Saturday Theme Nineteen

After Mark E. and Brix Smith divorced MES threw himself (or shuffled himself maybe) into a new line up and a new album, what would become The Fall's twelfth studio album, 1990's Extricate. Martin Bramah rejoined on guitar and at the height of Madchester (something Mark was fairly scathing about not least on the song Idiot Joy Showland from 1991's Shift- Work). However in a nod tot he changing musical times The Fall had worked with Coldcut on Telephone Thing, the song which leads Extricate, a chunky drums, dance music influenced song which fitted in very well with the then current sound. Extricate also had possibly the most sincere and personal song The Fall recorded, the beautiful Bill Is Dead. It also had Black Monk Theme Part 1.

Black Monk Theme Part 1

Keyboards and guitars plus a loping drumbeat Black Monk Theme Part 1 is a cover of I Hate You by 60s garage band The Monks. I Hate You is one of the great songs of the 60s, an organ led, minimalist piece of nihilistic thuggery, the flipside of the 60s dream of peace and love pre- dating both The Stooges and The Velvet Underground (I Hate You came out in 1966 on the album Black Monk Time). The Monks were five GIs stationed in Gelnhausen, West Germany. The brutal rhythms, chanted vocals, lyrics about the war in Vietnam, whiny organ, banjo and feedback gave them a pretty unique and far out sound. If that wasn't enough, they dressed as monks in black robes and shaved their heads into tonsures.

I Hate You

Mark E. Smith retitled another of their songs, Oh, How To Do Now for Black Monk Theme 2 which came out as a B-side on the Popcorn Double Feature 12". The highspeed backing track and chipmunk like backing vocals make it all sound a bit ridiculous until Mark wades in to bring the song under control. 

Black Monk Theme Part 2

The original can also be found on Black Monk Time, a blast of proto- punk rock from five men playing U.S. airbases and in West German beat bars at a time when being sent to die in the jungle of South East Asia was a daily possibility. 

Oh, How To Do Now

When their time in the army came to end they stayed on in West Germany honing their abrasive, high energy, non- conformist and distorted sound. Their record company, Polydor, decided against releasing the album in the States, it was they reasoned 'too radical and too non- commercial' and Black Monk Time didn't get a full U.S. release until 1994.  

Extricate got rave reviews in 1990 and remains one of The Fall's finest albums. In typical Fall style Martin Bramah and keyboard player Marcia Schofield were sacked by Mark while the group were touring the album in Australia. 

Tony, Scott And Gary

The Grim Reaper has taken his toll recently and while the rush to Tweet/blog/post about celebrity deaths is a bit odd sometimes I thought I should pay tribute to three men who've all affected me at one time or another.

Tony Benn has been the subject of many words, now that he's died all complimentary, many spoken by people who wouldn't have had much good to say about him in his heyday- but that's politics. I saw him speak in the late 80s, the best political orator I've had the pleasure to listen to. He was a constant champion of the left. I've read some of his diaries and can recommend them thoroughly. He was pipe smoker of the year at least once.

Scott Asheton was the drummer of The Stooges and if you listen to Funhouse or the first album you'll know why he was such a crucial part of their neanderthal sound. He had a stroke a few years ago and tried to continue with Iggy and the reformed Stooges. He died at the weekend.

TV Eye (Take 1)

Gary Burger was the lead singer of mid-60s proto-punks The Monks, surely one of the most bizarre bands ever- a group of US G.I.'s with tonsures and robes, stationed in Germany, playing organ led garage rock, freaking out the flower children with songs of hate.

Do You Know How I Hate You Baby?

Let's have some bile.

The first time I heard about The Monks part of me thought they were some Bill Drummond style prank. Five American G.I.s stationed in Germany form a beat/garage band, wear monks black habits and shave their hair into tonsures, play basic, fuzzy proto-punk using heavy and simplistic rhythm, with a banjo player, singing about how they hate you, at the dawn of the peace and love 60s. It all sounded too good to be true.

I hate you baby (but call me)
Well I hate you with a passion
Do you know you make me hate you baby?
and so on...

There's more, much more. If you havn't got the Black Monk Time lp then get out and get it from somewhere, and check out the footage of them on German TV on Youtube. One of the best blasts of 60s garage rock.


I_Hate_You.mp3