Mike Nesmith

[jingles1928]

Mike Nesmith of the Monkees passed last night. 78 of natural cause They had a TV show also in mid to late sixties. Popular when I was in high school. RIP 

[hillman]

RIP Michael Nesmith.

he was the only musician in the group when they were formed. the others eventually learned to play their instruments They were fun in their day !

[jingles1928]

did not know that.

[vtfireman85]

I liked that show, used to enjoy the reruns on Nick at Nite. 

[acem]

Hey hey were the monkeys!

Rip.

Thx-Ace 

[mmi]

1 hour ago, hillman said:

RIP Michael Nesmith.

he was the only musician in the group when they were formed. the others eventually learned to play their instruments They were fun in their day !

which were?   mikey guitar   davey   micky   peter piano

 

 

[Red_Man]

Mike played guitar,  Peter played bass, Mickey played drums, Davey might have played keyboards. 

[hillman]

28 minutes ago, mmi said:

which were?   mikey guitar   davey   micky   peter piano

 

 

well this article somewhat backs up what I always understood from radio station programs . They did not play on their first hits and were accused of being phonies. they soon played their own instruments reasonably well. much like everything else there is different info on the net

 https://nypost.com/2021/12/10/thanks-to-michael-nesmith-for-turning-my-childhood-band-the-monkees-into-a-classic/ 

The New York Times said "

Originally, the four mop tops didn’t write their own music or even play their own instruments. Critics dismissed them as a garbage act. Their TV show only lasted two seasons.

But with the help of their leader, Michael Nesmith, all that began to change.

Nesmith was a serious, Texas-bred musician, songwriter and guitarist whose frustration over his and his bandmates’ lack of creative control reportedly once caused him to punch a wall. In 1967, he led a successful rebellion, ousting record producer Don Kirshner. The Monkees took control of their instruments, their music and their lives. They never looked back."

[Red Collector]

Actually, they were all musical in their own way. Mike Nesmith played guitar, sang, and wrote material before he was cast on the Monkees. Peter Tork actually played many instruments from a young age, including guitar, piano/ organ/ keyboard, and even French horn! Micky Dolenz was a singer and guitar player in garage bands before landing the role, but had to leard the drums, because his character was chosen to fill that spot for the show. Davy Jones wasn't really a musician per se, but was trained for the theater, and appeared in Broadway musicals, and had recorded a solo album before being cast on the show. The big stink about "not playing their own instruments" largely came about because studio musicians were used on their first two albums. This was a little unfair, because many, many musical acts of the day used studio musicians, along with the fact that filming a tv show all day followed by recording vocal tracks at night hardly left time for anything else, let alone recording instrumentals.

Having said all that... RIP to Mr. Nesmith... his talents have entertained me and many, many others for decades

[Dasnake]

And to all of  the above mikes mother bette invented white out.

[Red Collector]

[Dasnake]

I remember the remarks when they first came out, I was late teens and the groups we ran with loved them, mickey was my favorite, smart ass attitude and funky delivery, also he was in the tv show circus boy.

[Steve C.]

I didn't realize that he wrote this tune till someone mentioned it on the radio today.  Linda Ronstadt made it a hit.  Here's her version, and then his:

 

 

 

[hillman]

Carrie Underwood performed that song at Linda Ronstadt's induction into the RHF. So in a way its a tribute to Mike Nesmith. She made me a fan with that tribute