RIP Peter Tork

Real band or not, I loved the show as a kid.

Peter Tork of the Monkees Dies at 77

(Even had a plastic model of the Monkee Mobile)

He's the one driving.

I've been watching the Monkees show on saturday mornings lately.

Inventor of the Tork wrench

Saw them in Belfast late '90s if I remember correctly. They were great. Still have the tour dates tee. 

Never missed an episode as a kid.

Still have the original albums and back ups on cd. Might have to play them tonight.

aircooled said:

He's the one driving.

David Jones needs a booster seat.

I didn’t think it was true until I opened the link, now I’m a believer; too soon?

Quit Monkeyin' around!

I wonder what a nice Kyote dune buggy is worth today?

George Barris built the best cars too.  

Dammit. I've always been a Monkees fan. 

RX Reven' said:

 I’m a bereaver

Fixed that for ya 

I always liked the Monkees , it was silly , the songs mostly bubble gum , 

The TV show never took itself to seriously.

Just having fun !

Here's a fantastic eulogy from John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants:

Hey folks. John F. here. Woke up to the news that Peter Tork of the Monkees passing, and wanted to write down my thoughts. Hope this makes sense.

Like many people born in the 60s, the Monkees, along with Batman, James Bond and the Beatles loomed extremely large in my small but media-soaked brain. Of course the “controversy” that the Monkees (four actors on a tv show about a fictional band) didn’t really play the instruments on the accompanying records was a thorny issue with older kids, but for those of us under their spell we kinda couldn’t care less. The way we saw it, they did SING, the songs were great and they guys were funny too. Maybe it was because the records were hits it mattered more. But the singling out the Monkees as inauthentic seemed especially unfair as the Byrds, the Beach Boys, the Tijuana Brass and a host of other “bands” used the exact same LA session players on their recordings yet enjoyed professional legitimacy in the culture and with music critics. This critical contradiction is most strongly illustrated by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who to this day have fully shunned the Monkees (while celebrating countless acts with a fraction of the Monkees influence or genuine fame). For a generation of critics that celebrates its own media literacy dissecting theatrical personas from Bowie to Lady Gaga, it seems no critic knows how to “read” the Monkees.

Around the time of their 90s reunion, John Linnell and I had the pleasure of spending a late evening with Peter Tork in London. His daughter was a fan of They Might Be Giants, and he used his famous face to get backstage after our show to make an introduction. He struck me as a gracious man trapped in a bubble of perpetual, if marginal, celebrity. John recalls he told us we should address him as Mr. Thorkelson rather than Mr. Tork-an unexpected level of realness-but I suspect we landed on Peter soon enough. The evening culminated at the Columbia Hotel bar where touring rock bands would drink elbow to elbow. Spotting a performer at the Columbia was hardly an event. But this evening the bartender startled our party by asking him if he “used to be Peter Tork” with all the cheer of a guy looking to start a fight. Peter Tork just laughed it off as if the spirit of the comment was entirely innocent.

He seemed, for lack of a less tired word, zen. Maybe he really was still just the original issue West Village folkie he was before his success. In conversation, he seemed to consciously avoid the inevitable “authenticity" hagiographies that revolve around the Monkees-the ones that tumble through so many performer's brains including mine. He was neither defensive or self-important, or a people-pleaser or in any visible way aggrieved. He seemed to understand he was the unlikely winner of some super-weird cultural lottery that would forever remain as slightly bitter as it was sweet, and he seemed very much at peace with it all. It was an honor to meet him if only for a night.

RIP Peter Tork.

In reply to Duke :

I have always thought highly of Flansburgh and Linnell.  Those few words did nothing to damage my estimation.

I can enjoy the Monkees music today.  Critics be damned!

Did You Know ...... 2 Davie Jones arrived in the 60's but one Changed his name to Bowie to Avoid Confusing Fans.

   They were real Enough I saw them play several venues.

Datsun310Guy said:

George Barris built the best cars too.  

Dean Jeffries built the Monkeemobile (actually I think there were two built for the TV series, and one more was built some years later.)  Barris owned one of them later on, and while I'm not sure if he actually claimed to have built it he certainly let people think he did.