Maybe all you Trans-Atlantic Feedback devotees are right and the whole concept was a couple German guys' ideas, but that can't discount the fact that these five Americans played the music. After all, they weren't the ones who kicked off an album saying, "alright, my name's Gary." It just wouldn't have the same impact if they did anyway. With guitar, bass, drums, organ, and electric banjo they already had an all new post-beat sound that is more proto-krautrock than pro to-punk. Still that doesn't acknowledge the fact that Gary Burger could be described as the first true noise guitarist. To those of us in the know it is a fact that Jimi Hendrix saw the monks right when he came to England.
Still, the guitar is such a small part and their rhythmic droning, sometimes stripped down to a mere fuzz bass and drum kit puts the Velvet Underground's to shame. While simplicity was already considered a virtue in rock, the monks' primal minimalism was something all new and Larry Clark's organ was as bold in its merciless cacophony as the guitar, to say nothing of the metallic crunch of Dave Day's banjo.
Their appearance wasn't even as radical as their lyrics which presumably were accepted only due to being in a country that might not grasp every aspect that makes "I Hate You" and "Monk Time" so powerful. They were probably just happy bopping to the linguistic unification of "We Do, Wie Du."
The monks were a howling, crunching music machine that completely reconstructed rock music for the future, and as simple as it may appear, not just any five guys could sound like this.
Honorable mention: The Byrds
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