When I was young you could watch old reruns of The Monkees tv show on Nickelodeon and MTV. This was my first introduction to 60s music which would later take over my life in a very big way. Over the years starting when I was in high school I looked forward to my yearly free Arbor Daze Monkees concert that I got free admission to with the purchase of a dinner at Denny's restaurant. I was lucky enough to watch them perform 13 times, but sadly and surprisingly none with Mike Nesmith present. I always wished that he would magically and surprisingly show up unannounced since I lived so close in proximity to his Dallas home. I recall one year I made them each tambourine that I hand decorated myself with their names on them and gave them to their security at the concert. When I learned that there would be a final tour I sadly learned too late to gather funds to attend and missed out on the final run. I watched as many fans in my Monkees groups on Facebook noted the concern of the behavior of Nesmith's coming and going off stage in intervals throughout each concert on the tour and my concern began to grow. For years I had wondered why Nesmith did not tour with The Monkees or only made select performances in certain places mostly in California. It is only recently that it came out and I learned that Mike and Peter both paid to get out of their initial Monkees contracts when they were trying to sign them on to do some degrading and disrespectful things. The terrible flack The Monkees endured then and now of only being a manufactured band for a tv show set the trend for other various “boy bands” to come such as my beloved New Kids on the Block. Songs of Nesmith's like Circle Sky, Listen to the Band, and Tapioca Tundra will endure long after The Monkees have left us.
“Play the drum a little louder, tell them I can live without her, if I only listen to the band. Listen to the band! Weren’t they good? They make me happy. I think I can make it alone.”. - Mike Nesmith Listen to the Band