Peter Tork, the bassist for The Monkees and a jokester on the band's popular 1960s television series, has died at age 77.

Peter Tork of The Monkees clapped back at the band's critics who claimed that anyone could have filled their shoes and done a good job.

They held auditions and chose two young men with musical experience (Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork) and two with acting experience (Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz).

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 ...