Robert Michael Nesmith, better known as Michael Nesmith from the 60’s pop-rock made-for-TV band The Monkees, died yesterday. The Monkees’ legacy is a complicated one: on one hand, a fabricated “boy band” plucked out of a talent pool for a TV show meant to capitalize on the success of The Beatles; on the other, four genuinely talented and misunderstood musicians who would eventually forge their own way into pop history with their songs, shows, harmonies, and humor.

Often lost in the sped-up, sit-com slapstick that their television show thrived on was one hell of a collection of songs, and often lost within those songs was the creative genius of Nesmith, who wrote the incredible “Different Drum,” a hit for Linda Ronstadt and her band The Stone Poneys after dense producers said it “wasn’t a Monkees song.”

Nesmith’s post-Monkees career includes some fantastic albums and a misunderstood relationship with his past. He fought for creative control when he was in the band, eventually seeing some success in the battle, and justified their existence in the press as he grew older, frustrated that they were too-often left out of the nostalgic tales of the Laurel Canyon scene while the Eagles, Doors, and Flying Burrito Brothers became the things of legend.

My own personal history with The Monkees started at a young age watching after-school reruns of the show before I truly appreciated the music. When MTV brought the show (that basically dictated its own existence 15 years earlier) back into syndication, my pals and I, led by our ahead-of-his-age musical guru John Burke, partied hard into the night, taking in as much of the 24-hour marathon as we could in my parent’s basement before our eyes just couldn’t stay open any more. We were 16 years old, and our little punk band from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (The Regulars) had several Monkees songs in our set from the very beginning.    

The Monkees have one hell of a catalog. Nesmith’s solo career is worth a dive too. You know the hits. Hopefully you’ll enjoy some of these deeper cuts. RIP to Michael Nesmith. Those songs and harmonies are etched onto our brains and psyches, and Americana as we know it. 

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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