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Fans of The Monkees television series likely believed taping episodes of the beloved NBC series was as loose as it appeared on-camera. A band of four young men, happily romping through their day, carried by the music and mood of the 1960s. However, Mike Nesmith claims there “wasn’t any fooling around” on the set. He once compared the experience to “being in the Air Force.”

Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones of 'The Monkees.'
Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

‘The Monkees’ Mike Nesmith had firsthand experience as a member of the United States Armed Forces

Nesmith was born in Houston, Texas, and attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas. Shortly before graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1960, reported Audacy.

He completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and subsequently trained as an aircraft mechanic at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. Nesmith was permanently stationed at Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base near Burns Flat, Oklahoma, before his honorable discharge in 1962.

However, in his book Infinite Tuesday, an Autobiographical Riff, Nesmith revealed his time in the Air Force was not what he expected. He wrote, “My notions of the military had been shaped by the movies, but in the actual Air Force, the men who succeed at military life were cut from a much different cloth than I was.”

Nesmith continued, “They were leaders, some real heroes, and they were focused on the disciple and regimens of a fighting machine. I knew nothing about this kind of life. My battles were all in my head.”

Mike Nesmith revealed there ‘wasn’t any fooling around’ on ‘The Monkees’ set, likened the experience to his Air Force journey

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In an interview with Goldmine and shared by The Monkees Live Almanac, Mike Nesmith likened his experience on the set of The Monkees to his Air Force journey. He admitted that the happy, go-lucky experience viewers enjoyed weekly was unlike his filming experience.

“It was hard, regimented work, and there wasn’t any fooling around. You had to show up and do it. It was a real job. There was no gentlemanly pace about it. It was just buzzing along,” he explained of work on The Monkees set.

Nesmith also clarified rumors that he, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones were “manipulated” by the show’s producers. “We weren’t manipulated at all,” he explained. “We were your standard kids in a television series.”

He says his ‘Monkees’ co-stars had ‘plenty of musical talent’ in response to claims the group had no musical experience

In the same interview, Nesmith spoke out regarding claims that the group’s members had no musical experience whatsoever. In fact, he cited one Monkees member as having the most musical talent of everyone in the group.

“I always thought that was unfair,” Nesmith explained. “In fact, the most accomplished was Peter. Everyone came from enough of a background to qualify as a musician. There was plenty of talent contained in that group of people.”

He continued with an analogy. “It’s a little like William Shatner being a crackerjack pilot and somebody finding out there wasn’t an Enterprise, and it was all done on a soundstage, and he really didn’t fly a spaceship. Then they take him to task for being a bad pilot.”

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