Why Mike Nesmith Wanted to Record 1 of The Monkees’ Songs in Nashville
Mike Nesmith decided to record one of The Monkees‘ songs after the sitcom The Monkees came to an end. In addition, he wanted to record the song in Nashville. Nesmith said this would give him the opportunity to work with certain notable musicians.
Mike Nesmith wrote quite a bit about 1 of The Monkees’ songs because it had an ‘interesting pedigree’
During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, the three then-surviving Monkees — Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork — discussed their careers. The trio named 15 songs that defined their lives. One was The Monkees’ “Listen to the Band” from 1969. Nesmith opined “Listen to the Band” had an “interesting pedigree.”
“I write half a chapter in my new book about it because it was such an unusual moment,” Nesmith said. “The Monkees’ series was over and we’d already done the movie [Head]. That kind of put a tag on everything.”
Mike Nesmith said a group of musicians who started a ‘cultural revolution’ worked on 1 of his songs
Nesmith revealed why he wanted to record “Listen to the Band” in Nashville. “I wanted to go down to Nashville while I still had some Monkee money and have my songs played by the Nashville cats like David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan, and Norbert Putnam,” Nesmith recalled. “These were the guys that put together this extraordinary music that launched a cultural revolution with Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and the whole R&B thing.”
Nesmith further explained what it was like working with a group of studio musicians called the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. “When I went into the studio it was a completely different vibe then the Wrecking Crew [studio musician] guys in L.A.,” he said. “Those guys did commercials, orchestral stuff, TV shows and so forth. In Muscle Shoals, it was all R&B all the time. They were exceptional players. I played the song for them and they were like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.'” Nesmith recorded “Listen to the Band” with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and it was released on a Monkees album.
How The Monkees’ ‘Listen to the Band’ performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom
“Listen to the Band” became a minor hit for The Monkees. It reached No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for eight weeks. The group included “Listen to the Band” on the album The Monkees Present, which was the final Prefab Four album to feature Nesmith until 1996’s Justus. The album hit No. 100 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 15 weeks.
On the other hand, The Official Charts Company reports “Listen to the Band” did not chart in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, The Monkees Present did not chart in the U.K. either.
“Listen to the Band” was not a huge hit — but it remains an interesting connection between the Prefab Four and Nashville.
