Mike Nesmith Admits He Was a ‘Loser’ Before ‘The Monkees’ Series: Predicted He’d End up ‘in Jail or Dead’ Before Success Hit
Once edited, specific episodes of The Monkees ran shorter than their allotted time. Therefore, producers would film interviews with their cast to fill the void. In one installment, Mike Nesmith called himself a “loser” before succeeding as a television star. He predicted that if success didn’t come, he would have ended up “in jail or dead.”
Mike Nesmith called himself ‘a loser’ before finding success on ‘The Monkees’
Alongside Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith found success beyond his wildest dreams as a cast member of The Monkees series. However, before success hit, he had a bleak outlook on his chance for success.
Nesmith sat down for an interview to fill time for one of the series’ episodes that ran short. He made a shocking admission about what others thought of him before finding fame.
The producer asked, “Since the show’s been on for a few weeks, have you heard from anyone from your past? That you haven’t seen in a long while?”
Nesmith had a serious and shocking response to that question. Even his castmates seemed stunned.
“A lot of people used to say [to me] ‘You’re gonna go to jail. You’ll die when you’re 23 years old,” Nesmith said.
The producers asked why people made that prediction when he was a child. Nesmith responded, “I was a pretty rotten kid. A loser.”
“I sort of created my hotbed,” he continued. “It was a drag.”
Mike Nesmith admits earning lots of money was tricky as a member of The Monkees
Following, Mike Nesmith was asked what it was like to be able to purchase anything he wanted, like a motorcycle or car. Was he “digging” those things?
“That whole scene is a whole other thing,” he shared. “I’ve got to be careful, or I’ll spend myself bankrupt.”
“Big house, big car,” Nesmith continued of the things he had purchased. However, he didn’t clarify whether he had made any other special purchases with his Monkees money.
The series lasted two seasons. The Monkees ran from 1966 through 1968. Nesmith managed his wealth well, earning a net worth of $50 million by the time of his death.
Davy Jones once gave Mike Nesmith solid advice about the pitfalls of success
As The Monkees television show charged on, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith pushed for more creative input regarding the music heard on the TV show. Subsequently, these songs were released on records under The Monkees banner.
Jones gave Nesmith some advice that had served him well throughout his career as a performer, particularly when instructed to do things in a way he perhaps disagreed with.
“David continually admonished me to calm down and do what I was told,” said Nesmith to Rolling Stone. “His advice to me was to approach the show like a job, do my best, shut up, take the money, and go home.”
The Monkees guitarist and songwriter believed money didn’t mean as much as ‘personal happiness’
In an interview for Monkees Monthly, reprinted by the website Cool Cherry Cream, Mike Nesmith shared his belief that money didn’t mean as much as “personal happiness.” He recounted his Texas childhood, feeling like an outsider.
“I was forever either the only white boy in class or the only poor boy in class. I was the one who found it difficult to make friends simply because I was WHO I was,” Nesmith admitted.
“I’m not sorry for myself—because it created a situation whereby both my mother and myself have been able to fight against it. I always fought against a system where you were rejected out of hand if you didn’t have a stack of loot in your wallet.”
He continued, “Believe me, thinking back this way has done me a lot of good. I guess I hid away from many things that bugged me most as a kid. But you don’t put right wrongs by being scared of them.”
Nesmith concluded, “We beat them, my mother and I, and I can’t help feeling proud and rather happy. Believe me, money doesn’t mean half as much as personal happiness.”
Mike Nesmith would achieve fame as a singer, songwriter, and philanthropist. His mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, invented the correction fluid Liquid Paper, which she sold to Gillette in 1979 for $47.5 million. A year later, Nesmith inherited her fortune when she died.
