Michael Nesmith

A television-age visionary with a sly sense of humor and a love of country rock, Michael Nesmith was a pioneer in bringing together popular music and visual elements. Born in 1942 in Houston, Nesmith got his GED after a stint in the U.S. Air Force; his mother and stepfather gave him a guitar in 1962 after he’d been honorably discharged. He began writing songs and eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he hosted a weekly hootenanny at the Hollywood club The Troubadour. In 1965 he auditioned for a TV show about a fictional rock band; he was cast on The Monkees, where he portrayed himself as a beanie-wearing, witty guitarist with a resonant voice. The group initially mimed British Invasion-inspired music played by session musicians, but Nesmith convinced the show’s producers to let them play their own instruments and eventually wrested musical control from producer Don Kirshner. He left the band in 1970 and began Nesmith’s First National Band, which blended country and rock; they released three albums before breaking up. Nesmith continued in the country-rock vein for a few more records in the early ’70s before turning to producing and more ambitious projects. He began the multimedia company Pacific Arts in the mid-’70s, initially using it to self-release his own music. For the song “Rio,” he created an associated short film; that began his and Pacific Arts’ foray into the nascent form of music video, which would include his creation of the sketch program Elephant Parts and the proto-MTV show PopClips. Over the years, Nesmith would intermittently reunite with The Monkees, writing a song for and contributing vocals to their 2016 album Good Times and touring occasionally with his fellow members. He passed away from heart failure in 2021.