post-Monkees solo career. Nesmith's last contractual Monkees commitment

3302-500: Is 'how does it feel to be up with the guys after all this time?' Well, it's a mixture of feelings and all of them are good. But the one that comes to mind is the feeling of profound gratitude." Michael Nesmith, speaking about being part of The Monkees at the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star award in 1989. In 1989, Nesmith reunited with the other members of the Monkees, Micky Dolenz , Peter Tork , and Davy Jones . Prior to

3429-517: Is a psychedelic pop song written by Goffin and King , with lead vocals from Micky Dolenz and backing vocals from Davy Jones, and it reached No. 62 on the Billboard charts and No. 26 on the Canadian RPM charts . The film's soundtrack album reached No. 45 on the Billboard charts and No. 24 in Canada. Nicholson assembled the album, weaving dialogue and sound effects from the film in between

3556-747: Is now considered a pioneer of country-rock music. Nesmith wrote most of the songs for the band and he is considered one of the trailblazers of country rock . He also had moderate commercial success with the First National Band. Their second single, " Joanne ", hit number 21 on the Billboard chart, number 17 on Cashbox, and number four in Canada, with the follow-up "Silver Moon" making number 42 Billboard , number 28 Cashbox, and number 13 in Canada. Two more singles charted ("Nevada Fighter" made number 70 Billboard , number 73 Cashbox, and number 67 Canada, and "Propinquity" reached number 95 Cashbox), and

3683-566: Is that it features an early use of the Moog synthesizer on two tracks, the Nesmith-penned "Daily Nightly", along with "Star Collector". All of its songs, except for two, were featured on the Monkees' television show during the second season. The song "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?", recorded in June 1967 and featured on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , is seen as a landmark in

3810-412: Is to sit up and have to duplicate somebody else's records?" he asked. "Tell the world we don't record our own music." The band members were displeased that the music publishing company would not allow them to play their own instruments on their records or to use more of their own material. These complaints intensified when Kirshner moved track recording from California to New York, leaving the band out of

3937-742: The American Film Institute . In 1992, Nesmith undertook a concert tour of North America to promote the first CD release of his RCA solo albums (although he included the song "Rio" from the album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing ). The concert tour ended at the Britt Festival in Oregon. A video and CD, both entitled Live at the Britt Festival , were released capturing the 1992 concert. Nesmith continued to record and release his own music. His final album, Rays ,

Michael Nesmith - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-472: The Dot label in 1969. Ware wanted Nesmith to put together a band. Nesmith's interest hinged on noted pedal steel player Orville "Red" Rhodes ; their musical partnership continued until Rhodes's death in 1995. The new band was christened Michael Nesmith and the First National Band and recorded three albums for RCA Records , the first two issued in 1970 and the third released in 1971. Nesmith's First National Band

4191-535: The U.S. Air Force in 1960 before graduating. He completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio , was trained as an aircraft mechanic at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls , Texas, and was permanently stationed at Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base near Burns Flat, Oklahoma . He obtained a GED certificate and was honorably discharged in 1962. After Nesmith's tour of duty in

4318-470: The steel guitar . The tour was captured on a live album, Movies Of The Mind . In 2014, he guest-starred in season four, episode nine, of the IFC comedy series Portlandia in the fictitious role of the father of the mayor of Portland, Oregon. In 2017, Nesmith released a memoir and companion "soundtrack" album titled Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff . In 2018, he announced that he would be doing

4445-475: The #2 spot on the charts for the next 11 weeks—the same weeks which became known by the counterculture as the " Summer of Love ". A selection that Dolenz wrote and composed, " Randy Scouse Git ", was issued under the title "Alternate Title" (owing to the controversial nature of its original title ) as a single internationally, where it rose to No. 2 on the charts in the UK and Norway, and in the top 10 in other parts of

4572-413: The 12 songs on the album, plus the two tracks "Band 6" and "Zilch". The Los Angeles Times , when reviewing Headquarters , stated that "The Monkees Upgrade Album Quality" and that "The Monkees are getting better. Headquarters has more interesting songs and a better quality level [than previous albums]... None of the tracks is a throwaway... The improvement trend is laudable." The high of Headquarters

4699-549: The 1990s, Nesmith, as trustee and president of the Gihon Foundation, hosted the Council on Ideas, a gathering of intellectuals from different fields who were asked to identify the most important issues of their day and publish the result. The foundation ceased the program in 2000 and started a new program for the performing arts. Nesmith also spent a decade as a board of trustees member, nominating member and vice-chair of

4826-535: The Air Force, his mother and stepfather gave him a guitar for Christmas. Learning as he went, he played solo and in a series of working bands, performing folk , country , and occasionally rock and roll . He enrolled in San Antonio College , where he met John London and began a musical collaboration. They won the first San Antonio College talent award, performing a mixture of standard folk songs and

4953-647: The Beatles' recording session for " A Day in the Life " at Abbey Road Studios. At that time, he reportedly asked John Lennon, "Do you think we're a cheap imitation of the Beatles, your movies and your records?" Lennon replied, "I think you're the greatest comic talent since the Marx Brothers . I've never missed one of your programs". With Kirshner dismissed as musical supervisor, in late February 1967 Nesmith hired former Turtles bassist Douglas Farthing Hatlelid, who

5080-510: The Billboard charts for 11 weeks. As the second season of the television series was being produced, the Monkees tired of the sitcom format and refused to participate in a third season without a major overhaul. NBC was uninterested in making any changes, and so the series was cancelled in February 1968. That same month, the Monkees began filming their feature film, Head . With Bob Rafelson as director and Bert Schneider as executive producer,

5207-413: The Billboard charts shortly after it was released in April 1968. It was the first album released after NBC announced they were not renewing The Monkees for a third season. The album cover—a quaint collage of items in a knickknack shelf—was chosen over the Monkees' objections. It was the last Monkees' album to be released in separate, dedicated mono and stereo mixes. During the 1986 reunion, it returned to

Michael Nesmith - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-502: The Billboard charts, staying No. 1 for 18 weeks and becoming the third-highest-selling album of the 1960s. "I'm a Believer" was written by Neil Diamond . The Monkees' recording of the single hit the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966, remaining there for seven weeks. "I'm a Believer" became the biggest-selling single for all of 1967. The Monkees' musical opportunities were open beyond their ability to capitalize. Screen Gems held

5461-609: The Byrds and the Association , drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh , Lowell George , Stephen Stills , Buddy Miles , and Neil Young —a practice that continued for all their studio albums except Justus . Using Chip Douglas again to produce, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , released in November 1967 was the Monkees' fourth No. 1 album in a row, staying at No. 1 for 5 weeks, and was also their last No. 1 album. It featured

5588-627: The Colpix label. His involvement with The Monkees was publicly announced on July 14, 1965. Jones had previously starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway theater show Oliver! ; for his work in Oliver! , he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1963. In September   1965, Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ran advertisements to cast

5715-482: The Monkees "probably the worst record in the history of the world", partly due to rushed, shoddy studio engineering. The band took a hit to its artistic credibility when fans learned the four had not played all the instruments on the first two albums. But still sales continued to be profitable. Headquarters sold 2 million copies, down 2 million units from its predecessor, but still reached the No. 1 spot on Billboard, falling only to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

5842-496: The Monkees and afterwards. In 1974, Nesmith founded Pacific Arts , a multimedia production and distribution company, through which he helped pioneer the music video format, winning the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long comedy/variety program, Elephant Parts (1981). He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, PopClips , which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980, and

5969-419: The Monkees for their tours of the United States. Intermixing the Monkees concerts, Nesmith also launched solo tours of the U.S. Unlike his 1992 U.S. tour, which predominantly featured music from his RCA recordings, Nesmith stated that his 2013 tour would feature songs he considers "thematic, chronological and most often requested by fans". Chris Scruggs , grandson of Earl Scruggs , replaced the late Red Rhodes on

6096-529: The Monkees held their first recording session as a fully functioning, self-contained band. The band recorded an early version of Nesmith's self-composed top 40 hit single "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", along with " All of Your Toys " and "She's So Far Out, She's In". Also in January, Kirshner released the band's second album of songs that used session musicians, More of the Monkees , without the band's knowledge. The Monkees were annoyed at not having even been told of

6223-399: The Monkees received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. In 1995, Nesmith was again reunited with the Monkees to record their studio album (and first to feature all four since Head in 1968), titled Justus , released in 1996. He also wrote and directed a Monkees reunion television special, Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees . To support the reunion, Nesmith, Jones, Dolenz, and Tork briefly toured

6350-452: The Monkees second album, without the knowledge or consent of the four musician-actors, they came to be frustrated by their studio-manufactured "bubblegum" image. Within weeks of the release of More of the Monkees , Nesmith lobbied successfully with the group's creators, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, that the Monkees be allowed to play their instruments on future records. During a group meeting with Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, in

6477-493: The Monkees' studio abilities arose. Dolenz told a reporter that the Wrecking Crew provided the backing tracks for the first two Monkees albums, and that his position as drummer was simply because a Monkee had to learn to play the drums, and he only knew the guitar. In the January 28, 1967, issue of Saturday Evening Post an article quoted Nesmith railing against the music creation process. "Do you know how debilitating it

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6604-433: The Monkees, Nesmith stated, "I never really left. It is a part of my youth that is always active in my thoughts and part of my overall work as an artist. It stays in a special place." In 2016, Nesmith contributed to the Monkees' 50th anniversary album Good Times! . He additionally contributed a song, "I Know What I Know", and was reportedly "thrilled" at the outcome of the album. Despite not touring with Dolenz and Tork for

6731-492: The Monkees, made a solo stand as a studio drummer. In commentary for the DVD release of the second season of the show, Tork said that Dolenz was "incapable of repeating a triumph." Having been a drummer for one album, Dolenz lost interest in being a drummer and, indeed, he largely gave up playing instruments on Monkees recordings to session musicians like "Fast" Eddie Hoh . (Producer Chip Douglas also had identified Dolenz's drumming as

6858-507: The Monkees. We're not." The tour was cut short in June 2018, with four shows left unplayed, due to Nesmith having a "minor health issue"; Dolenz and he rescheduled the unplayed concerts plus adding several other including an Australian and New Zealand tour in 2019. After recovering from his health scare, Michael Nesmith and the First National Band Redux went on a tour of the U.S., with mostly the same lineup and setlist as

6985-543: The Nesmith-composed straightforward pop-rock song "You Just May Be the One" (the only track from their peak years to feature the Monkees playing the same instruments they were shown to play on the television show), used on the television series during both seasons, along with "Shades of Gray" (with piano introduction written by Tork), "Forget that Girl", and "No Time", used in the television show. The Monkees wrote six of

7112-469: The Playboys , to produce the initial musical cuts for the show. Garrett, upon meeting the four Monkees in June 1966, decided that Jones would sing lead, a choice that was unpopular with the group. This cool reception led Kirshner to drop Garrett and buy out his contract. Kirshner next allowed Nesmith to produce sessions, provided he did not play on any tracks he produced. Nesmith did, however, start using

7239-441: The UK in 1997. The UK tour was the last appearance of all four Monkees performing together. In 2012–2014, after Jones's death , Nesmith reunited with Dolenz and Tork to perform concerts throughout the United States. Backed with a seven-piece band that included Nesmith's son, Christian, the trio performed 27 songs from The Monkees discography (" Daydream Believer " was sung by the audience). When asked why he had decided to return to

7366-417: The United States, but it was still their third No. 1 album in a row, with many of its songs played on the second season of the television show. Having a more country-folk-rock sound than the pop outings under Kirshner, Sandoval notes in the 2007 Deluxe Edition reissue from Rhino that the album rose to No. 1 on May 24, 1967, with the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper released the following week, which moved Headquarters to

7493-417: The band members revolted and, after a brief power struggle, gained full control over the recording process in 1967. For two albums, the Monkees mostly performed as a group; however, within a year, each member was pursuing his own interests under the Monkees' name, rendering the Monkees once again a group in name only. With widespread allegations that the band members did not play their own instruments—followed by

7620-506: The band was an intense argument among Nesmith, Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, which took place at the Beverly Hills Hotel in January 1967. Kirshner had presented the group with royalty checks and gold records. Nesmith had responded with an ultimatum, demanding a change in the way the Monkees' music was chosen and recorded. Moelis reminded Nesmith that he was under contract. The confrontation ended with Nesmith punching

7747-478: The band's teenage fanbase while failing to attract a more adult audience. Rafelson and Schneider severed all ties to the band amid the bitterness that ensued over the commercial failure of Head . At the time, Rafelson told the press, "I grooved on those four in very special ways while at the same time thinking they had absolutely no talent." Released in October 1968, the single from the album, "The Porpoise Song",

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7874-434: The cancellation of The Monkees TV series, diminishing success on the charts, and waning popularity overall—band members began to leave the group. The Monkees held a final recording session in 1970 before breaking up. Renewed interest in the Monkees emerged in 1986, leading to a 20th anniversary reunion. Over the subsequent 35 years, the Monkees intermittently reunited for reunion tours, a major-network television special, and

8001-540: The casting process, Don Kirshner , Screen Gems' head of music, was contacted to secure music for The Monkees pilot. Kirshner's Brill Building firm Aldon Music had an extensive portfolio of songwriters, many in need of work after the British Invasion had reorganized the American music scene; while several Aldon writers contributed songs to the Monkees during their existence, the bulk of the songwriting for

8128-441: The charge in ousting musical supervisor Don Kirshner, effectively giving the four youths complete artistic and production control of their output, and the group finally worked as a true four-man rock group on 1967's Headquarters , despite Jones and Dolenz having limited instrumental skills, studio time being pricey and retakes costly. During the band's first independent press conference, Nesmith called their second album, More of

8255-584: The club voted in hootenanny , which narrowly beat out wingding . Seeger, Woody Guthrie and other members of the Almanac Singers later used the word in New York City to describe their weekly rent parties , which featured many notable folksingers of the time. In a 1962 interview in Time , Joan Baez made the analogy that a hootenanny is to folk singing what a jam session is to jazz. During

8382-410: The detriment of the Monkees project. Nesmith added that Head was Rafelson and Nicholson's intentional effort to "kill" the Monkees, so that they would no longer be bothered with the matter. A poor audience response at an August 1968 screening in Los Angeles forced the producers to edit the picture from its original 110-minute length. The 86-minute Head premiered in New York City on November 6, 1968;

8509-565: The early 1960s at the height of the American folk music revival , the club Gerdes Folk City at 11 West 4th Street in Greenwich Village started a folk music hootenanny tradition every Monday night. It featured an open mic and welcomed a broad variety of performers. The Bitter End at 147 Bleecker Street—not far from Gerdes—continued the folk music hootenanny tradition every Tuesday night. A weekly hootenanny has been held during

8636-485: The film by the group) ruthlessly parodies Boyce and Hart's "Monkees Theme". A sparse advertising campaign (with no mention of the Monkees) hurt any chances of the film doing well, and it played briefly in half-filled theaters. In the DVD commentary, Nesmith said that everyone associated with the Monkees "had gone crazy" by this time. They were each using the platform of the Monkees to push their own disparate career goals, to

8763-463: The film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20. It was not a commercial success. This was in part because Head comprehensively demolished the group's carefully groomed public image while the counterculture audience they had been reaching for rejected the Monkees' efforts out of hand. Receiving mixed critical reviews and virtually non-existent box office receipts, the film succeeded in alienating

8890-531: The first Grammy Award presented for (long-form) Music Video in 1982 for his hour-long Elephant Parts . He also had a short-lived series (1984-5) on NBC inspired by the video called Michael Nesmith in Television Parts . Television Parts included many other artists who were unknown at the time, but went on to become major stars in their own right: Jay Leno , Jerry Seinfeld , Garry Shandling , Whoopi Goldberg , and Arsenio Hall . The concept of

9017-516: The first two LPs charted in the lower regions of the Billboard album chart. No clear answer has ever been given for the band's breakup. Nesmith followed up with The Second National Band, which consisted of Nesmith (vocals and guitar), Michael Cohen (keyboards and Moog ), Johnny Meeks (of The Strangers ) (bass), jazzer Jack Ranelli (drums), and Orville Rhodes (pedal steel), as well as an appearance by singer, musician, and songwriter José Feliciano on congas. The album, Tantamount to Treason Vol. 1 ,

9144-402: The fusion of country and rock despite Nesmith's prior country-flavored rock songs for the Monkees. Nesmith stated, "One of the things that I really felt was honest was country-rock. I wanted to move the Monkees more into that because ... if we get closer to country music, we'll get closer to blues, and country blues, and so forth. ... It had a lot of un-country things in it: a familiar change from

9271-459: The group fell upon Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, two songwriters who were only beginning to break through to success at the time. Boyce and Hart contributed four demo recordings for the pilot. One of these recordings was "(Theme From) The Monkees" which helped get the series the green light. When The Monkees was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated. Columbia - Screen Gems and RCA Victor entered into

9398-512: The group members did not always play their own instruments or sing the backing vocals in the studio. They were derisively dubbed the " Pre-Fab Four" and the Sunday Mirror called them a "disgrace to the pop world." However, George Harrison praised the Monkees' self-produced musical attempts. Peter Tork was later one of the musicians on Harrison's album Wonderwall Music , playing Paul McCartney 's five-string banjo . Nesmith attended

9525-523: The hit single "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (#3 on charts) b/w "Words" (#11 on charts), the A-side had Nesmith on electric guitar/backing vocals, Tork on piano/backing vocals, Dolenz on lead vocals and possibly guitar and Jones on backing vocals; the B-side had Dolenz and Tork alternating lead vocals, Tork played organ, Nesmith played guitar, percussion, and provided backing vocals, and Jones provided percussion and backing vocals. Other notable items about this album

9652-444: The instrument, but both declined to give the drum set a try. Jones knew how to play the drums and tested well enough on the instrument; however, the producers believed that he would be virtually hidden from view behind a drum set due to his short stature. Thus, Dolenz (who knew only how to play the guitar) was assigned to become the drummer. Tork taught Dolenz his first few beats on the drums, enough for him to fake his way through filming

9779-450: The majority of the Monkees' 50th anniversary reunion in 2016, Nesmith did twice fill in for the ailing Peter Tork and appeared for the final show of the tour, which featured the three surviving band members (the last show to do so). In 2018, Nesmith and Dolenz toured together as a duo for the first time under the banner "The Monkees Present: The Mike and Micky Show". The tour was cut short four dates out due to Nesmith having health issues (he

9906-642: The mid 1980s. His " Different Drum " and "Some of Shelly's Blues" were later recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys in 1967 and 1968, respectively. "Pretty Little Princess", written in 1965, was recorded by Frankie Laine and released as a single in 1968 on ABC Records . Later, "Some of Shelly's Blues" and "Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care)" were made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1970 album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy . From 1965 to early 1970, Nesmith, along with Micky Dolenz , Peter Tork , and Davy Jones ,

10033-429: The movie that was not juxtaposed in the movie, but Nicholson put them together in the [soundtrack album], when Mike says, 'And the same thing goes for Christmas'... that's funny... very different from the movie... that was very important and wonderful that he assembled the record differently from the movie... It was a different artistic experience." Hootenanny Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that

10160-632: The music video for the Michael Jackson single " The Way You Make Me Feel ". During this time, Nesmith created a video clip for " Rio ", which helped spur Nesmith's creation of a television program called PopClips for the Nickelodeon cable network. In 1980, PopClips was sold to the Time Warner / Amex consortium. Time Warner/Amex developed PopClips into the MTV network. Nesmith won

10287-463: The musical process entirely until they were called upon to add their vocals to the completed tracks. Nesmith, when asked about the situation by Rolling Stone magazine, said, "The [TV show's] producers [in Hollywood] backed us and David went along. None of us could have fought the battles we did [with the music publishers] without the explicit support of the show's producers". On January 16, 1967,

10414-440: The non-album track " Goin' Down " as its B-side, which featured Nesmith and Tork on guitar with Micky on lead vocals. During their 1986 reunion, both Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. returned to the charts for 17 weeks. No longer desiring to work as a group, the Monkees dropped Chip Douglas as a producer, and starting in November 1967, they largely produced their own sessions. Although credited to

10541-581: The official kickoff of The Monkees '89 tour (on July 1 in Winnipeg, Manitoba , Canada) all four Monkees gathered in Los Angeles, California, making two live radio appearances ( KLOS -FM: The Mark and Brian Show on June 28 and KIIS Radio on June 30) to promote their reunion concert at the Universal Amphitheatre where they appeared together as a foursome live on stage on July 9. The following day, all four band members were in attendance as

10668-511: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic , they were not able to play shows in Canada, the UK or Australia. The final date of the tour was held on November 14, 2021, at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. As he prepared for his exit from The Monkees, Nesmith was approached by John Ware of The Corvettes, a band that featured Nesmith's Texas band mate and close friend John London. London played on some of the earliest pre-Monkees, Nesmith 45s, as well as numerous Monkees sessions, and had 45s produced by Nesmith for

10795-410: The other Monkees on his sessions, particularly Tork as a guitarist. Kirshner came back to the enthusiastic Boyce and Hart to be the regular producers, but he brought in one of his top East Coast associates, Jack Keller , to lend some production experience to the sessions. Boyce and Hart quickly realized that, when together, the four actors fooled around and tried to crack each other up. Because of this,

10922-575: The other musicians involved in the project. The Monkees' first single, " Last Train to Clarksville " b/w "Take a Giant Step", was released in August 1966, just weeks prior to the TV broadcast debut. In conjunction with the first broadcast of the television show on September 12, 1966, on the NBC television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for

11049-409: The pilot. He was soon taught how to play properly. The lineup for the TV show most frequently featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on bass, Dolenz on drums and Jones as a frontman, singer and percussionist, despite the fact that this lineup did not correspond to the members' musical strengths. Tork was a more experienced guitar player than Nesmith, while Nesmith had trained on the bass. Also, while Jones had

11176-634: The position of executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust. When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented the typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper . Over the next 25 years, she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into an international company, which she sold to Gillette in 1979 for $ 47.5 million. She died a few months later at the age of 56. Nesmith attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, where he participated in choral and drama activities, but enlisted in

11303-490: The producers and he landed the role as the wool-hat-wearing guitar player "Mike" in the show, which required real-life musical talent for writing, instrument playing, singing, and performing in live concerts as part of the Monkees band. Nesmith's " Mary, Mary " was recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band , the Monkees themselves on their second LP in 1967, and then reworked by rap group Run DMC in

11430-433: The producers often brought in each singer individually. The Monkees' debut and second albums were meant to be a soundtrack to the first season of the TV show, to cash in on the audience. In the 2006 Rhino Deluxe Edition re-issue of their second album, More of the Monkees , Nesmith stated that he was angered by the release of the first album because it portrayed the band as an actual rock-and-roll band and gave no credit to

11557-551: The producers, the band went out on the road and made their debut live performance in December 1966 in Hawaii. The results of these live performances were far better than expected. Wherever they went, the group was greeted by scenes of fan adulation reminiscent of Beatlemania . This gave the singers increased confidence in their fight for control over the musical material chosen for the series. In early 1967, controversy concerning

11684-451: The production of new studio albums. After the deaths of Jones in 2012 and Tork in 2019, Dolenz and Nesmith undertook a farewell tour in 2021. This tour concluded shortly before Nesmith's death later that year, leaving Dolenz as the sole surviving member. The Monkees were formed in the mid-1960s in Los Angeles. Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for The Monkees in 1962 and tried selling it to Revue Productions ,

11811-442: The project was co-written and co-produced by Rafelson with a then-relatively unknown Jack Nicholson . The film, conceived and edited in a stream of consciousness style, featured oddball cameo appearances by movie stars Victor Mature , Annette Funicello , a young Teri Garr (credited as "Terry Garr"), boxer Sonny Liston , famous stripper Carol Doda , Green Bay Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke , and musician Frank Zappa . It

11938-523: The publishing rights to a wealth of material, with the Monkees being offered the first choice of many new songs. Due to the abundance of material numerous tracks were recorded, but dozens were left unreleased until Rhino Records started releasing them through the Missing Links series of albums starting in the late 1980s. The Monkees' UK tour in 1967 received a chilly reception; the front pages of several UK and international music papers proclaimed that

12065-404: The records. The Monkees Tale author Eric Lefcowitz noted that the Monkees were—first and foremost—a video group. Pleased with their initial efforts, Columbia (over Kirshner's objections) planned to send the Monkees out to play live concerts . The massive success of the series—and its spin-off records—created intense pressure to mount a touring version of the group. Against the initial wishes of

12192-405: The release in advance, at having their opinions on the track selection ignored, at Kirshner's self-congratulatory liner notes and also because of the cover photo, which was a composite of photographs taken for a J.C. Penney clothing advertisement. Indeed, the Monkees had not even been given a copy of the album; they had to buy it from a record store. The climax of the rivalry between Kirshner and

12319-510: The remainder of the band/cast members for the TV show. The advertisements each read as follows: 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. Out of 437 applicants, the other three chosen for the cast of the TV show were musician Michael Nesmith, musician Peter Tork, and actor/musician Micky Dolenz. Nesmith had been working as

12446-507: The show to Screen Gems Television on April 16, 1965. Rafelson and Schneider's original idea was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin' Spoonful , who were not widely known at the time. After those plans fell through, Rafelson and Schneider focused on Davy Jones. In September 1964, Jones had signed to a long-term contract to appear in TV programs for Screen Gems, to make feature films for Columbia Pictures and to record music for

12573-467: The show was to have comics render their stand-up routines into short comedy films much like the ones in Elephant Parts . Nesmith assembled writers Jack Handey , William Martin , John Levenstein, and Michael Kaplan, along with directors William Dear (who had directed Elephant Parts ) and Alan Myerson, as well as producer Ward Sylvester to create the show. The half-hour show ran for 5 episodes in

12700-436: The songs. The six (plus "Ditty Diego") Monkees songs on the album range from psychedelic pop to straightforward rockers to Broadway rock to eastern-influenced pop to a folk-rock ballad. Although the Monkees performed "Circle Sky" live in the film, the studio version was chosen for the album. The live version was later released on various compilations, including Rhino's Missing Links series of Monkees albums. The album also includes

12827-473: The soundtrack to the second season of the television show. In March 1967, " The Girl I Knew Somewhere ", composed by Nesmith and performed by Dolenz, Nesmith, Tork and bassist John London , was issued as the B-side to the Monkees' third single, " A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You ", and it rose to No. 39 on the charts. The A-side rose to No. 2. Issued in May 1967, Headquarters had no songs released as singles in

12954-815: The southern California shows. In 2019, Nesmith toured in a two-piece configuration with pedal steel player Pete Finney, focusing on his 1972 album, And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' . This was the first time Nesmith had performed in this format since 1974 with Red Rhodes. Nesmith was also joined by special guests Ben Gibbard and Scott McCaughey on opening night in Seattle. Nesmith was married three times and had four children. He met his first wife, Phyllis Ann Barbour, in 1964, while at San Antonio College. Together, they had three children: Christian , born in 1965; Jonathan, born in 1968; and Jessica, born in 1970. Nesmith and Barbour divorced in 1972. Nesmith also had

13081-532: The stage with Pete Seeger ; he learned of The Monkees from Stephen Stills , whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz ) who had starred in the Screen Gems-produced TV series Circus Boy as a child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock. He had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links, which released one single, "Don't Do It". During

13208-485: The success of TV series The Monkees , the Monkees were one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s. With international hits, four chart-topping albums and three chart-topping songs (" Last Train to Clarksville ", " I'm a Believer ", and " Daydream Believer "), they sold more than 75 million records worldwide. The Monkees were originally a fictional band created for the NBC television sitcom The Monkees . Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork were cast to portray members of

13335-598: The summer of 1985 on NBC Thursday nights in prime time. Nesmith formed the Pacific Arts Corporation , Inc. in 1974 to manage and develop media projects. Pacific Arts Video became a pioneer in the home video market, producing and distributing a wide variety of videotaped programs, although the company eventually ceased operations after an acrimonious contract dispute with PBS over home video licensing rights and payments for several series, including Ken Burns ' The Civil War . The dispute escalated into

13462-662: The summers at Allegany State Park most years since 1972. The Hootenanny was an annual one-day rockabilly music festival held on July 4th weekends from 1995 to 2013 at the Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine, California. The July 3, 1999 Hootenanny was recorded and released as Live at the Hootenanny, Vol. 1 . It featured rockabilly bands like the Reverend Horton Heat , The Derailers , Mike Ness , and

13589-572: The television division of Universal Pictures , but was unsuccessful. In May 1964, while working at Screen Gems , Rafelson teamed up with Bert Schneider , whose father, Abraham Schneider, headed the Colpix Records and Screen Gems Television units of Columbia Pictures . Rafelson and Schneider ultimately formed Raybert Productions. The Beatles ' films A Hard Day's Night and Help! inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelson's idea for The Monkees . As "Raybert Productions", they sold

13716-608: The verdict, a settlement was reached with the amount paid to Pacific Arts and Nesmith kept confidential. Nesmith's most recent Pacific Arts project was Videoranch 3D, a virtual environment on the internet that hosted live performances at various virtual venues inside the ranch. He performed live inside Videoranch 3D on May 25, 2009. Nesmith was the executive producer for the films Repo Man , Tapeheads , and Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann , as well as his own solo recording and film projects. In 1998, Nesmith published his first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora . It

13843-419: The weak point in the collective musicianship of the quartet, having to splice together multiple takes of Dolenz's "shaky" drumming for final use.) By this point, the four did not have a common vision regarding their musical interests, with Nesmith and Jones also moving in different directions—Nesmith following his country/folk instincts and Jones reaching for Broadway-style numbers. The next three albums featured

13970-553: The week ending November 5, 1966. The Monkees' debut album, The Monkees , was released a month later; it spent 13 weeks at No. 1 and stayed on the Billboard charts for 78 weeks. Twenty years later, during their reunion, it spent another 24 weeks on the Billboard charts. In assigning instruments for purposes of the television show, a dilemma arose as to which of the four would portray the drummer. Both Nesmith (a skilled guitarist and bassist) and Tork (who could play several stringed and keyboard instruments) were peripherally familiar with

14097-399: The whole band, the songs were mostly solo efforts. In a couple of cases, Boyce and Hart had returned from the first two albums to produce, but credit was given to the Monkees due to contractual requirements. Propelled by the hit singles "Daydream Believer" and " Valleri ", along with Nesmith's self-penned top 40 hit "Tapioca Tundra", The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees reached No. 3 on

14224-434: The world. Tork's "For Pete's Sake" was used as the closing theme for the television show. Nesmith continued in his country-rock leanings, adding the pedal steel guitar to three of the songs, along with contributing his self-composed countrified-rock song "Sunny Girlfriend". Tork added the banjo to the Nesmith-composed rocker "You Told Me", a song whose introduction was satirical of the Beatles' "Taxman". Other notable songs are

14351-474: Was a commercial and critical disaster. Nesmith then recorded And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' , featuring only him on guitar and Red Rhodes on pedal steel. Nesmith then became more heavily involved in producing, working on Iain Matthews 's album Valley Hi and Bert Jansch 's L.A. Turnaround . Nesmith was given a label of his own, Countryside, through Elektra Records, as Elektra Records 's Jac Holzman

14478-436: Was a commercial for Kool-Aid and Nerf balls in April 1970 (fittingly, the spot ends with Nesmith frowning and saying, "Enerf's enerf!"). As the band's sales declined, Nesmith asked to be released from his contract, despite it costing him: "I had three years left ... at $ 150,000 [equivalent to $ 1.16 million in 2022] a year." He remained in a financial bind until 1980, when he received his inheritance from his mother's estate. In

14605-462: Was a fan of Nesmith's. It featured a number of artists produced by Nesmith, including Garland Frady and Red Rhodes. The staff band at Countryside also helped Nesmith on his next, and last, RCA Victor album, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash . Countryside folded when David Geffen replaced Holzman, as Countryside was unnecessary in Geffen's eyes. In the mid-1970s, Nesmith briefly collaborated as

14732-403: Was a member of the television pop-rock band the Monkees , created for the television situation comedy of the same name . Nesmith won his role largely by appearing nonchalant when he auditioned. He rode his motorcycle to the audition, and wore a wool hat to keep his hair out of his eyes; producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered the "wool hat guy" and called Nesmith back. Once he

14859-456: Was better known by his stage name Chip Douglas , to produce the next Monkees album. This album was to be the first Monkees album where they were the only musicians, outside of most of the bass and the horns. Douglas was responsible for both music presentation—actually leading the band and engineering recordings—and playing bass on most of Headquarters . This album, along with their next, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , served as

14986-414: Was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs so they could be used in the show. Many of the songs Nesmith wrote for the Monkees, such as " The Girl I Knew Somewhere ", " Mary, Mary ", and " Listen to the Band " became minor hits. One song he wrote, "You Just May Be the One", is in mixed meter, interspersing 5/4 bars into an otherwise 4/4 structure. Even before Colgems and Don Kirshner 's surreptitious release of

15113-492: Was developed originally as an online project and was later published as a hardcover book by St Martin's Press. Nesmith's second novel, The America Gene , was released in July 2009 as an online download from Videoranch.com. In the early 1980s, Nesmith teamed with satirist P. J. O'Rourke to ride his vehicle Timerider in the annual Baja 1000 off-road race. This is chronicled in O'Rourke's 2009 book Driving Like Crazy . During

15240-515: Was filmed at Columbia Pictures ' Screen Gems studios and on location in California, Utah , and the Bahamas between February 19 and May 17, 1968, and premiered in New York City on November 6 of that year (the film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20). The film was the antithesis of The Monkees television show. Rafelson and Nicholson's "Ditty Diego-War Chant" (recited at the start of

15367-420: Was flown back home and proceeded to have quadruple bypass surgery ). He contributed two songs to the Monkees' 13th studio album, Christmas Party (the group's first Christmas album), released on October 12, 2018. In 2019, Nesmith and Dolenz reunited again to make up the cancelled dates of the tour and adding several more dates, including a planned tour of Australia and New Zealand. Nesmith and Dolenz announced

15494-421: Was much better, but I think it suffers for that reason." With Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. , the Monkees' fourth album, they went back to making music for the television show, except that they had control over the music and which songs would be chosen. They used a mixture of themselves and session musicians on the album, including the Wrecking Crew , Louie Shelton , Glen Campbell , members of

15621-405: Was released in 2006. In 2011, he returned to producing, working with blues singer and guitarist Carolyn Wonderland . Nesmith produced Wonderland's version of Robert Johnson 's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" on her album Peace Meal . Wonderland married writer-comedian A. Whitney Brown on March 4, 2011, in a ceremony officiated by Nesmith. In 2012, Nesmith briefly toured Europe prior to rejoining

15748-411: Was short-lived, however. Recording and producing as a group was Tork's major interest and he hoped that the four would continue working together as a band on future recordings, according to the liner notes of the 2007 Rhino reissue of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. . "Cuddly Toy" on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. marked the last time Dolenz, who originally played guitar before

15875-661: Was soon after approached to help develop the MTV network, though he declined. Nesmith was also an executive producer of the film Repo Man (1984). Nesmith was born in Houston, Texas , on December 30, 1942. He was an only child; his parents, Warren and Bette Nesmith (née McMurray), divorced when he was four. His mother married Robert Graham in 1962, and they remained married until 1975. Nesmith and his mother moved to Dallas to be closer to her family. She took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphic design, eventually attaining

16002-508: Was to just go back to the original songwriting and song-making strategy of the first albums except with a clear indication of how [the music] came to be... The rabid element and the hatred that was engendered is almost impossible to describe. It lingers to this day among people my own age." Tork disagreed with Nesmith's assessment of Headquarters , stating, "I don't think the Pisces album was as groovy to listen to as Headquarters . Technically it

16129-476: Was used in the early twentieth century U.S. as a placeholder name to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage, it was synonymous with doohickey , thingamajig or whatchamacallit , as in: "That hootenanny that she shovels her bread with — that long-handled majigger, you know" (from Sim Greene: A Narrative of the Whisky Insurrection [1906]). Hootenanny is also

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