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RIP Peter Tork


Murph

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We were able to see the TV-series here and I enjoyed them every Friday afternoon as a kid.

Ritual driven by my father (mother worked late that day) was : a bath, boiled sausages and Monkees on the telly. What's not to like.

 

And Tork was the favorite.

 

1965 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DwL9XLjdKc

 

The tree is left Monkey on

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The Monkees were part of our musical coming of age. Some of the best pop music ever made. Their second LP remains one of my favorites. They managed to raise more than a few eyebrows when the Butterfield Blues Band recorded Nesmith's "Mary, Mary" on "East West" and "Steppin' Stone" remains one of the greatest three minutes blasts of rock & roll ever laid down.

 

I saw the Monkees on one of their reunion shows at a Sate Fair in the 1980s. Nesmith was, of course, not there. It was still though a whole lot of fun.

 

RIP Peter. You gave us all a gift and we will remain ever thankful.

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Man, I'm gonna get flamed for this one.

 

Maybe it's because I'm just a few years older than most of you guys writing here, but I had really, really mixed feelings about the Monkees when they hit the scene. It was pretty clear even back then that the impulse that brought the Monkees (the TV show) to life was the success of the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964, when the on-screen antics of the English pop band phenomenon caught the attention of US television producers.

 

By the time the made-for-tv Monkees and their antics hit the small, grainy screen in 1966, I was in college and a hard-core fan of the Stones, the Yardbirds, Them, the Animals, and the Bluesbreakers. The Monkees were just too American and too designed to appeal to a broad swath of the American music and TV market to have much appeal to me.

 

It took me a long time to appreciate the musicianship and songwriting skill that eventually bubbled up out of their unusual origins, but I was never a fan in any real sense. They did, ultimately, create some very good music.

 

Em7 and ZW will know this. Stephen Stills, then struggling and looking for a break, auditioned for the Monkees but didn't make the cut. I bet there were other names that became big later that were also on that list.

 

RIP, Peter Tork. You were a real musician, after all was said and done.

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Man, I'm gonna get flamed for this one.

 

Maybe it's because I'm just a few years older than most of you guys writing here, but I had really, really mixed feelings about the Monkees when they hit the scene. It was pretty clear even back then that the impulse that brought the Monkees (the TV show) to life was the success of the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964, when the on-screen antics of the English pop band phenomenon caught the attention of US television producers.

 

By the time the made-for-tv Monkees and their antics hit the small, grainy screen in 1966, I was in college and a hard-core fan of the Stones, the Yardbirds, Them, the Animals, and the Bluesbreakers. The Monkees were just too American and too designed to appeal to a broad swath of the American music and TV market to have much appeal to me.

 

It took me a long time to appreciate the musicianship and songwriting skill that eventually bubbled up out of their unusual origins, but I was never a fan in any real sense. They did, ultimately, create some very good music.

 

Em7 and ZW will know this. Stephen Stills, then struggling and looking for a break, auditioned for the Monkees but didn't make the cut. I bet there were other names that became big later that were also on that list.

 

RIP, Peter Tork. You were a real musician, after all was said and done.

 

 

I heard that one of the guys in Three Dog Night had also auditioned for the show. I think though a lot of us did not take the Monkees seriously. There were some good songs and Gretsch guitars but as a whole the cool factor came into play and the Monkees were seen as a bubblegum teeny idol band. At best they were a guilty pleasure. So while you might not buy their LPs you may just sit there and find yourself playing the intro to "Last Train to Clarksville." Just an infectious riff. And For me though as the 1960s wore on I tired of the mindless noodlin' that dragged songs on for the entire side of an LP and canyons of your mind lyrics. As I got to be a better musician I came more and more to appreciate a well crafted pop song. And the Monkees gave us just that. Not only did they have great song writing but it was the Wrecking Crew playing those songs - the same studio musicians who along with McGuinn made up the Byrds on the Mr. Tambourine Man" 45 rpm. Not too shabby.

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As I got to be a better musician I came more and more to appreciate a well crafted pop song. And the Monkees gave us just that. Not only did they have great song writing but it was the Wrecking Crew playing those songs - the same studio musicians who along with McGuinn made up the Byrds on the Mr. Tambourine Man" 45 rpm. Not too shabby.

 

Fair enough. Stephen Stills also apparently also played all the instruments on the tracks of CS&N's first album.

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I only recently discovered Jerry Garcia played steel on "Teach Your Children".

 

How'd I miss that?

 

 

Garcia even gets credit on the album. He apparently played in exchange for C&N helping the Dead with their harmonies for "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty". You can hear that influence pretty clearly on "Uncle John's Band" and "Box of Rain".

 

Nash wrote "Teach your Children" when he was still with the Hollies, but apparently their management didn't think much of it. Just another nail in the coffin that sent Nash back to America and into the arms of Crosby and Stills. Just one of those little inflection points in popular musical culture.

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I only recently discovered Jerry Garcia played steel on "Teach Your Children".

 

How'd I miss that?

Just be glad you didn't miss the performance - GOLDEN, , , and actually a first take.

 

Fair enough. Stephen Stills also apparently also played all the instruments on the tracks of CS&N's first album.

Now, Nick, you tend to forget the late Dallas Taylor behind the drums.

Maybe because his playing was so delicately discrete it almost disappeared into the tracks - a high virtue, , , especially in that genre.

And do remember he was on the cover as well. Fetch your copy from the shelf and start searching - a splendid Sunday-evening-eyesight-exercise.

 

At best they were a guilty pleasure.

 

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

And the Monkees gave us just that. Not only did they have great song writing but it was the Wrecking Crew playing those songs - the same studio musicians who along with McGuinn made up the Byrds on the Mr. Tambourine Man" 45 rpm. Not too shabby.

 

I for another ain't clean.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

Good info 'bout Wrecking Crew ^ didn't know

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The tv series came out when i was in third grade- had the lunch box, matching thermos and trading cards, but the parents wouldn't go for the haircut cos' long hair was out in southern illinois way back when...nostalgia is death

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