{"id":7241,"date":"2025-09-04T15:31:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7241"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:32:16","slug":"shindig-167-the-monks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7241","title":{"rendered":"Shindig! #167 \u2013 The Monks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the mid-60s, five American ex-GIs traded their long hair for tonsures, their clothes for robes, and \u201950s rock \u2019n\u2019 roll for an explosive mix of guitar feedback, primal beats and anti-war sentiment that anticipated punk and krautrock. <\/strong><\/p>\n

JONATHAN THORNTON goes back to Cold War Germany to tell the story of THE MONKS and their sole masterpiece Black <\/em>Monk Time<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2018I Hate You\u2019 is perhaps The Monks\u2019 best-known song after \u2018Monk Time\u2019. Over a lurching beat with a menacing bassline, Gary rants and raves about hating the object of his affections \u201cwith a passion\u201d. The sheer vitriol of Gary\u2019s performance is subverted by the rest of the band\u2019s dolefully intoning, \u201c\u2026but call me!\u201d at the end of every line. With one track, The Monks created an ode to negation that would have done The Ramones proud, whilst puncturing the song\u2019s glorious snottiness by highlighting the desperation hidden beneath the bravado. It\u2019s perhaps the ultimate garage-punk anti-love song, a dissection of dysfunctional attraction miles away from the innocence of The Beatles\u2019 \u2018I Wanna Hold Your Hand\u2019. It gained a wider audience when, in \u201998, the Cohen Brothers used it in the soundtrack to their cult slacker masterpiece The Big Lebowski<\/em>.<\/p>\n