The first punk band

[GoogaMooga]

Quick - what was the first punk band? The Damned? New York Dolls? Stooges? No, the first punk band was much weirder than any of those later ones. They were called The Monks, and they were formed a full three years before the Stooges, way back in '64. The Monks were three American G.I.s stationed in West Germany, plus a local. And when they called themselves Monks, they really meant it, shaving their heads in tonsures like real monks would do. No Gregorian chants from these guys, though, but rather, a raucous avant-garde racket of shrill vocals, abrasive feedback, and loud distortion. all to showcase their hard-edged commentary on the sorry state of society. "Black Monk Time" was released in that key year, 1966, and their reputation rests on that one album. It's the one with the hypnotic "We Do Wie Du", a completely insane little ditty that I could go on singing forever:

Hey, hey, what are you gonna say?
You know we're all gonna make love today
Yay, yay, yay, yay!
We do as you, we do
We do, wie du, wie du
Won't you come with me today?
Hey girl, I'm gonna stay today
And there's nothing
Nothing you can say

[Walk In My Shadow]

*sigh*

The Bear invented Punk. In Covent Garden.

[Jumper K]

What sort of punk?

[Darkness_Fish]

Meh, it's alright, but it does sound very much of its time, rather than anything punk. Only Higgle-dy Piggle-dy really gets the blood racing.

[Matt Wilson]

If the Monks are punk then certainly the Sonics preceded them.

[GoogaMooga]

I'd call the Sonics garage punk, and in that case, there were other forerunners, too.