Song of the Day (aka Why Justin Timberlake Owes Everything to a Monkee)

Considering his simian features, it should come as no surprise that Justin Timberlake owes his career to the trail blazed by a Monkee. There is no shame in this evolutionary path as the Monkee in question, Michael Nesmith, is a genius and a Renaissance Man. A true pioneer. Justin Timberlake may think he got to the top of the Hollywood mountain all by himself, but he is nothing without Michael Nesmith. Beginning one’s career in a manufactured pop band was once considered a vocational dead end, but thanks to the efforts of Nesmith, formerly exploited youth like Timberlake and Marky Mark Wahlberg can make it in Hollywood without the stigma of their past standing in their way.

It should be mentioned that the Monkees are probably the greatest manufactured pop  band of all time. They kick NSYNC’s scrawny ass up and down Sunset Blvd. Naturally, having reached such heady heights of fame, people wanted to see the Monkees fail, but Nesmith set the template for how a fabricated pop star can go on to dominate Hollywood on his own terms. First, he parlayed his experience with the Monkees and used it to completely redefine the music industry by creating “Pop Clips,” the first show on television to feature music videos. He sold the show to Nickelodeon, who developed Nesmith’s vision into MTV, where Justin Timberlake now merely performs as a trained seal … Michael Nesmith wrote “Different Drum” which Linda Ronstadt would turn into an international smash hit. Justin Timberlake deftly countered by tearing Janet Jackson’s clothes off on national television, turning a generation of children into sexual abusers … Nesmith also ruled on the big screen, not only playing a taxi driver in “Burglar” with Whoopi Goldberg, but also executive producing Repo Man. Justin Timberlake, well, he actually did a fine job on The Social Network … Oh sure, Timberlake is a slick dresser, although he has certainly never come up with a look as iconic as the chops and wool cap combo sported by Nesmith with the Monkees. Proving that fashion forward move was no accident, the vision of Nesmith in a Nudie suit is simply awesome. Timberlake couldn’t pull that off, no way. The cowboy hat would inevitably fall down over that pinhead’s eyes. Nonetheless, Timberlake gets credit for his perseverance. It is my understanding that Justin has created a fashion line whose goal is to create “clothes that Elvis Presley would wear if he were alive today,” which I suspect is a sneaky way of selling bedazzled bolts of cotton. What a wonderful world we live in that – thanks to Michael Nesmith – Justin Timberlake can pursue such misguided notions. I doubt Timberlake ever even thinks of the Monkee that broke the glass ceiling for him, but he should be bowing down to the altar of Michael Nesmith every day. Without him, Timberlake is living in a trailer with Britney and doing Mickey Mouse Club reunions to pay the rent.

Here’s Nesmith in country rock mode. This tune was recorded in 197o. He’s traveling down the same road as the Great Gram Parsons, forging the foundations of a genre. Once again, he’s ahead of his time, waiting for the world to catch up. Meanwhile, sure, Justin Timberlake is a talented young man, but sadly he is merely of his time, playing down to the lowest common denominator of a dying culture. Michael Nesmith is the future.

Michael Nesmith and the First National Band – Silver Moon MP3

Oh sure, Timberlake has made some clever videos with the production help of the professionals at SNL. Can he improv, though? Nesmith meets Frank Zappa (or vice versa?)