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minty-playhouse · 2 years ago

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Explaining Nesmith/Townshend or A Primer on Townsmith

Dear friends and enemies... (and specifically @gitsor3010 and @smugruttle if you guys didn't want me to ping you, you shouldn't have liked my drabble, rookie mistake)

Recently I posted a drabble here regarding my very specific and niche ship of Mike Nesmith and Pete Townshend, motivated in part by @yaggerdangs-remedy shared enthusiasm for it (love you for that by the way, if you are reading this <3). I also posted another small thing on my NSFW sideblog, because of course I did.

Surprisingly, that first drabble seemed to have caught the attention of more than one person, so I guess it's my civil duty to explain where the hell this ship even came from, and also tell you all about dynamics and whatnot about this ship so I can maybe convince you all of my truth!

This post might get long though so I'm putting this all under a read more. [spoilers: this post did get long it's like 3,000 words long I'm sorry]

=Quick Background:

To start explaining Townsmith we need to go way way back to when I was 19 (over 15 years ago!) and I became obsessed with The Monkees and The Who almost simultaneously. The Monkees came first but it took just a couple months at best for me to also grow very attached to The Who.

Obviously, as a very normal person, I wanted to write about crossovers involving them, and even entertained the idea of a TV show centered crossover that was inspired by the small trivia about how there was like a glimmer of a thought of making a Who TV show but nothing came of it (but honestly can u IMAGINE mod era Who TV show?).

At the time thought, I didn't have enough writing skills to pull off anything of real substance, and the crossover ideas were more silly fanfic concepts than anything. I still have some of those early writings saved but they are very poor quality, but they still have some good ideas I pull from now and then.

In the middle of all this crossover musing, I felt really strongly about Mike/Pete, and at the time it was more of a surface level "they would look nice together and they are both weird" thing than whatever monster I created in my head now. I dunno exactly what pushed me in that direction. Me not being too invested in Towntrey at the time was probably to blame, as I was too busy shipping Roger with John. But I guess I unconsciously felt bad for Pete and wanted him to have someone he could bond with.

I also didn't have any Mike ships at the time, as I was hyperfixated in Jonestork and Micky was just the fun friend. So I just put them together for convenience. Oh, that was such a foolish mistake on my part and I had no idea.

=First Big Townsmith Idea:

OK, cool, now we've established this came from me not wanting them to be alone + they had some traits that matched. They are both tall, lanky weird guitar players who are a little too invested in their music to the point is a little strange to those around them.

And from that concept came the idea to write about Pete and Mike meeting by chance at a party, getting smashed and fucking. There wasn't much beyond that at the time, and because I didn't have the skills to pull off anything really that cool (I wanted them to be tripped out and whatnot, but lack of resources and knowledge at the time made this just some distant thought).

But that small seed was stuck in the back of my brain, waiting for when all things fell into place, I would be prepared.

The years passed, ships and fandoms came and went, and I became better at writing and better at expressing what I wanted through my fics. But I never really returned to Who or Monkees as strongly as I did when I was 19. I still listened to the music and whatnot, but for no reason in my mind I had put myself above RPF. No, I wouldn't go down that path again, I told myself for years and years...

Then last year happened and all of it went to shit.

Honestly I just doubled down on the RPF in ways my 19 year old self would never even dream of, and by digging through my old notes and ideas, I stumbled upon Pete/Mike again.

Now older and with more knowledge about both of them, in my head I was like "Yeah, they are fucking soulmates there's no way" and went back to the idea of them meeting and tripping and having no strings attached sex. But oh boy are there strings attached to this. Are there ever strings attached to this. But I think it was important to let you all know the basis where I built this on. It was a one-shot idea I had when I was like 19 and wanted to fill a ship gap. You can't make this shit up.

=Townsmith Makes Sense Chronologically And I Hate It:

It would be all funny and haha if I didn't start to expand on the original one-shot concept. I could just make it extremely anachronistic and just leave it at that. It's just a mindless smut one-shot, after all. But hey, if I have the tools now to research and make this make more sense chronologically (trust me the Internet was not like this when I was 19) why not use those tools?

So, I found that the ideal point for the one-shot. 1969. Pete just found himself being hailed as some kind of musical genius for coming up with Tommy, while Mike is struggling to keep himself interested in the Monkees concept in a post-Head climate. Mike was never the biggest fan of the Monkees as a concept, and by the time the movie rolled out his interest had waned considerably. He wanted to do his own stuff, he didn't want to be tied to this marketing stunt.

But hey, Mike's still under contract so for all intents and purposes, he has to keep up appearances.

And he heard about Pete. Everyone heard about him at this point. And Mike has to admit he's jealous. Pete had the type of creative freedom Mike could only dream of at the time. However, Mike is still Mike and he isn't about to be all in awe and amazed by some British musician that just "got lucky". In the initial concept, this all started off with Mike being very envious of Pete's position, but also thinking that Pete was also pulling publicity stunts of his own, why with the Who's whole live aggression and whatnot. And that notion just becomes more solidified in his mind when he meets Pete and he's... quiet. Almost shy even.

There's no way a guy like this is the same guy that is up there on stage. Maybe Mike was wrong and maybe music was all based on carefully curated personas.

The problem is, Pete is who he is. Yes his stage "persona" is not the exactly the same as his regular one, but right now he's in a post Mod mindset. He doesn't have to care for an image or a persona.

Mike still needs to hang on to that.

And when Mike meets Pete he is not impressed. Obviously. But he still wants to hear what Pete has to say. After all he did write Tommy and Mike is intrigued (and this plays out later, but let's not get ahead of ourselves).

So they drop acid and talk, as one does, and at first Mike has all the confidence in the world. Yeah sure this meek British man has some words on him. Beautiful, deep meaningful words, but his behavior is a far cry from the explosiveness Mike saw on the TV and such. He can handle Pete.

Mike so cannot handle Pete.

At the same time Mike is envious of Pete's position, there's some borderline envy on Pete's end. Oh, if only he could just let other people just think for him. Do all the heavy lifting of music creation on his behalf while he just stood there as an avatar. Sounded pretty ideal, and specially during Tommy where Pete was under tremendous creative stress, trying to do something that was similar yet different from things that came before.

Still though, Pete wouldn't give up his creative freedom for the sake of some stress relief. Even in the early mod era days, he was quick to seize creative control over things, and that's what I think is the most interesting aspect of them: they are both very intent on being in control of their creative endeavors, but Pete was blessed with the opportunity to be free to do what he wanted. Mike's creative freedom was quickly stripped from him when he joined the Monkees and since then it was an uphill struggle for any of them to get any of it back. A journey that had started almost two years prior with Headquarters.

But now the TV show was over, the movie had just been released and Mike found himself in this weird position where yes, he was still under a contract but... was he really? He could set off to do his own thing.

And this is where the strings get attached folks.

=A Much Needed Recap:

OK, so let's recap because that was disorienting: 1969 was a weird year for both Mike and Pete. Mike was in this weird place where he was still part of the Monkees but not really, and Pete was hailed as a visionary and saw his band become ridiculously successful almost overnight (like it or not, the Woodstock performance sure brought in the numbers).

Right now Mike's jealous of Pete's position, Pete is not jealous of Mike's position but he would appreciate having someone thinking on his behalf here and there. And when they meet Mike has this "Mike" mindset where he's by default better than Pete. It doesn't matter what Pete's achievements are, he's still gonna be better because that's just how Mike's brain works.

Pete on the other hand is just kinda glad to have someone to talk that's on the same wavelength as him. He loves his bandmates to death, but sometimes Pete feels like everything he's saying is just going over their heads. He doesn't feel like that when talking to Mike.

((Now is a good time as any to mention that while I'm trying to center this around the original first meeting one-shot concept, there are other angles to them meeting for the first time, but let's stick to one continuity for the sake of this post and your sanity. If you are dying to know you can just send me an ask and I'll talk about it.))

So yeah, Pete feels that he can just say things to Mike, and Mike will get it, which doesn't sound like a lot but for someone who's mind is so full like Pete having someone understand is a fucking gift. And sure maybe they are just a little more "attuned" because they are tripping together, but Pete feels that even if they weren't Mike would get it.

And sure Mike may not understand like half of what Pete's saying, but he'll still fake it 'till he makes it. Mike doesn't care this is Pete Townshend, he'll not be seen as dumber or inferior in any way.

And I think that's one of the most compelling aspects of them, is they they bond mentally way before physicality is even taken into consideration. But the physicality is taken into consideration for sure because lest we forget, this was born under the premise of a horny one-shot. And Mike would be a liar if he said he didn't find Pete's strange looks kind of... fetching in their own unique way.

Maybe because Mike doesn't think he's conveniently attractive either (doesn't help he had to go up against fucking Davy Jones and Peter Tork, and Micky's energy alone made him irresistible) he finds some manner of solace on Pete who's also weird looking, but it's more that Mike was against some stiff competition and less that he isn't good looking. And hello, Pete can totally tell he looks good, and that his accent is pretty damn charming.

=Physical Attraction? In My Conceptual Sex?

OK since I am here I have to talk about them being attracted to each other on a physical level too because heck, they are only human.

Pete likes Mike's accent and the way he talks. He thinks Mike's Texan accent is very charming and kinda hot a bit, maybe. Pete isn't very used to this type of accent very much so it gets to him real easily.

Mike also likes Pete's accent but because he's so soothing and mild when he talks. Mike had to live with the day by day life of being next to Davy Jones of all people so his opinion on British people and their accents soured a bit (no shade to Davy, I love the lil' guy but he's just so overbearing sometimes akjfgakjfg). But Pete changed that idea.

Also, also, Mike being in love with Pete's gorgeous electric blue eyes because of course Pete's blue eyes are a factor why wouldn't they be a factor in a Pete ship like c'mon! And don't even get me started on Mike going bananas about Pete calling him by his full name, which is very much A Thing for this ship like there's a whole different weight when Pete says "Mike" and when he says "Michael" and anyone familiar enough with Pete (specially '69 Pete) could tell you that.

But yeah, it starts off with Mike trying to one-up Pete when he has no idea what he's going up against, but somewhere along the way they end up finding common ground, make out and while they don't want to make it A Thing (they don't want this to be a relationship they literally just met and dropped acid and fucked this is not basis for any solid relationship) there's no denying that they have this very serious connection going on, so they decide to keep some degree of contact after their meeting. You know, just in case.

That is of course until they find themselves calling each other on a regular basis, and Mike sharing music stuff with Pete, and finding it in himself that yeah, he can also just do his own thing, fuck you.

And look I'm not saying that Mike's sudden creative burst with the First National Band was influenced by him having mind blowing sex with Pete Townshend while high off his mind and bonding with him and sharing creative ideas with him, but I am saying that the first two National Band albums were released in '70 and Tengo Amore is there so I rest my case.

=Only I Do Not Rest My Case Because The Prison Exists

I promise you all this is the last section of this!

So they remain A Thing. Pete and Mike are sharing creative thoughts over letters and phone calls, and having nasty (yet somehow still very soft) sex when either of them has like a second to spare from their daily lives to fly over and visit.

Because now Mike's trying to make up for lost time and release every song he didn't release for the past like three-four years in one-two and Pete's influence just fuels that fire. And Pete is now expected to live up to Tommy's expectations so it's not like he has time to spare either but Mike's excitement and different approach to music is refreshing and a much needed respite during Pete's creative process.

Mike hears Pete talk about the concept of Quadrophenia, and Mike becomes enamored with the idea of a narrative told through music. Sure when he heard of/listened to Tommy it was already an idea in the back of his mind, but it wasn't like he could just do something like that.

But now it's '72-'73 and all bets are off.

Pete is glad that he has someone to talk to about the more intricate concepts of music making, but he's also excited when he hears from Mike that he wants to pursue something similar. Mike knows that whatever he does is not going to compare to whatever Pete's doing. Pete had years to prepare for this. Mike is just now given this big freedom so he's just doing stuff and hoping something will stick.

Is Mike still jealous of Pete? Maybe, but at this point it has become more friendly rivalry than anything. (look Mike finally learned he doesn't need to be top dog in every little thing to be worthy of value)

Mike still goes through with it, the success of Quad emboldening him to keep going. There's clearly a market for whatever Pete's doing and Mike finds it refreshing and reassuring.

Then '74 rolls out and The Prison comes out (and honestly, in my eyes it's one of Mike's finest works, I'm always blown away by how good it is, and honestly I always forget this album is 70's because it sounds so much more "modern" and I don't know how to explain it).

Pete is excited to hear about it when it comes out (Mike was sure to call him the day before the release so he wouldn't forget!!!) and from them on they just keep in touch. They aren't dating (at least not in this timeline of this ship) but they sure as hell have a connection that they maintain throughout the years.

So yeah chronologically speaking this all somehow makes sense, isn't that weird?

#the who #the monkees #mike nesmith #pete townshend #I tried to explain this the best way I can for both Monkees people who know nothing about Who #and Who people who know nothing about Monkees #but it's very hard to explain unless you've been consuming those two bands simultaneously like me #with the same intensity #townsmith #I'll make that a tag sure

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