'Black Monk Time'

I didn’t think much of Black Monk Time until I gave it another listen or two. If nothing else, it’s a very simple record about girls. Nothing wrong with simple records about girls. 

The Monks were comprised of American GIs stationed in Germany during the mid-1960s. The band wound up playing clubs in Hamburg honing their raw garage band sound. 

They released one album in 1965, Black Monk Time. It’s been re-released about six more times since. The band marketed themselves based on their blunt lyrics and their gallows humor often appearing in robes and cossacks and nooses draped around their neck. They also cut their hair into tonsures, the ridiculous-looking haircut popularized by monks. They considered themselves the “anti-Beatles.” 

The band has actually reunited in some form in the 2000s although lead singer Gary Burger is the mayor of Turtle River, Minn. Nothing says “antiestablishment” than being the actual establishment.