Peter Tork of the Monkees died yesterday at age 77. Tork was 24 and playing folk music in Greenwich Village when his friend Stephen Stills urged him to audition for this TV show that was looking for musicians, as Stills had. (Imagine the alternate-universe possibilities).
Derided as the Prefab Four because their first two albums used session musicians with the stars contributing only vocals, the Monkees had four No. 1 albums in 1967. It wasn’t until the third one, “Headquarters,” that they gained enough control to play their own instruments and record more of their own compositions. Tork’s first contribution, with its Summer of Love lyrics, became the end-credit theme for the TV show’s second season.
