These days, the Monks are generally considered (by musicians and music nerds and me) to be one of the most important of the sixties garage rock bands. They started out as a bunch of American soldiers stationed in Germany in 1964. That doesn't necessarily inspire confidence in their musical prowess, but their isolation is often seen as being crucial in their ability to develop such a unique sound. They were free to be ruthlessly experimental. Musically, Black Monk Time ranges from manic to minimal and droning at times. As bassist Eddie Shaw said:
"We got rid of melody. We substituted dissonance and clashing harmonics. Everything was rhythmically oriented. Bam, bam, bam. We concentrated on over-beat."The lyrics range from playful to bizarre. This is the wonderfully negative "I Hate You", which the esteemed uploader has edited together with old Israeli footage with quite effective results:
Thanks for that, Youtube. There's also quite a bit of live stuff on there from German TV, which is well worth a watch.
Remember, this was 1965. The biggest song that year was Unchained Melody. Yes, the rest of the top 5 was the Beatles and Stones (it really wasn't a bad year). But stylistically and experimentally, the Monks were about ten years ahead of their time. People say that kind of shit all the time, but in this case it happens to be true.
Occasionally Black Monk Time verges on the twee. A case in point:
Which is still a pretty awesome song. Even during these borderline corny moments, there's still this undercurrent of "there's something seriously fucked-up going on here." The haircuts help too, I guess. Give Black Monk Time a listen, it's sinister and fun!
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