Michael Nesmith, Steve Bronski, John Miles, RIP

On Saturday 11 December 2021 all through the day news reached me that another musician had died. Besides the news being sad for the people closest to them, something they had in common struck me. The all had a short period of intense fame, after which their career in the spotlights was over, with Michael Nesmith having a career with some more longevity.

Michael Nesmith (1942 - 2021)

Nesmith's name is forever connected to The Monkees, the tv series that ran for a short period of time in the second half of the 1960s. The band scored several hits in a period of two years, of which two are all time classics: 'I'm A Believer' and 'Daydream Believer'. Although I do not remember having seen the original series often, my parents did not want a television set for quite some time, the band as such made an impression anyway. I still have a comic book with adventures of the four young lads striving to be a pop group. Michael Nesmith was called "wolpet" in Dutch, "woolen hat" in Enlish, I only just learned. As I wrote about The Monkees fairly recently, after the demise of Peter Tork, I will not repeat my words.

Of the four Monkees Nesmith was the most ambitious as a musician and wanted to write and record his own songs. He was the one that pulled the final plug on the band, although the popularity had already taken a nosedive. If I remember correctly he scored two solo hits in The Netherlands. The first in 1971, 'Silver Moon' with The First National Band. I only have a faint recollection of a country song. In 1977 he scored a solo hit in The Netherlands and a bigger one in Australia, where I live for five months at the time. 'Rio' is a great, undercooled song, contrasting tremendously with Peter Allen's  'I Go To Rio'. the number one that spring (in Australia). To this day I love the song. Not as much as my two or three really favourite The Monkees songs. I would like to add 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' here, with 'The Monkees Theme Song' and 'Last Train To Clarksville' following close. 'Rio' is a fantastic song that I love hearing till right this day. After that it became quite around Michael Nesmith.

In later life he opted for the fame and money of the band he so much despised when young. The Monkees went on tour to play its hits with Nesmith joining as the last member. In 2016 there was even a reunion album. After Davy Jones, Peter Tork and now Nesmith, drummer and main singer Mickey Dolenz is the sole surviving member of the band that at the time was not a real band but managed to become one through the years. And that is an achievement not many can claim to have achieved. "Hey, hey we're The Monkees" is there forever.

Steve Bronski (1960 - 2021)

The man giving his name to the band he formed in 1983, Bronski Beat, died. One of the two guys standing in the background to that little guy with the extremely close-cropped hair and high voice. The first single, as far as I know, was a number one song. 'Small Town Boy' was a song about a homosexual young man, fleeing his environment to go the the city in the hope of a better life and acceptance. The band scored one other big hit 'Why?', a number 2 here, and recorded one album, before singer Jimmy Summerville quit the band to continue as The Communards and scored a few big hits with 80s reworks of disco hits from the 70s. The Bronski Beat continued with a new singer and scored a hit song which at the time was my personal favourite, 'Hit That Perfect Beat Boy'. After that it was all over for the band. At the age of 24 or 25 Steve Bronski was an ex-popstar, who never really was one, as he was one of the two anonymous faces behind Summerville, who is the sole survivor of the trio, as Larry Steinbachek has already died in 2016.

Looking back especially 'Why?' is appreciated much more by me. It simply is a great track. 'Small Town Boy' has undergone that transformation from a mwah track to a nostalgically appreciated song. The kind that appeals because it has become attached to a certain feeling coming with other memories of the time.

John Miles (1949 - 2021)

John Errington, as was Miles' real name, is known for one song by most people in the world. The mini pop-opera 'Music'. And what a song it is. A symphony orchestra must have been invited to play on it. It is classic rock in the literal sense, as it mixes classical music with rock. At the time I did not even like the song that much. It just did not touch me as profoundly as another one hit wonder did a year later in 1977, 'Worn Down Piano' by the Mark and Clark Band. 'Music' however has deserved its place in the pantheon of mini pop opera's like 'Eloise', 'Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart' and the like. John Miles produced that one song that secured his spot in the limelight forever. The kind of song that may always be played because of its unique approach, the dynamics, its liveliness. I have no clue what else the man produced, except that he was the band leader later in life of a live music show supporting whatever musician stood up front. With himself undoubtedly playing his own, one hit. A true one hit wonder has past.

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