9/1/2023 0 Comments Popclips howie mandelHis mom did office work to make ends meet, but that all changed in 1951 when she came up with the idea for Liquid Paper (originally called “Mistake Out”). His parents, Warren and Bette, divorced when he was 4, and Nesmith moved with his mother to Dallas. Robert Michael Nesmith was born in Houston on Dec. “Things like The Monkees show have a specific lifetime, and when it’s through, it is through, left for history to assess.” “We all were - very tired - and the show was starting to repeat itself,” Nesmith said in a 2018 interview. 45 - the first time a Monkees LP had failed to break the top five. The soundtrack was equally disappointing. “They work very hard and they aren’t any good,” Renata Adler wrote in her review for The New York Times. Head was intended to be an edgy satire that poked fun at war, Hollywood phoniness and The Monkees themselves, but it was a box office disaster. Written by Rafelson (who also directed) and Jack Nicholson, the counterculture film was purportedly conceived during an LSD- and pot-fueled weekend. The series ended in March 1968 after its second season, but The Monkees took a final on-screen bow with Head (1968). He would lead the charge to give the boys a bigger say. This irked Nesmith, the group’s most accomplished musician he thought The Monkees could become a real band had they been given the opportunity. The Monkees sang, but others played the instruments. Music producer Don Kirshner ran the recording sessions, chose the songs and solicited tunes from the likes of Neil Diamond, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka & Carole Bayer Sager and Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. 1 albums that year, and some sources back him up, but he backtracked on that claim years later. The Monkees, Nesmith said, outsold The Beatles and Rolling Stones, combined, in 1967. 1, as did their first four albums - The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. Three Monkees singles - “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Daydream Believer” - made it to No. Realizing the series could be a record-selling gold mine, the show’s production company, Screen Gems, featured two songs in each episode. Schneider and Rafelson agreed to call him Mike but insisted he keep the hat. Producers intended on calling his character “Wool Hat,” but Nesmith hated that idea. That look on a sunny California day made an impression during his audition. To keep his hair out of his face, he wore a green wool hat. There’s another reason Nesmith might have gotten the gig: he rode a motorcycle. He also was very funny - so much so that after test audiences didn’t connect with the pilot, the producers added his and Jones’ screen test, and approval ratings soared. Nesmith won over producers with his nonchalant demeanor. Nearly 450 aspiring actor-musicians tried out. Running parts for 4 insane boys age 17-21.” “Folk & Roll Musicians for acting roles in a new TV series. “Madness!! Auditions,” read a blurb published Sept. Nesmith got in after answering an ad in the trades. “It was also unusual that the four didn’t have any character names but essentially played themselves: Mike the older leader, Davy the heartthrob, Micky the wacky cutup and Peter the childlike innocent.”ĭubbed the “Prefab Four,” The Monkees each received $400 a week for the show. “ The Monkees was the first TV show that had only young people in the lead, with no ‘adult’ figure in sight (no parent, no manager),” Gwen Ihnat wrote in a 2016 article for The A.V. An immediate hit upon its September 1966 debut, it won the Emmy for outstanding comedy series after its first season and became a pop culture phenomenon. The brainchild of producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the comedy was designed to cash in on the popularity of The Beatles by mirroring the zaniness of Help! and A Hard Day’s Night. Nesmith was 24 and an up-and-coming musician getting noticed for penning such tunes as “Different Drum” - recorded in 1967 by the Linda Ronstadt-led Stone Poneys - when he was cast as one of the four carefree youngsters living in a California beach house looking to make it in the music world on NBC’s The Monkees. Jerry Moss, A&M Records Co-Founder and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Member, Dies at 88
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