http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44208&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rssCited as forerunners of both punk and Krautrock, the Monks were a five-piece garage band made up of GIs stationed in Germany in the 1960s. With tribal drumbeats and unheard levels of abrasiveness and aggression, they stood far apart from arguably every other person playing rock 'n' roll music at the time, undoubtedly contributing to almost total obscurity until the re-issue of their first album, <i>Black Monk Time</i>, in 1994. Songs "I Hate You" and "Shut Up," delivered with a pronounced absurdism, were still light-years ahead of the pack in terms of open hostility. Like a punk-rock version of the Fugs or a way more far-out Troggs, the Monks' music was idiot simple and robotically repetitive, presaging the Fall, the Stooges -- pretty much everybody. They are also legendary for the fact that all the members shaved their heads into monk tonsures, wore black cassocks and nooses around their necks onstage, and had an amplified and almost unbearably tinny banjo instead of a rhythm guitar. They never enjoyed anything close to commercial success, but judging from the fact that they were rhyming the words "complication" and "constipation" in 1964, money and fame were not the object. - Mike McGuirkGarage Rock Pioneersen720Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:08:35 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44208&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss Cited as forerunners of both punk and Krautrock, the Monks were a five-piece garage band made up of GIs stationed in Germany in the 1960s. With tribal drumbeats and unheard levels of abrasiveness and aggression, they stood far apart from arguably every other person playing rock 'n' roll music at the time, undoubtedly contributing to almost total obscurity until the re-issue of their first album, <i>Black Monk Time</i>, in 1994. Songs "I Hate You" and "Shut Up," delivered with a pronounced absurdism, were still light-years ahead of the pack in terms of open hostility. Like a punk-rock version of the Fugs or a way more far-out Troggs, the Monks' music was idiot simple and robotically repetitive, presaging the Fall, the Stooges -- pretty much everybody. They are also legendary for the fact that all the members shaved their heads into monk tonsures, wore black cassocks and nooses around their necks onstage, and had an amplified and almost unbearably tinny banjo instead of a rhythm guitar. They never enjoyed anything close to commercial success, but judging from the fact that they were rhyming the words "complication" and "constipation" in 1964, money and fame were not the object. - Mike McGuirk http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.29067901&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss Garage Rock Pioneers Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 The Monks Discography on Rhapsody Online alb.29067901 alb.29067901 The Monks art.44208 0.0 The Early Years 1964 - 1965 alb.29067901 2009-02-10 00:00:00.0 null false false main-release http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.29067901&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.29067901&variant=data&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.27824010&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss Garage Rock Pioneers Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 The Monks Discography on Rhapsody Online alb.27824010 alb.27824010 The Monks art.44208 0.0 Black Monk Time alb.27824010 http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/9/9/8/4/1654899_170x170.jpg 2009-02-10 00:00:00.0 null false false main-release http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.27824010&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.27824010&variant=data&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.20557451&variant=play&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss Garage Rock Pioneers Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700 The Monks Discography on Rhapsody Online alb.20557451 alb.20557451 The Monks art.44208 8.99 Monk Time alb.20557451 http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/6/1/8/6/1226816_170x170.jpg 2008-04-22 00:00:00.0 2004-10-12 00:00:00.0 true false main-release http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.20557451&variant=play&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.20557451&variant=data&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.140572&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss Garage Rock Pioneers Fri, 1 Jan 1999 00:00:00 -0800 The Monks Discography on Rhapsody Online alb.140572 alb.140572 The Monks art.44208 0.0 Five Upstart Americans alb.140572 http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/1/1/8/0/500811_170x170.jpg 1999-01-01 00:00:00.0 1999-01-01 00:00:00.0 false false main-release http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.140572&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.140572&variant=data&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.322238&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss Garage Rock Pioneers Mon, 1 Jan 1996 00:00:00 -0800 The Monks Discography on Rhapsody Online alb.322238 alb.322238 The Monks art.44208 0.0 Black Monk Time alb.322238 http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/4/8/7/5/385784_170x170.jpg 1996-01-01 00:00:00.0 1966-01-01 00:00:00.0 false false main-release http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.322238&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=alb.322238&variant=data&rws=%2Fthe-monks%2Fdiscography.rss