Gary Burger, the lead singer from the legendary early sixties garage band the Monks has died at 72 from pancreatic cancer.
The band have become quoted as a key influence by many people over the years from the Fall to Mott The Hoople to Beastie Boys and Green Day with their grunting garage and feedback being considered trailblazing.
Oddly Burger had spent the last few years of his life as the mayor of Turtle River, Minn.
The Monks formed overseas in 1964, when the band’s five members had been shipped to Germany for GI duty. Soon after they were discharged from the Army and started playing the German club circuit—where another rock ‘n’ roll band, the Beatles, had gotten their start—and out of sheer boredom they began incorporating bizarre sounds like amplified banjo and squealing guitar feedback into their shows.
They also got a look: black robes tied shut with white rope nooses, and hair that was shorn straight down the middle of their heads into traditional monk tonsures.
The post Gary Burger – lead singer of the Monks RIP appeared first on Louder Than War.