Alright, my name’s Joe, it’s Monk Time! […] The Monks were these five guys stationed in Germany in the mid-60s. They’re odd. You’ve gotta admit, five guys who served in the army and then decided, ‘We’re not going to go back home, we’re going to form a band and just play in Germany during the Cold War.’ In addition to that, they became The Monks, shaved their heads like Monks do, dressed all in black and wore hangman’s nooses as ties. These guys were amazing. They were like Punk before Punk, they were Metal before Metal, they were laying down the hard dirge before Black Sabbath even was. […] The CD I have is autographed by their bassist, Eddie Shaw, who described it as “The bass from hell.” Their drummer just laid down a plaintive, primitive beat, just a thud, thud, thud. Guitarist was screeching; and to supplement that, they had a guy on banjo just to get a ka-chang, ka-chang, ka-chang. And their keyboardist, Dave, just laid down a massive funeral dirge. I can’t recommend Black Monk Time enough.

For more information about The Monks, Joe mentioned the documentary series: The Trans Europa Express.

This belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Exhibited by Joe Mason

Transcript edited by Serena Washington