Crazy late ’60s counterculture-style exoticism, complete with white guru figure, sitar sounds, jeweled turbans, and vague Bharata Natyam dance moves.
This specific bit is Peter Tork singing “Do Not Ask for Love” from the TV special, 33 & 1/3 Revolutions Per a Monkee broadcast on April 14, 1969 on NBC. The special features a grab bag of genres and setting from this to the wild west to the nursery, and finally ends with a hedonistic hippie free-for-all. Throughout is a cacophonous rant against television and commercialism and a look that is reminiscent of contemporaneous variety shows like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In as well as the later produced video art piece, Global Groove.
Tune In. Tune Out.
