Gary Burger and the Monks

by Mary Lucia, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — The cult band The Monks met as GIs stationed in Germany in the '60s. They had a whole look that matched their name; they would wear robes and tonsured their hair. But that was just a gimmick. What was great about the band was their sound. They sound like a punk band before Iggy Pop, before the MC-5, before the New York Dolls. The band's singer, Gary Burger, lives in Bemidji.

He told Mary Lucia that one thing that makes him proud of the group is that they weren't just singing songs about girls and partying -- they were political.