"Rio" is a song written and sung by American musician

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their The Monkees (TV series), TV series of the same name (1966–1968) ...

. Included on his 1977 album ''

From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing ''From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing'' was released in 1977 and is the ninth album by Michael Nesmith and eighth studio album as a singer/songwriter during his post- Monkees career. The album was Nesmith's second with vocals released on his ...

'', it was released as a single. Although the single was not a hit in the US, "Rio" became Nesmith's most successful solo single in other countries. Popular interest in the song's music video rather than the song itself led Nesmith to consider creating television programming consisting of music videos. Nesmith sent a proposal he called "Popclips", which was picked up by then

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

operator

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. In a 2013 interview published in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Nesmith said of the "Rio" music video, "I said to people, 'It's a promotional film' ... The answer was that I simply needed to complete the equation. 'Radio is to records as television is to video.' Then it was like, 'Of course!' and thus MTV was born."

Charts

References

{{Michael Nesmith 1977 singles Songs written by Michael Nesmith