Mike Nesmith was the only one in the Beatles’ cloned plastic band The Monkees who could hold a guitar the right way up, but more importantly, his bobble hat, which identified him as the American answer to John Lennon. The four of them played a jingle for two years “Hey, hey, we are the Monkees!” through television, while studio musicians played their records with which they were more successful than the Beatles in the universally politicized year 1968. The Monkees made no great effort; their best song, “Last Train to Clarksville”, was stolen from “Ticket to Ride” and “Paperback Writer”.
But – and for that they all go to heaven – they radiated pure, innocent pop like in “Daydream Believer” and led to the comforting hope that world history could prove to be as harmless as its singles. Despite the rapid onset of “celebrity psychosis”, which he knew how to enjoy, Nesmith was soon intellectually under-challenged and bought himself free from the contract; Because his mother, as a typist-prone secretary, had invented a correction fluid and thus got rich, he was able to afford the further career as an independent artist, film producer and author.
In old age he reconciled with his past with the Monkees
Nesmith had served briefly in the Air Force in Texas and then strolled to California, where he tried his hand at V-effect country music with Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Before “Different Drum” became a hit for Linda Ronstadt, Nesmith had already sabotaged the song on television himself. “Flying Down to Rio” (1977) already showed that he wanted more than music and could do it: He experimented with images and their interaction with music. The question of whether he only invented the video clip or also the MTV exploitation machine is now preoccupying contemporary history research.
In old age he reconciled with his embarrassing past with the Monkees and went on tour with the others from time to time. He left the bobble hat at home. Four weeks after his last appearance, the unrecognized pop genius Mike Nesmith died on Friday at the age of 78 in Carmel Valley, California.