10 Rock Albums That Invented Entire Genres

10. Black Monk Time - The Monks

In the early ‘60s, there seemed to be only one type of rock and roll. Even though the British Invasion gave us the Beatles and the Stones trying their own hand at rock and roll, the common vocabulary of Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly was the only connective tissue that made rock and roll what it was. Half a world away though, the Monks had something a bit nastier in mind.

Formed when each of the members were in the Army overseas, Black Monk Time is the only album the band made, taking the sounds of traditional rock and roll and giving it a healthy dose of attitude. Even though most of this album was misunderstood in its time, the Monks were on the cusp of what would become garage rock, making songs that were much more indebted to improvisation and leaving in some of the chaotic moments to give the songs more momentum.

The results wouldn’t really be felt until years later, when bands out of Detroit like the MC5 and The Stooges started making their own wild stabs at what rock and roll could be. Rock and roll already had a reputation as a fairly nasty genre, but this was just the beginning of how filthy it could get.