The Monkees Mike Nesmith Claimed the Band’s Music ‘Wakes Something up That Lies Dormant’ From Childhood
Mike Nesmith had an upfront seat to the madness that was The Monkees. The band and its members, Nesmith, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz, subsequently topped the Billboard charts and television ratings, causing a whirlwind of Monkees mania. However, Mike claimed that there is something very unique about The Monkees’ music. He said it “wakes up something that lies dormant” from childhood. Do you agree?
One month after ‘The Monkees’ TV show aired, the cast had its first number-one record
The Monkees were initially hired as actors to play a struggling rock band. The series linked the onscreen personas of Nesmith, Dolenz, Jones, and Tork to music, making for an enhanced viewer experience.
However, producers likely never expected the explosion of interest in the music of The Monkees, along with increased viewership. The series music supervisor Don Kirshner, whose Brill Building firm Aldon Music had an extensive portfolio of songwriters. These talented individuals created some of the band’s most enduring hits. These songwriters included Carole Bayer Sager, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, Harry Nilsson, and Cynthia Weil.
One month after The Monkees aired, they had their first U.S. number one with the song “Last Train to Clarksville.”
Mike Nesmith claimed The Monkees’ music ‘wakes up something that lies dormant’ from childhood
The Monkees’ television show and music harken back to a simpler time for most people that lived during that era. Mike said the memories the group evokes bring one back to a happier period of their life.
“When you hear a Monkees tune played in its original form, you wake up something that lies dormant in our elder years,” Mike explained in an interview with Bernard Zuel. “It sounds like I’m saying we are in old folks homes, but we live with these great parts of our youth, we pass them on to our children and our grandchildren, and they begin to live with them.”
He continued, “I watch that happen with great satisfaction. It’s different in its present incarnation than any of us anticipated.”
Mike Nesmith didn’t understand the band’s success
While there are many aspects of the band’s overall success that Mike credits to timing, songwriting, and the show’s hijinks, to appeal to young people, there are other parts of The Monkees’ success that he attributes to something else.
“All of us get asked the question at some point or other to what do you a tribute to the success and the continuing success of these Monkees tunes, records, and phenomenon,” he stated. “The answer consistently, across the four of us when we were together, was ‘I don’t know.'”
He continued, “None of us know. I’ve never met a writer who knows. I’ve written a couple of books now, and I don’t completely try to put my arms around it, but I can certainly feel it.”
