Peter Tork has died at 77
February 21, 2019 1:09 PM Subscribe
The Washington Post has an obituary. He was my first celebrity crush and The Monkees was the first album I bought with my babysitting money. I am sadder than I should be about this.
Saw him play live at The Bitter End in the 70s. Really nice guy.
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posted by Splunge at 1:15 PM on February 21, 2019
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posted by Splunge at 1:15 PM on February 21, 2019
Unabashed lover of Monkees music and personas - they created magic. Very sad to hear of Tork's passing; only Dolenz and Nesmith remain. Peter was my wife's absolute favorite Monkee.
posted by davidmsc at 1:18 PM on February 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by davidmsc at 1:18 PM on February 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
You get to be as sad as you want. I was dry-eyed about David Bowie but wept at the death of Bulgarian soprano Ghena Dimitrova. We all have our favorites.
posted by Smearcase at 1:23 PM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by Smearcase at 1:23 PM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
Thinking of his contributions to the Monkees for me always brings to mind "Shades of Gray" first, and I was looking around for more information about that song in particular when I came across this interview from 2017, since updated with today's news. Well worth a read.
posted by rewil at 1:24 PM on February 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by rewil at 1:24 PM on February 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
If like me you're out of free WaPo articles for now, Rolling Stone's obit is now up and running.
posted by Fupped Duck at 1:29 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Fupped Duck at 1:29 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
He was my favorite Monkee, too.
RIP Peter.
posted by darkstar at 1:32 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
RIP Peter.
posted by darkstar at 1:32 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Sigh :( That's terribly sad :( I"m glad they still got that last tour in. As a kid I think I liked Micky cuz he was "wacky" and who didn't have a crush on Davy (even though older I realize, meh). Then in my rebel high school phase learned how cool Mike was, but in the end, Peter is my fave. They're all great in their own way.
I know it'd never happen but how funny if Micky, Mike, Paul & Ringo joined and made a band. LOL.
posted by symbioid at 1:35 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
I know it'd never happen but how funny if Micky, Mike, Paul & Ringo joined and made a band. LOL.
posted by symbioid at 1:35 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
A good friend of mine has been playing with him for a number of years, and he was by all accounts a great person.
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posted by grumpybear69 at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
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posted by grumpybear69 at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
My son's guitar teacher talks about the Monkees almost as much as he talks about the Beatles (which is a lot).
He has endless praise for the band's integrity in playing their own instruments instead of miming along -- and then turning out to be pretty good at it.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:37 PM on February 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
He has endless praise for the band's integrity in playing their own instruments instead of miming along -- and then turning out to be pretty good at it.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:37 PM on February 21, 2019 [8 favorites]
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posted by Chrysostom at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by Chrysostom at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2019
Nobody ever lends money to a man with a sense of humor.
RIP.
posted by 2N2222 at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
RIP.
posted by 2N2222 at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
I was the perfect age for Monkees reruns in the late 70s-early 80s. Before this my favorite after-school TV was reruns of the Funicello Mickey Mouse Club, so manufactured music was already in my blood. I still like the Monkees music, I've expanded into liking Neil Diamond and Boyce-Hart as an adult, and I missed out on pandering to Peter on Twitter for a like from him. I mean heck, I think he just posted yesterday or the day before (though I think his account has help). I'd followed him on Twitter for years and he seemed like a happy, positive guy.
I don't really know why, but it seemed overall he got a raw deal out of the project. He was the one with the most band experience before the Monkees, but he was portrayed as kind of a dumb mascot that carried through the years since. The reunions didn't seem to want him there. But hey, maybe he was really a slacker who got lucky and was able to milk it for the rest of his days. That's not a bad way to go, either.
My first favorite TRAAAAINS! (Boyce/Hart)
My current favorite for the past several years. (Diamond)
90s early-irony favorite via The Dickies (Boyce/Hart)
I think it's inevitable that each of these threads will be generic Monkee-love threads, but they're such an absolute unit of history that aside from Mike there's really not a lot of extra material to go with. His Shoe Suede Blues stuff is much better than not bad, even if it didn't get much attention.
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posted by rhizome at 1:42 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
I don't really know why, but it seemed overall he got a raw deal out of the project. He was the one with the most band experience before the Monkees, but he was portrayed as kind of a dumb mascot that carried through the years since. The reunions didn't seem to want him there. But hey, maybe he was really a slacker who got lucky and was able to milk it for the rest of his days. That's not a bad way to go, either.
My first favorite TRAAAAINS! (Boyce/Hart)
My current favorite for the past several years. (Diamond)
90s early-irony favorite via The Dickies (Boyce/Hart)
I think it's inevitable that each of these threads will be generic Monkee-love threads, but they're such an absolute unit of history that aside from Mike there's really not a lot of extra material to go with. His Shoe Suede Blues stuff is much better than not bad, even if it didn't get much attention.
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posted by rhizome at 1:42 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
As a kid I loved the silliness of their TV show and one of the first (if not THE first) records I ever owned was their debut album.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:45 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:45 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
If like me you're out of free WaPo articles for now
or you can delete all the wapo cookies and then read the article.
posted by terrapin at 1:48 PM on February 21, 2019
or you can delete all the wapo cookies and then read the article.
posted by terrapin at 1:48 PM on February 21, 2019
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A great, great, great band. I'm so weirdly pleased that he got a RS obit. Because he was a damn fine musician.
posted by anastasiav at 1:56 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
A great, great, great band. I'm so weirdly pleased that he got a RS obit. Because he was a damn fine musician.
posted by anastasiav at 1:56 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
The universe will always be permeated with the odor of turpentine. Godspeed
posted by rifflesby at 2:03 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by rifflesby at 2:03 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
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posted by Faint of Butt at 2:06 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:06 PM on February 21, 2019
Count me as another exactly the right age for the reruns. I refused to go out after school on a weekday unless I was solemnly promised to be home in time for The Monkees. The one time that didn't happen...well...it is still talked about.
He wasn't my favorite (hello Mike!), but I loved them all, they were a part of my childhood, and I still love a lot of their music (Auntie's Municipal Court FTW).
He lasted a long time with a bad cancer. And he'll be missed.
posted by biscotti at 2:23 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
He wasn't my favorite (hello Mike!), but I loved them all, they were a part of my childhood, and I still love a lot of their music (Auntie's Municipal Court FTW).
He lasted a long time with a bad cancer. And he'll be missed.
posted by biscotti at 2:23 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
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posted by young_simba at 2:23 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by young_simba at 2:23 PM on February 21, 2019
As kids, my brother and I were obsessed with The Monkees (probably as a result of the aforementioned re-airings during the late 70s and early 80s) and at play, when it was time to pick which band member we wanted to be, he was always Mike Nesmith and I was always Peter Tork.
Because this predated VCRs, when an episode wasn't currently on the TV, my main visual reference for the group was a collage of photos contained within the bi-fold album cover of my sister's LP record. In a couple of those photos, the other Monkees were kind of rough-housing with Peter in their slapsticky way (I recall one beach shot in which they were standing and holding him like a surfboard tucked underneath their arms) and it would always make me very sad that they were bullying him. Of course, looking back now it was the most harmless thing in the world—just a bit of mugging silliness for the cameras—but it's funny how little kids can take that kind of thing so seriously.
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posted by Atom Eyes at 2:31 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Because this predated VCRs, when an episode wasn't currently on the TV, my main visual reference for the group was a collage of photos contained within the bi-fold album cover of my sister's LP record. In a couple of those photos, the other Monkees were kind of rough-housing with Peter in their slapsticky way (I recall one beach shot in which they were standing and holding him like a surfboard tucked underneath their arms) and it would always make me very sad that they were bullying him. Of course, looking back now it was the most harmless thing in the world—just a bit of mugging silliness for the cameras—but it's funny how little kids can take that kind of thing so seriously.
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posted by Atom Eyes at 2:31 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:33 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:33 PM on February 21, 2019
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posted by dannyboybell at 2:34 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by dannyboybell at 2:34 PM on February 21, 2019
I came to know the Monkees through reruns as well. My friends and I loved that show. One of my friends got Peter Tork's autograph for her birthday. I forget the exact details, but it was something like a friend of her parent's knew Tork and got the autograph on a glossy of him. We were all so amazed by this.
Just last week I was playing some Monkees on Spotify.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:41 PM on February 21, 2019
Just last week I was playing some Monkees on Spotify.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:41 PM on February 21, 2019
Peter Tork went to my college for a couple of months.
They named the video arcade room in the student union after him...
posted by Windopaene at 2:42 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
They named the video arcade room in the student union after him...
posted by Windopaene at 2:42 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Peter Tork went to my college for a couple of months.
They named the video arcade room in the student union after him...
i was going to post about this very fact. Tork attended Carleton in Minnesota, although he dropped out to go play folk music. The college posted this remembrance, including the following fact:
Not much else is known about Tork’s days at Carleton, but given the popularity of The Monkees, his name lives on in college legend. In 1979, a group calling itself the Gang of Three—which later became the Gang of At Least Three and Not Over 1,600—stole a portrait of Carleton’s first president, James Strong, from Laird Hall, and replaced it with a Day-Glo velvet painting of Elvis. The group later agreed to return the portrait on the condition that the Carleton administration dedicate an area of Sayles-Hill [the student union] to Tork. In March 1980, the college officially dedicated the now-defunct “Peter Tork Pinball Area” in Sayles-Hill.
"The Gang of At Least Three and Not Over 1600" is a pretty good student group name.
posted by dismas at 2:48 PM on February 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
They named the video arcade room in the student union after him...
i was going to post about this very fact. Tork attended Carleton in Minnesota, although he dropped out to go play folk music. The college posted this remembrance, including the following fact:
Not much else is known about Tork’s days at Carleton, but given the popularity of The Monkees, his name lives on in college legend. In 1979, a group calling itself the Gang of Three—which later became the Gang of At Least Three and Not Over 1,600—stole a portrait of Carleton’s first president, James Strong, from Laird Hall, and replaced it with a Day-Glo velvet painting of Elvis. The group later agreed to return the portrait on the condition that the Carleton administration dedicate an area of Sayles-Hill [the student union] to Tork. In March 1980, the college officially dedicated the now-defunct “Peter Tork Pinball Area” in Sayles-Hill.
"The Gang of At Least Three and Not Over 1600" is a pretty good student group name.
posted by dismas at 2:48 PM on February 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
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posted by dreaming in stereo at 3:12 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by dreaming in stereo at 3:12 PM on February 21, 2019
One could read WaPo in a private or incognito window if one was unable to subscribe, and is already subscribed to one's local paper so as not to be a complete cheapskate.
Tork just seemed to sweet and goofy. The Monkees were part of the sound track to my adolescence, so this is bitter.
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posted by theora55 at 3:13 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Tork just seemed to sweet and goofy. The Monkees were part of the sound track to my adolescence, so this is bitter.
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posted by theora55 at 3:13 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Because this predated VCRs, when an episode wasn't currently on the TV, my main visual reference for the group was a collage of photos contained within the bi-fold album cover of my sister's LP record. In a couple of those photos, the other Monkees were kind of rough-housing with Peter in their slapsticky way (I recall one beach shot in which they were standing and holding him like a surfboard tucked underneath their arms) and it would always make me very sad that they were bullying him. Of course, looking back now it was the most harmless thing in the world—just a bit of mugging silliness for the cameras—but it's funny how little kids can take that kind of thing so seriously.
Well, I mean, the TV show wasn’t exactly short on Tork-bashing. He was always the dummy.
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posted by Sys Rq at 3:14 PM on February 21, 2019
Well, I mean, the TV show wasn’t exactly short on Tork-bashing. He was always the dummy.
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posted by Sys Rq at 3:14 PM on February 21, 2019
in case there was any doubt that these guys had something ...
Circle Sky (originally from the movie HEAD), but updated here.
posted by philip-random at 3:15 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Circle Sky (originally from the movie HEAD), but updated here.
posted by philip-random at 3:15 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Peter was my favorite, too. "The quiet one."
My brush with fame was being passed by the Monkees' tour busses on the New York State Thruway.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:16 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
My brush with fame was being passed by the Monkees' tour busses on the New York State Thruway.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:16 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
He used to buy drugs from my college roommate!
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posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:17 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
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posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:17 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
because silence isn't the point of the Monkee's, here's a video my 12 year old nephew made (about a month ago) that commemorates the bit he was obsessed with.
posted by es_de_bah at 3:26 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by es_de_bah at 3:26 PM on February 21, 2019
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posted by OolooKitty at 3:32 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by OolooKitty at 3:32 PM on February 21, 2019
> I know it'd never happen but how funny if Micky, Mike, Paul & Ringo joined and made a band.
yes but only if it were a cover band that only played songs by the kinks.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:39 PM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
yes but only if it were a cover band that only played songs by the kinks.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:39 PM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
This was a more of a gut punch than I expected. I still vividly remember the fisticuffs between my brother and I which determined whether we would watch the Monkees or Press Your Luck the year MTV ran the reruns constantly. They’re still the backbone of my love for sunny power pop with a sneaky amount of depth, and I quasi jokingly told my fiancé today that he could thank my attraction to him to my imprinting on Peter Tork’s gentle goofiness and obvious kind hearted ness at an impressionable age.
posted by jacy at 3:44 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by jacy at 3:44 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
Aw man. Peter was always my favorite. My first concert was the Monkees, in 86 I think? And then I saw them again the next summer when Weird Al opened for them.
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posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:49 PM on February 21, 2019
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posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:49 PM on February 21, 2019
My favourite Monkee too. I suppose it's inevitable that, as we get older the heroes/crushes of our youth start dying off, but it's still bloody depressing.
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posted by Fuchsoid at 3:53 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by Fuchsoid at 3:53 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by oneironaut at 3:54 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by oneironaut at 3:54 PM on February 21, 2019
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For us Monkees fans, this isn't a complete shock. Last fall, there was a Monkees Christmas album released that several people involved said was very quickly put together. This led to some speculation that perhaps Peter's cancer had returned and that those involved were trying to provide fans with one last album that would feature all three surviving Monkees. Peter's contribution to that album was "Angels We Have Heard On High".
Goodbye, Peter Halsten Thorkelson. In the end, the love you created was far more than the love you took.
posted by frodisaur at 4:13 PM on February 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
For us Monkees fans, this isn't a complete shock. Last fall, there was a Monkees Christmas album released that several people involved said was very quickly put together. This led to some speculation that perhaps Peter's cancer had returned and that those involved were trying to provide fans with one last album that would feature all three surviving Monkees. Peter's contribution to that album was "Angels We Have Heard On High".
Goodbye, Peter Halsten Thorkelson. In the end, the love you created was far more than the love you took.
posted by frodisaur at 4:13 PM on February 21, 2019 [7 favorites]
Yeah, this hurts more than I expected. Peter was always my 4th-favorite Monkee, but I loved the band so much that there's no shame in 4th place. He played a lovable hippie lunk very well, and behind the scenes he played an integral role in making that band what they became.
I'm very glad the Monkees were eventually reappraised by critics. The band made some great music, stuff that was so much better than you'd expect given their origins. Any band that can count among its fans John Lennon, Thurston Moore, Johnny Rotten and Grouchy Marx had to be doing something right.
(That recent Christmas album didn't do much for me, but The House of Broken Gingerbread was like a lost Monkees track from 1968, bouncy yet bitter, and it was perfect.)
No Peter Tork obituary thread would be complete without a link to the demented work of genius that is Your Auntie Grizelda.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:20 PM on February 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
I'm very glad the Monkees were eventually reappraised by critics. The band made some great music, stuff that was so much better than you'd expect given their origins. Any band that can count among its fans John Lennon, Thurston Moore, Johnny Rotten and Grouchy Marx had to be doing something right.
(That recent Christmas album didn't do much for me, but The House of Broken Gingerbread was like a lost Monkees track from 1968, bouncy yet bitter, and it was perfect.)
No Peter Tork obituary thread would be complete without a link to the demented work of genius that is Your Auntie Grizelda.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:20 PM on February 21, 2019 [9 favorites]
I’ve been a Monkees fan since the first time the show ran when I was about six. I was obsessed with Mike then, very solemnly telling my father I was going to marry him, but as an adult, I developed a real respect for Peter Tork. His “dumb” character predated the Monkees, so it wasn’t something the show foisted on him. He used that character as a folk singer before that. I saw him at a ComicCon once. I was goofy and starstruck (in my 50s), and he was extremely nice. At the end, I asked him if I could shake his hand. He said, “Are you kidding me?” Then he stood up and hugged me. I was over the moon for days.
He sent a message to fans via social media several months ago saying his health was requiring some attention and he was spending time with his family. He also asked fans to give him privacy. This was after Mike had hinted that there was a reason he wasn’t on the current tour. He had had cancer twice before, so I figured it wasn’t good. I was very sorry to hear the news. RIP Peter.
posted by FencingGal at 4:40 PM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
He sent a message to fans via social media several months ago saying his health was requiring some attention and he was spending time with his family. He also asked fans to give him privacy. This was after Mike had hinted that there was a reason he wasn’t on the current tour. He had had cancer twice before, so I figured it wasn’t good. I was very sorry to hear the news. RIP Peter.
posted by FencingGal at 4:40 PM on February 21, 2019 [12 favorites]
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posted by Faintdreams at 4:58 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by Faintdreams at 4:58 PM on February 21, 2019
So I was 7 when the Monkees debuted. We lived in the Bay Area during the 60’s and I got to witness the scene in San Francisco firsthand. My older brothers bought albums that I listened to a lot… Grateful Dead, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys etc. etc. The Monkees was my first record that wasn’t handed down and I loved it and the show. I still have it along with their second album which just happens to be my very 2nd album.
They wont topple the Beatles off my pedestal of worship but they were a big part of my childhood. Rip Peter.
posted by jabo at 5:09 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
They wont topple the Beatles off my pedestal of worship but they were a big part of my childhood. Rip Peter.
posted by jabo at 5:09 PM on February 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Ah, oof. I watched the reruns devotedly as a little kid in the 70s. While Peter wasn’t my favorite Monkee (that was Mike - I do love a man in a hat) I always thought he was the sweetest one. And he was such a talent.
So this is it from here on out, right? Watching the childhood heroes and villains die one by one?
posted by kimberussell at 5:54 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
So this is it from here on out, right? Watching the childhood heroes and villains die one by one?
posted by kimberussell at 5:54 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
Also. My favorite Peter bit (and the Mike is great, too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_6JSWpobnY
posted by symbioid at 6:01 PM on February 21, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_6JSWpobnY
posted by symbioid at 6:01 PM on February 21, 2019
I was a little kid in the mid-80s when there were re-runs and occasional radio play. I adored the Monkees and practically wore out their tapes on my pink, my-first-cassette-player. To this day, I brighten up whenever I catch one of their songs in public. ("Last Train to Clarksville" in the coffee shop last week).
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posted by TwoStride at 6:22 PM on February 21, 2019
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posted by TwoStride at 6:22 PM on February 21, 2019
... a bit scary when 77 doesn’t seem that old.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:28 PM on February 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:28 PM on February 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
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I'm going to go find a clip of the Monkees show intro, where Peter looks so happy and satisfied when his name finally appears.
posted by coppertop at 6:43 PM on February 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'm going to go find a clip of the Monkees show intro, where Peter looks so happy and satisfied when his name finally appears.
posted by coppertop at 6:43 PM on February 21, 2019 [4 favorites]
I came to the Monkees as an older teen in the 80s via MTV, so I was listening to the music more than I was sighing over their cuteness. And the music held up. "Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?" is one of the finest psychedelic songs of that era, and it's one of my faves. Such a shame that it wasn't a hit. And it's a Peter song, as is "For Pete's Sake", another terrific song.
I follow Nez on FB:
Pardon me if I am being dogmatic -- but I think it is harder to put together a band than a TV show -- not to take anything away from TV shows. These days I watch MSNBC -- mostly aghast at what I see -- and what I am missing is "madcap".
Peter Tork died this AM. I am told he slipped away peacefully.
Yet, as I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken. Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure. It's going to be a rough day.
I share with all Monkees fans this change, this "loss", even so.
PT will be a part of me forever. I have said this before -- and now it seems even more apt -- the reason we called it a band is because it was where we all went to play.
A band no more -- and yet the music plays on -- an anthem to all who made the Monkees and the TV show our private -- dare I say "secret" -- playground.
As for Pete, I can only pray his songs reach the heights that can lift us and that our childhood lives forever -- that special sparkle that was the Monkees. I will miss him -- a brother in arms. Take flight my Brother.
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posted by droplet at 7:20 PM on February 21, 2019 [20 favorites]
I follow Nez on FB:
Pardon me if I am being dogmatic -- but I think it is harder to put together a band than a TV show -- not to take anything away from TV shows. These days I watch MSNBC -- mostly aghast at what I see -- and what I am missing is "madcap".
Peter Tork died this AM. I am told he slipped away peacefully.
Yet, as I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken. Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure. It's going to be a rough day.
I share with all Monkees fans this change, this "loss", even so.
PT will be a part of me forever. I have said this before -- and now it seems even more apt -- the reason we called it a band is because it was where we all went to play.
A band no more -- and yet the music plays on -- an anthem to all who made the Monkees and the TV show our private -- dare I say "secret" -- playground.
As for Pete, I can only pray his songs reach the heights that can lift us and that our childhood lives forever -- that special sparkle that was the Monkees. I will miss him -- a brother in arms. Take flight my Brother.
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posted by droplet at 7:20 PM on February 21, 2019 [20 favorites]
I think it may be at least partly due to Tork's influence on my young life that I grew up to become a doofus bass player.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:31 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:31 PM on February 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Peter Tork composed the groovy psychedelic pop song 'Can You Dig It' that was featured in their odd stoner film 'Head' (worth seeing if you dig this kinda thing, disorienting if you're not expecting the more provocative side of The Monkees).
posted by ovvl at 7:39 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by ovvl at 7:39 PM on February 21, 2019
I'm old enough to have watched The Monkees during their original network run, and while I was aware even as a little kid that they had been put together for a TV show and therefore were different than the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, etc, the show was fun and their records were good.
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posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 1:08 AM on February 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 1:08 AM on February 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
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Another piece of my childhood gone.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 6:24 AM on February 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
Another piece of my childhood gone.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 6:24 AM on February 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by neutralmojo at 7:44 AM on February 22, 2019
posted by neutralmojo at 7:44 AM on February 22, 2019
> So this is it from here on out, right? Watching the childhood heroes and villains die one by one?
yes except the villains will be the first ones to get access to strange and sinister new life-extension technologies, so they'll die slower and later.
I'm gonna watch Head this weekend... it's been like 15 years since the last time I saw it.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:12 AM on February 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
yes except the villains will be the first ones to get access to strange and sinister new life-extension technologies, so they'll die slower and later.
I'm gonna watch Head this weekend... it's been like 15 years since the last time I saw it.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 8:12 AM on February 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
Come On In sounds especially sad just now.
posted by gnuhavenpier at 9:12 AM on February 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by gnuhavenpier at 9:12 AM on February 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by the sobsister at 10:16 AM on February 22, 2019
posted by the sobsister at 10:16 AM on February 22, 2019
.
posted by PippinJack at 12:22 PM on February 22, 2019
posted by PippinJack at 12:22 PM on February 22, 2019
I'm going to go find a clip of the Monkees show intro, where Peter looks so happy and satisfied when his name finally appears.
Coppertop, I made a gif.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:40 PM on February 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Coppertop, I made a gif.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:40 PM on February 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:11 PM on February 23, 2019
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:11 PM on February 23, 2019
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posted by pt68 at 1:14 PM on February 21, 2019