History Music / MichaelNesmith

Enlisting in the Air Force at 18, Nesmith took up the guitar while in the service and became involved in the Texas folk music scene after his discharge. After releasing a self-financed 1963 single ("Wanderin'") he decided to try his luck in California, forming the folk-rock trio Mike, John and Bill with two of his old Texas buddies (John London and Bill Sleeper) in the wake of Music/TheBeatles' success, and releasing two singles for the Colpix label under the name Michael Blessing in 1965. After seeing the famous "MADNESS!" ad in ''Variety'', he successfully auditioned for The Monkees.[[note]]He was the only one of the Monkees who did an actual walk-in audition after seeing the ad. Davy Jones was a Columbia Pictures contract player who was attached to the project from the start, Micky Dolenz's agent saw the ad and arranged his audition, and Peter Tork was tracked down by the producers on the recommendation of [[Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung Stephen Stills.]][[/note]]

* StageName: At the behest of Colpix Records, who didn't think Nesmith was a memorable name, he briefly changed his name to Michael Blessing (a surname he picked out of the phone book). As mentioned in an interview segment on the Monkees TV show, he also briefly played around with changing his name to [[SignificantMonogram Lauren St. David]].

Enlisting in the Air Force at 18, Nesmith took up the guitar while in the service and became involved in the Texas folk music scene after his discharge. After releasing a self-financed 1963 single ("Wanderin'") he decided to try his luck in California, forming the folk-rock trio Mike, John and Bill with two of his old Texas buddies (John London and Bill Sleeper) in the wake of Music/TheBeatles' success, and releasing two singles for the Colpix label under the name Michael Blessing in 1965. After seeing the famous "MADNESS!" ad in ''Variety'', he successfully auditioned for The Monkees.

* StageName: At the behest of Colpix Records, who didn't think Nesmith was a memorable name, he briefly changed his name to Michael Blessing (a surname he picked out of the phone book). As mentioned in an interview segment on the Monkees TV show, he also briefly played around with changing his name to [[FunWithAcronyms Lauren St. David]].

* AlmightyMom: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Nesmith_Graham Bette Nesmith]] gave birth to her only son when she was 18, raised him alone at a time when single parenting carried a big social stigma (especially in Texas), invented Liquid Paper then set up the company out of her house, then out of a shed in her backyard, until it became a multi-million dollar business. She was also active in helping women get ahead in the business world, and when she sold Liquid Paper to Gillette in 1979, she used the money to set up some charitable trust funds. Who knows what else she might have accomplished if [[AuthorExistenceFailure she hadn't suffered a fatal stroke]] at age 56.

* OnlyChildSyndrome: His childhood was this, coupled with DisappearedDad.

* YourCheatingHeart: Wouldn't be country without it, would it?

* 2010 - ''The Amazing ZigZag Concert''

* BreakupBreakout: The only Monkee to arguably achieve anything close to solo commercial success after the group's demise.

* LongTitle: The albums ''And The Hits Just Keep On Comin''', ''Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash'', ''From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing'', and ''Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma'', alongside a few songs.

* OddFriendship: In ''Infinite Tuesday'' he discusses how at various times he was close with Creator/JohnLennon, Creator/JackNicholson, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary Timothy Leary]], Creator/DouglasAdams, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann Murray Gell-Mann]].

* GratuitousSpanish: "Tengo Amore" features a Spanish verse, then the same verse translated into English.

!! Studio And Live Discography:

* 1978 - ''Live At The Palais''

* 1980 - ''The Michael Nesmith Radio Special''

* 1999 - ''Live At The Britt Festival''

* 2010 - ''The Amazing ZigZag Concert''
* 2014 - ''Movies Of The Mind''

* RecordProducer: Notably, one of the first instances of The Monkees' wresting control from their "puppet master" Don Kirschner was Nesmith becoming producer. This, of course, was under the stipulation that he would not be performing in any sessions he produced.

In the late '70s, Nesmith began creating small musical segments for ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. This eventually led to the creation of a larger-scale project in ''Elephant Parts'', and... the rest, as they say, is history. His subsequent career has seen him release the odd album and a few books, create a virtual online concert stage, partake in several Monkees reunions, and continually speculate about possible future technologies, many of which have not only seen the light of day, but have also become household items.

** ''Television Parts'' is important in Cloudcuckooland history for introducing the work of Creator/JackHandey to a television audience.

Robert Michael Nesmith (born 30 December 1942) is an American SingerSongwriter, producer, and actor. Perhaps best remembered as a wool hat-wearing Texan [[Franchise/TheMonkees Monkee]], "Papa Nez" has had quite the storied and innovative career. From helping codify early country rock to basically inventing Creator/{{MTV}} and music videos with his Grammy award-winning "visual album" ''Elephant Parts'', Nesmith's influence cannot be underestimated. Oh, and his mum invented liquid paper.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Yeah, no other mind could birth the insanity that is ''Elephant Parts''. Also, his Website/{{Facebook}} profile regularly features messages ostensibly written by his dog, Dale. In fact, he eventually deletes most of his Facebook postings, including Dale's, because why the hell not? Dedicated friends of Nez usually copy his posts for posterity.

* BerserkButton: Don freakin' Kirshner. His releasing ''More Of The Monkees'' without even consulting the band got Nesmith so pissed off he punched a hole through a hotel wall, letting him know "that could have been [his] face." Tellingly, Nesmith got to produce sessions himself not long after.
* BreakupBreakout: The only Monkee to arguably achieve anything close to commercial success after the group's demise.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Yeah, no other mind could birth the insanity that is ''Elephant Parts''. Also, his Facebook profile regularly features messages ostensibly written by his dog, Dale. In fact, he eventually deletes most of his Facebook postings, including Dale's, because why the hell not? Dedicated friends of Nez usually copy his posts for posterity.
** To take just one example from ''Elephant Parts'', the song "Cruisin'" aka "Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam" wouldn't sound out of place on a FrankZappa album.

'''Robert Michael Nesmith''' (born 30 December 1942) is an American SingerSongwriter, producer, and actor. Perhaps best remembered as a wool hat-wearing Texan [[Franchise/TheMonkees Monkee]], "Papa Nez" has had quite the storied and innovative career. From helping codify early country rock to basically inventing Creator/{{MTV}} and music videos with his Grammy award-winning "visual album" ''Elephant Parts'', Nesmith's influence cannot be underestimated. Oh, and his mum invented liquid paper.

* DeadpanSnarker: He played the role on ''Series/TheMonkees'' TV show, but also TruthInTelevision. Witness his comments after a jury awarded him several million dollars in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against {{Creator/PBS}}:

* NonIndicativeName: ''And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'''. Ironically, one of the songs on the album - his own version of "Different Drum" - was a hit... for Linda Ronstadt, that is.

'''Robert Michael Nesmith''' (born 30 December 1942) is an American SingerSongwriter, producer, and actor. Perhaps best remembered as a wool hat-wearing Texan [[Franchise/TheMonkees Monkee]], "Papa Nez" has had quite the storied and innovative career. From helping codify early country rock to basically inventing MTV and music videos with his Grammy award-winning "visual album" ''Elephant Parts'', Nesmith's influence cannot be underestimated. Oh, and his mum invented liquid paper.