“It was definitely Nesmith's band,” Micky Dolenz told Rolling Stone. “He was the bandleader the whole time.” 

He had the driest sense of humor among the Monkees, a faux-Beatles band created by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for a 1966 NBC sitcom to recreate the mood of “A Hard Day's Night” and “Help!,” so of course he was my favorite. Davy got the girls, Micky had a vague wildman quality, Peter was goofy, sweet and dumb, and Mike kind of watched it all from under his stocking cap with a nonchalant face and tossed in dry comments. He seemed to know the world was stacked against us so he would just comment on it as he went along. He was a critic, basically. A kindred spirit. He was in on the joke.

They were disparaged as “The Prefab Four,” four dudes who didn't even play their own instruments on their first record, but a few things to remember. They had good backing musicians, including Glen Campbell, and good songwriters, including Neil Diamond. And Mike Nesmith. He wrote a number of their songs, including “Mary Mary,” “Papa Gene's Blues,” and “Different Drum” which became a huge hit for Linda Ronstadt in 1967, and he was the leader in fighting for some semblance of control over music director Don Kirshner. It's good to remember, too, how hugely popular they were. Their first single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” was the fourth biggest song of 1966, according to Billboard magazine. The next year, the summer of love, they had four songs in the yearly hot 100: “I'm a Believer” (No. 5), “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” (No. 60), “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (74) and “Daydream Believer” (94). The Beatles had two: “All You Need Is Love” and “Penny Lane” (30 and 55).

Finally, the show was good. I mean, I haven't seen it in 30 years, but I remember when it went into reruns in the late 1970s, just being kind of astonished at how funny it was. It even won the Emmy in 1967 for outstanding comedy series, beating out “Bewitched,” “Hogan's Heroes,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “Get Smart!” 

Post-Monkees, Nesmith went back to college while starting his own country rock band, First National Band. (You can hear the country influences in “Papa Gene's Blues” and “Different Drum.”) They had nominal success, and when they broke up, with his usual dry sense of humor, he named his new one Second National Band. He became a successful music producer as well as an early innovator in directing music videos. He had a show in the mid-80s called “Telelvison Parts” and recognized talent. Guests included up-and-comers Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and Garry Shandling. A regular bit was “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey,” which later appeared on SNL. Nesmith was also the executive producer of movies, including “Repo Man” and “Tapeheads.” He wrote a novel in the '90s. He seemed to do a bit everything.

He remained friends with the other Monkees, particularly Mickey Dolenz, the last surviving member, who has a nice eulogy for Nesmith in Rolling Stone. He says that even during the crazy height of their success, Nesmith tended to be a bit of a loner. “He wasn't a big social bumblebee. He was quiet, sardonic, extremely bright, very witty.” All that came through.