Peter Tork, endearingly offbeat bassist and singer in the Monkees, dies at 77

WaPo ^ | 02/21/2019 | By Harrison Smith

[Red Badger]

Peter Tork, a blues and folk musician who became a teeny-bopper sensation as a member of the Monkees, the wisecracking, made-for-TV pop group that imitated and briefly outsold the Beatles, died Feb. 21. He was 77.

His death was confirmed by his sister Anne Thorkelson, who did not say where or how he died. Mr. Tork was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer affecting his tongue, in 2009.

If the Monkees were a manufactured version of the Beatles, a “prefab four” who auditioned for a rock-and-roll sitcom and were selected more for their long-haired good looks than their musical abilities, Mr. Tork was the group’s Ringo, its lovably goofy supporting player.

On television, he performed as the self-described “dummy” of the group, drawing on a persona he developed while working as a folk musician in Greenwich Village, where he flashed a confused smile whenever his stage banter fell flat. Off-screen, he embraced the Summer of Love, donning moccasins and “love beads” and declaring that “nonverbal, extrasensory communication is at hand” and that “dogmatism is leaving the scene.”

A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Mr. Tork mostly played bass and keyboard for the Monkees, in addition to singing lead on tracks including “Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again,” which he wrote for the group’s psychedelic 1968 movie, “Head,” and “Your Auntie Grizelda.”

[Polyxene]

On the Last Train to Clarksville........RIP

[AppyPappy]

Tiger Beat was pushing the narrative that Tork was exactly like his character.

[bgill]

RIP.

He was the cutest one, imo. But he was a druggie.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Reportedly Nesmith had once threatened to put Don Kirshner’s face through a wall at the Beverly Hills Hotel."

I've found the cliche time heals all wounds to be very true.

[j. earl carter]

“Daydream Believers: The Monkeys Story

A good bio film if you can find it.”

It wasn’t too hard to find:

https://youtu.be/vhxPBYMQyE0

[bgill]

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha! Davy, Davy, Davy!

[hanamizu]

Hanamizu, your FR name, is Japanese, I believe, for the Dogwood tree.

---

Really. I had no idea. I fashioned it from nose water—snot. Dogwood is a bit more dignified, maybe I’ll go with that since Dogwood is Missouri’s state tree.

[bgill]

I bought more than a few bottles of White Out.

[4yearlurker]

The way I knew it through the years: Mickey gave up the guitar to learn drums,Peter gave up the keyboard to play bass,Mike kept playing the guitar,and Davey kept on singing and shaking morocco's.

[Buckeye McFrog]

"Reportedly Nesmith had once threatened to put Don Kirshner’s face through a wall at the Beverly Hills Hotel." I've found the cliche time heals all wounds to be very true.

I think it does with guys. We can get into a fistfight and mess each other up pretty good. Five years later we can sit at a bar and drink beer and have a good laugh about it.

With women, not so much.

[stylecouncilor]

Ping

[BadLands59]

I loved The Monkees when I was a kid. I think I spotted him in Palm Springs once, when my parents and I went out to eat on Mother’s Day back in the late 60’s.

[Deplorable American1776]

Hey hey we’re the Monkees...RIP and prayers to the family.

[CommerceComet]

Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones ended up learning guitar or keyboards, but Mike and Peter were actually musicians.

I heard a Mike Nesmith interview where he said that the Monkees were pretty ordinary musicians and the only exceptional aspect of their music was Davy Jones' vocals.

RIP, Peter.

My childhood has been taking a beating in the last couple of months. The social icons of my generation are falling fast.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Happy to see the Compost piece mentioned his time at Carleton College. He wasn’t the fool he played on TV, but he would be the first to admit he never applied himself very hard to academics, eventually dropping out for good. In the late 70s we then current Carleton students honored his time there by naming a room in our campus center: The Peter Tork Memorial Pinball Room.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"With women, not so much."

Hate to sound sexist, but I agree. I have a theory on why this is true. With men, it is acceptable that we can settle our differences with violence. Women don't really have that option (societally). I think a good fistfight is the best thing for kids. Gets their aggression out and then it's done. People understood that. I saw a number of times (and once I participated when I was around 10) of teachers putting boxing gloves and headgear on kids and let them go a round. The kids tire themselves out trying to punch one another, no one gets hurt and the problem is solved. I also think that this is one of the reasons for the rise in school shootings. Kids don't have this option anymore.

[weston]

RIP

[circlecity]

Does anyone remember a Monkees song named “Going Down”. It wasn’t one of the hits but was always one of my favorites.

[Red Badger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnzrGr78Mws

[fidelis]

"The way I knew it through the years: Mickey gave up the guitar to learn drums,Peter gave up the keyboard to play bass,Mike kept playing the guitar,and Davey kept on singing and shaking morocco's."

The variation I heard on this was that Jones was an able drummer, but they wanted him out front for the cuteness factor. I also understand later on he became passable as a bass player.