* The Monks *

In a nutshell: Five G.I.'s, US-army soldiers stationed in Germany, started a band. As The 5 Torquays they recorded a single in 1964. After that they became the Monks and started doing shows with matching black monk habits, rope ties and tonsures (pic above: organ player Larry Clark is last to get his head shaved). Stupid concept? Maybe. More important: They made a raw proto-punk album for Polydor in 1966, Black Monk Time, which is still as stunning as it was back then. To the band's disappointment, the record went nowhere back home in the US.
Lyrics as in 'Monk Time' (the opening track) surely didn't help:

You know we don't like the army.
What army?
Who cares what army?
Why do you kill all those kids over there in Vietnam?
Mad Viet Cong.
My brother died in Vietnam!

Here's a great video that sums up the Monks-story quite well.

Further reading: Thomas Edward Shaw (aka Monk Eddie, their bass-player) and his wife Anita Klemke wrote a book about the band's German years, also called Black Monk Time.