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Album Details

• Artist: The Monks
• Album: Bad Habits
• Label: Capitol
• Year of Release: 1979
• ME Rating: Indie Classic
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-09-14

I have no idea how I first came across The Monks but when I was a "Spotty Faced" teenager I fell in love with this punk rock spoof. I found the album in my collection a few months ago and am utterly surprised at how it had stood the test of time. The Monks was a project from some of the members of the respected Brit group, the Strawbs, intended to poke fun at the sneer of punk music. As a result, The Monks end up having such a good time that they created a classic album in the process. Can a band have as much fun as the Monks do on "Johnny B. Rotten" without breaking laws? I think not. What about "Drugs In My Pocket", the Monks take on the drug scene in the late 70s? But my favorite Monks track has to be the clever "Love In Stereo" ("Why am I in love in stereo / With a girl on either side / Making love is two dimensional / and I'm much more a mono man inside"). The killer track and charting single, "Nice Legs Shame About Her Face" became a staple in my junior high days and unfortunately held true for too many girls. There are a few tracks that don't hold up like "Skylab", "Dear Jerry", and "No Shame" but the rest still seem like they could be cleaned up and re-recorded by some young punk band and still have some clout. The Monks only released one other album called Suspended Animation which I never had the opportunity to hear.

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