Guitar-strumming Monkee went on to have long, creative career
LOS ANGELES — Michael Nesmith, the singer-songwriter, author, actor-director and entrepreneur who will likely be best remembered as the wool-hatted, guitar-strumming member of the made-for-television rock band The Monkees, has died at age 78.
Nesmith, who had undergone quadruple bypass surgery in 2018, died at home Friday of natural causes, his family said in a statement.
Nesmith was a struggling singer-songwriter in September 1966 when “The Monkees” television debut turned him and fellow band members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and David Jones into overnight rock stars.
After the group broke up in 1970, Nesmith moved on to a long and creative career, not only as a musician but as a writer, producer and director of films, author of several books, head of a media arts company and creator of a music video format that led to the creation of MTV.
Nesmith saw a trade publication ad seeking “four insane boys” to play rock musicians in a band modeled after the Beatles.
The show featured the comical misadventures of a quartet that tooled around Los Angeles in a trickedout Pontiac GTO called the MonkeeMobile and, when they weren’t chasing girls, pursued music stardom.
Each episode rolled out two or three new Monkees songs, six of which became Top 10 Billboard hits during the show’s two-year run. Three others, “I’m a Believer,” “Daydream Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville,” reached No. 1.
Nesmith and Tork railed against the program’s
refusal to allow them to play their own instruments at recording sessions. But when Nesmith revealed that fact to reporters, music critics quickly turned on “The Monkees,” dismissing the show as a fraud.
Nesmith had written several songs he hoped to debut on the show, but almost all were dismissed by music producer Don Kirshner, as sounding too country. Things came to a head when all four Monkees demanded they take control of the music. They were warned they would be sued for breach of contract.
At that, Nesmith rose from his seat and smashed his fist through a wall, telling Kirshner it could have been his face.
For years, Nesmith would refuse to confirm or deny the incident, even as the other three recounted it to reporters. In his 2017 memoir, “Infinite Tuesday,” he did acknowledge it, saying he’d lost his temper when he felt his integrity was being questioned. “It was an absurd moment in so many ways,” he wrote.
It did give the Monkees control over their music, however, beginning with the group’s third album, “Headquarters.”
After the show concluded in 1968, the band embarked on a lengthy concert tour where members sang many of their own songs and played their own instruments.
Following the band’s breakup, Nesmith rarely rejoined the others for reunion tours, leading many to believe he disliked the band and the show, something he steadfastly denied.
It was, he would often say, that he was simply too busy doing other things. Over the years, he recorded more than a dozen albums and toured with the First National Band, the countryrock-folk group he assembled.
For the Monkees’ 30th anniversary he induced the others to reunite to record a new album, “Justus,” for which all four composed the songs and played the instruments. He also joined a brief tour and wrote and directed their 1997 TV reunion film, “Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees.”
Nesmith also wrote and produced the 1982 science-fiction film “Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann” and earned executive producer credits on “Repo Man,” “Tape Heads” and other films.
His 1981 comedy-music video “Elephant Parts” won a Grammy and led to “PopClips,” a series of music videos broadcast on the Nickelodeon cable network that in turn led to the creation of MTV.
Nesmith published two well-received novels, 1998’s “The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora” and 2009’s “The America Gene.”
After Jones died in 2012, Nesmith began to rejoin the Monkees more frequently. Following Tork’s death in 2019, Nesmith and Dolenz took on the name The Monkees Mike & Micky.
Nesmith, who was married and divorced three times, is survived by four children, Christian, Jason, Jessica and Jonathan.