Peter Halsten Thorkelson (Tork), February 13, 1942 – February 21, 2019
I always said the Monkees were a better band than they should’ve been. Rolling Stone has a brief obit here.
Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
Peter Halsten Thorkelson (Tork), February 13, 1942 – February 21, 2019
I always said the Monkees were a better band than they should’ve been. Rolling Stone has a brief obit here.
“A better band than they should have been..” that very well said. I loved their show when it was on MTV, and their take on Last Train to Clarksville is on point. I always thought he looked like Peter Buck…
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that they had a lot of HITS.
The Monkees were a perfect marriage between art and commerce. NBC pretty much assembled a great band out of thin air for the sole purpose of making money. Luckliy, LA was crawling with talent. Those who disparaged them for being “commercial” missed the point. They made great records, which is all that matters. Great TV show, too.
Snobs would cite the fact that The Wrecking Crew played on most Monkees songs as evidence that they “couldn’t play.” That’s like saying someone “can’t swim” because he’s not as fast as Michael Phelps. The Wrecking Crew could record an immaculately-played hit in an hour. Of course any record company would want that to keep studio costs down.
And they played a lot of live shows and pulled off the hits pretty well.
Off topic, but one of my favorite Wrecking Crew stories involved The Byrds. The Wrecking Crew recorded their first hit, Mr. Tambourine Man, in a couple of takes. I believe they let Roger McGuinn, an experienced session man, play twelve-string on that. Beyond that, all The Byrds did was sing. With their egos bruised and a hit to give them some negotiating power, they insisted on recording their follow-up themselves, I think it was Turn, Turn, Turn. It took them over 70 takes.