Creativity Quote by Michael Nesmith

Nesmith’s defense of “buzzwords and cliches” reads like a musician calling out a snobbery that’s been lurking in rock criticism forever: the idea that originality is purity, and anything familiar is laziness. He flips that moral hierarchy. “Stock in trade” is a working pro’s phrase, the language of craft, not genius. Buzzwords and cliches aren’t stains; they’re inventory. They let you move fast, signal belonging, and get to the part where you actually say something new.

The intent isn’t to celebrate empty talk; it’s to puncture the performative disdain for it. In pop culture, shared phrases are a kind of handshake. They compress whole debates into a couple of words, which is why they spread. You don’t have to love that, but you have to admit it’s functional. Nesmith, who lived inside the machine of mass entertainment (The Monkees as both real band and corporate product), understood that “authenticity” is often just another marketing story. Familiar language is part of the deal.

The subtext is pragmatic and slightly mischievous: stop pretending you’re above the vernacular. Cliches survive because they work - rhythmically, socially, emotionally. In songwriting, a well-placed cliche can be an anchor, a comfort, or a setup for a twist. Nesmith’s line gives creators permission to use the common materials without shame, and challenges audiences to judge the result, not the purity test.