Did The Late, Great Mike Nesmith Really Invent MTV?

In many of the obituaries of Mike Nesmith, most famous for being a member of the ‘60s sensation, the Monkees, it is noted that the artist was involved in the creation of MTV, the 24-hour cable showcase for music videos that debuted in 1981. The phrase most often used in Nesmith’s obits is that he “invented MTV.” But otherwise he was described as “the architect of MTV,” “the stepfather of MTV,” and the founder of “the precursor of MTV.”

That last descriptor may be the most accurate. Nesmith’s mother, Bette, was a secretary who invented Liquid Paper, a correction fluid that was mainly used to hide typewriting mistakes (now, there’s an invention!). When she passed, Mike used his sizable inheritance to fund projects by his production company, Pacific Arts, which included what were considered the first music videos.

 

In a 1990 interview, the former Monkee elaborated on his role in what eventually became MTV: 

 

Nesmith: “There’s a lot of people that say, ‘gee, you invented the music video.’ Well, what happened was I started doing music videos at the beginning when other people started doing music videos too. I didn’t invent the music video; there were half a dozen people out there working on the form. I just happened to be there at the right time.”

Several years later, in a 1994 episode of the aptly named talk show, Later, Greg Kinnear asked Nesmith about his role in MTV’s inception:

Nesmith: “In some ways, I was part of the original concept.”

 

Kinnear: “How so?”

 

Nesmith: “Well, I had done a music video in ’76 with a friend of mine, Bill Dear.”

 

Kinnear: “And this is before MTV, or anybody knows about music videos?”

 

Nesmith: “These were played over in Europe on these little clip shows, and so they asked me to do it because my record was coming out, so I did it. A guy named Bill Dear and I did it together. Bill was a commercial director so he had a sensibility about cutting things together fast. I’m coming out of the Monkees, and learned a little bit of filming from those guys so we end up with this music video. 

When I’m over there watching the show and think ‘this would be a good idea for a 24-hour a day music thing. Came back here, just cutting right down to it, sold the idea to Warner Bros., and they said ‘well, this works great, you want to come back and run it?’ I said ‘no,’ so a fellow named Bob Pittman, who is really is the father of the company, he was a guy who was the architect, he took that idea…”

 

Kinnear: “He was the guy that took all the money!” 

 

Nesmith’s Nickelodeon show, Popclips, was what he sold to the Time Warner/Amex consortium, and developed into the MTV network. Meanwhile Nesmith worked on the television project Elephant Parts, a collection of comedy bits, and music videos that won the first ever Grammy in the new Music Video category. This led to the short-lived series, Television Parts, which was much like its predecessor, but featured more stand-up comic appearances. 

So there you have it. Nesmith could reasonably be considered a music video pioneer that aided in the initiation of one of the ‘80s’ most popular formats. But “Inventor” may be pushing it a little – it’s like when Al Gore famously said “I took the initiative in creating the internet.” It’s a grandiose statement, but Gore was right – he wasn’t claiming that he invented the internet, just that he helped it along in its evolution.

Likewise, as evidenced in the Kinnear interview excerpted above, Nesmith didn’t claim to be the sole designer of MTV, just part of its original concept.

This clarification has been lost in many internet eulogies, but that’s okay as it’s just fawning hyperbole, and it’s doubtful that anyone would really argue with his being crowned “Inventor of MTV.” Well, maybe Bob Pittman might.

R.I.P. Mike Nesmith, inventor of country rock.

More later...