Because I knew I was too close to the material. I had some suggestions. I messed around. That was one of my ideas of reenvisioning. Because, talk about being familiar with the material.
MD: That blew me away. Again, knowing that song for 40 years, how he just flipped it on its head and came up with not only a great arrangement and feel but he captured that era! He captured the movie Head - that psychedelic, kind of Ravi Shankar sort of thing. Obviously, today, a kid can log on to the internet and find music from any country or artist or genre in seconds. You had the radio. How big of an impact did radio have on you at a young age as you started to form that identity as a music fan?
MD: I very specifically remember when I got to the age where top 40 radio meant something. And I started listening to a little transistor radio at 12 years old or 13 years old. That is so cool. I gravitated toward, and still to this day do, to good old rock and roll. My heroes. In fact, I saw him for the first time in concert a couple of years ago and I was starstruck! I got to meet him after. Jerry Lee Lewis. But in terms of the rock and roll, Elvis - but only the very early stuff when he was still a rock and roller.
And that was the stuff that inspired me as a singer. November 16, at You in particular were also surrounded by amazing players like The Wrecking Crew from day one. How did you learn from them and how did they impact your songwriting and growth as a musician? Inever was prolific as a songwriter. I have written some songs. When I would write a song, it would usually be something that triggered it - some event, some person, something somebody said.
As far as the musicianship, I started out as a guitar player. My first instrument was guitar - classical guitar. My father got me into Segovia. I was OK as a 10 year old. But it was classical guitar. Then I kind of morphed into folk music because people in high school would invite me to parties because I could play the guitar.
I was really a geeky little kid, a showbiz kid. But I would bring my guitar and play some stuff. My sister and I would sing around. So it was folk music in the late 50s and early 60s.
If you look at The Monkees not as a band or a group It was a television show about this group that wanted to be The Beatles. And on the television show, if you watch the old shows, we were never really successful. We were always struggling for the success. So if you look at The Monkees more like the Marx Brothers A little half hour day at the races. A day at the beach. So it was like a musical.
Nesmith ended up asking venues not to reference his time in the Monkees in their ads or as part of the group's introduction. It did no good. He was stuck in a caricature. By , the First National Band were over. None of their subsequent singles ever charted higher than "Joanne.
We were ridiculed and mocked. Some of that may have been Monkees backlash from people who despised the Monkees, and at that time — and maybe still — were in a majority," Nesmith told USA Today in The records were not successful and the live shows were not subscribed, so it became impossible to proceed.
Meanwhile, the country-rocking Eagles were becoming one of America's hottest bands, after first getting together as the backing group for Linda Ronstadt — a singer-songwriter who rose to fame with a cover of Nesmith's "Different Drum.
His finances didn't stabilize until he received a inheritance from the Liquid Paper Company. That was right in my wheelhouse and I was agonized. I was like, 'Why is this happening? Maybe the Monkees were simply a stone too heavy to carry into the next phase. He didn't participate in their early reunions — including the Monkees' celebrated 20th-anniversary tour, appearing only for a single encore in at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
After Justus , a decade later, he largely stayed away until returning for consecutive summer tours in the wake of Jones' death in He took part in sessions for 's Good Times , but didn't tour behind it.
After Tork died , Nesmith performed some duo shows with Dolenz. He never could let go of the First National Band, however, and eventually reissued their albums then resurrected the band in They were so happy to see the old Monkees stuff and they were so happy to know me and they sort of knew my individual work.
And they were all so supportive and so happy to have this back in their life. It was like they had found something. They are in here looking for their old memories so they can take them home with them.
Remember when you rushed home from school to get down the basement floor and watch The Monkees? That music is still here. We play the same. We look the same.
Bring them to the show. They will change their mind. I see so many bands these days that are doing farewell tours… Oh, no! Do you ever think about a Monkees farewell tour? Well, I had that heart attack about three tours ago. I know how this music goes. I can play it well.
I can sing it well. Go out there and do it. Have you thought about a European tour? You know what? You were talking to the press in Australia a few months back and you said something about Peter Tork that surprised a lot of fans. They knew Pete and I went our own ways. Then we just left it at that. Partners in silence. We enjoyed, to a degree, playing music. Sure, it was fun to go to the big shows where we were the big headliners. I was 16, I was 13, I was 11, and there were five people onstage.
Maybe it was. Think that might happen at some point? The East Coast is kind of like the U. I am Michael Nesmith! How are you feeling these days, health-wise? I feel great. I feel a thousand percent. I could really breathe. Everything was really working. I felt funny. Really good stuff. Newswire Powered by. Close the menu. Rolling Stone. Log In.
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