Althouse: Goodbye to Peter Tork.

February 21, 2019

Goodbye to Peter Tork.

The Monkee who was the sweet, quiet one of the group was 77.

35 comments:

Fernandinande said...: New World Monkees are the best Monkees of all despite Tork's limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith.; 2/21/19, 11:47 AM
Mountain Maven said...: I hear them on XM. Reminds me of grammar school. RIP; 2/21/19, 11:50 AM
stevew said...: Ah, makes me feel old. I was a huge fan of the Monkees for the 4 or 5 years they were most popular. I was young then, pre-teen. I still enjoy their music, despite learning a long time ago it wasn't really theirs.

RIP.; 2/21/19, 11:51 AM
PM said...: The quiet one.
Nevertheless, a made-for-TV band.; 2/21/19, 11:54 AM
Amexpat said...: Their TV show was must see for me when it came out. I was 10 or 11. "More of The Monkees" was the first pop album I owned. Still think there are some good songs on that album.; 2/21/19, 11:59 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Ah, makes me feel old. I was a huge fan of the Monkees for the 4 or 5 years they were most popular. I was young then, pre-teen. I still enjoy their music, despite learning a long time ago it wasn't really theirs.

That's a difficult call. They certainly sang on the records and they certainly played their instruments on tour. If they didn't play in the studio, that put them in the same situation as The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Association and half of the west coast.; 2/21/19, 11:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Nevertheless, a made-for-TV band."

It was a TV show. They were actors hired to be in a sitcom. It was a great sitcom, and it had great music, music that's still completely fun to hear more than half a century later.

The show reran on MTV in the late 80s, and my kids watched it and loved it.

Great, sweet, happy comedy and pop music. That's not easy to do, and nobody ever did it better.; 2/21/19, 12:01 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I was 15 when that show came out, and it was perfect for me. The Monkees were wonderful imaginary boyfriends for a teenage girl, and Peter was especially lovable in just the right way.; 2/21/19, 12:04 PM
stevew said...: Fair point. I meant more that they didn't create the music - and that they were routinely criticized for being a band made up of actors more than musicians.

Saw them in concert in St Louis in 1976, I think, was a lot of fun.; 2/21/19, 12:05 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: The Monkees, at the time, were a big deal. Davy Jones probably got laid a lot.

The girls dug them, and they were fun.

Perhaps, they were an antidote to the tumultuous Vietnam/MLK assassination/RFK assassination times. As kids, Yes, we watched the tv show and liked it.; 2/21/19, 12:19 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I never much liked their music outside of one song. My mother had a collection of 45s (about 200 of them) that was basically my introduction to popular music when I was around 6 or 7 years old and learned to use the portable record player. One of those records was "I'm a Believer". Loved that song- it was, by the way, how I discovered Neil Diamond's music.; 2/21/19, 12:24 PM
Rick.T. said...: I recall you couldn't be both a Beatles fan and a Monkees fan at the same time. I came down on the side of the Beatles but have grown fonder of the Monkees music over the years.; 2/21/19, 12:26 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Loved that song- it was, by the way, how I discovered Neil Diamond's music.

Diamond is very under-rated. Great artist up through "Beautiful Noise" after which point he stopped trying for some reason. "The Uni Years" is a great anthology.; 2/21/19, 12:31 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: The show as fun, the tunes were timeless in many episodes, and the cast was very likable. Some of the best tunesmiths of the era contributed to their oeuvre. They may been cast in the role but they grew into a real band and left a lasting impact on TV and rock music.; 2/21/19, 12:32 PM
Mr. D said...: Tork and Michael Nesmith were both legit musicians. He got in the Monkees because the show's producers didn't like Stephen Stills's audition and Stills suggested they talk to Tork. He was part of the LA music scene at the time. The Monkees were (and still are) a lot of fun. RIP to a good dude.; 2/21/19, 12:33 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Davy Jones had a Tony nomination. I guess that doesn'tmake him a "musician", but he was certainly a legit singer.; 2/21/19, 12:36 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Last Train to Clarksville
Daydream Believer
I'm a Believer
Pleasant Valley Sunday
Valeri (really good!)
Stepping Stone
Mary Mary
For Pete's Sake (which was written by Tork and became the closing theme on the show's 2nd season)
You and I (on which Neil Young and other members of Buffalo Springfield play)

I challenge anyone in their 50s or 60s to play the first few bars of any of those. Tell me the song doesn't spring outta your memory like it was yesterday.; 2/21/19, 12:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I recall you couldn't be both a Beatles fan and a Monkees fan at the same time."

Well, that was very silly. It was also a thing that you had to decide if The Dave Clark 5 were better. And for a long time it was Beatles vs. Rolling Stones.

I guess people like to debate and naturally form teams.

There was also the Dylan vs. Donovan debate. Why?!; 2/21/19, 12:44 PM
Ann Althouse said...: A Monkees song that's my special favorite is "I Wanna Be Free."; 2/21/19, 12:44 PM
Wilbur said...: I'm sure they all got laid a lot, if they so chose.

AA, your summary of them at 12:01 is about as fair a summary of them as I could imagine.; 2/21/19, 12:45 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Compare The Monkees to The Marx Brothers. Peter, of course, was the Harpo.

Here's a collection of the Marx Brothers songs. Someone else wrote the songs they performed, and I don't know how much of it was them playing their own instruments, but 2 of them could play music to some extent. The Marx Brothers were a great comedy group, with some really cool songs, performed in a highly amusing manner.

Who can forget "I Want My Shirt," "Everyone Says I Love You," "Fredonia Is Going To War," "Hooray For Captain Spaulding," and "Lydia The Tattooed Lady," who, by the way, wants her shirt?; 2/21/19, 1:01 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Harpo played the harp, and either Chico or Zeppo was an excellent pianist; 2/21/19, 1:49 PM
readering said...: I was 10 and living in England when The Monkees was first broadcast on New Year's Day 1967 right after Dr Who (which I did not care for at all). Watched them religiously for the next year and a half. For some reason that show and Laugh In, which started broadcasting in 1968 soon after The Monkees ended, felt like my link the US.; 2/21/19, 1:54 PM
eddie willers said...: and Peter was especially lovable in just the right way.

I always figured that a Peter fan was also a Ringo fan.; 2/21/19, 1:59 PM
jpg said...: W+hen I was a kid, people said I was like Peter, which I didn't like because Peter seemed to me to be the goof of the group. "The sweet, quiet one." Yes, I like that. RIP.
JPG; 2/21/19, 4:02 PM
Amexpat said...: I recall you couldn't be both a Beatles fan and a Monkees fan at the same time.

There was an overlap for me for a year or so, but by the time I was in my early teens it was the Beatles for me and I felt that my Monkees album didn't fit in my record collection.

The Monkees were of course clearly tapping into the Beatles zeitgeist. And the Beatles film "Help!" was the template for the TV show.; 2/21/19, 6:28 PM
Oso Negro said...: It never mattered that they didn’t write their own songs. They had great songwriters. Not all great songwriters are great singers.; 2/21/19, 7:14 PM
rcocean said...: "Loved that song- it was, by the way, how I discovered Neil Diamond's music."

And how long did it take you to discover that Neil Diamond was crap?; 2/21/19, 7:16 PM
rcocean said...: I liked the English guy the best.; 2/21/19, 7:16 PM
Two-eyed Jack said...: The Monkees are one of the wonders of that age (I was 9 in that age, if you wonder). They were actors pretending to be a band, who became a band. Mickey Dolenz said "The Monkees really becoming a band was like the equivalent of Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan." They were called "The Pre-fab Four," but they were part of a really talented group of songwriters and musicians (the Wrecking Crew) and they held their own. At the time people thought of RnR bands as coming and going every other week, but here we are half a century later remembering the songs and still laughing at the comedy.
RIP Peter and Davey.; 2/21/19, 7:17 PM
rcocean said...: I saw them in re-runs in the early 70s. It didn't have the same impact on me. I got them confused with the Beatles. My brother told me that they didn't actually sing or play any of the instruments - it was all dubbed.

Of course I believed him. No google back then.; 2/21/19, 7:20 PM
Phil 314 said...: Now I m feeling old.; 2/21/19, 7:37 PM
Marcus Bressler said...: I also liked "I Wanna Be Free." Didn't identify with the lyrics but the song was cool. Also, the VERY underrated "Shades of Grey".

THEOLDMAN; 2/21/19, 7:41 PM
Crazy World said...: Very cool Mike at 12:39 ....and very true (Valeri!); 2/22/19, 1:25 AM
Wince said...: The Boston Herald music writer picked up on the Harpo Marx theme...

Peter Tork had talent for Monkees business
By JED GOTTLIEB |
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2019 at 5:40 pm | UPDATED: February 21, 2019 at 6:21 pm

"The Greatest Generation had Harpo Marx. The Baby Boomers had Peter Tork."

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/02/21/tork-had-talent-for-monkees-business/; 2/22/19, 8:50 AM