Ron’s Album Picks – The Mono Men

Ron’s got another album recommendation for us. This week, we have The Mono Men, who form a combination of infectious guitar rock and 1960s fuzz.

The Mono Men were a Bellingham, Washington, rock quartet, formed in 1989 by singer/songwriter/guitarists Dave Crider (head of Estrus Records) and John Mortensen. Following in the footsteps of such noisemakers as The Sonics, The Wailers and The Music Machine, the group excelled in powerful guitar-driven raw rock’n’roll, performed at an unrelenting pace. A review in All Music Guide proclaimed that “punk, blues and straight-ahead hard rock infused their sound as much as sixties’ fuzz-tone raunch.”

The dual vocal/guitar attack of Crider and Mortensen was at its best on The Mono Men’s second album, Wrecker, released in 1992. All Music Guide summed up the album in this way: “Wrecker rocks hard without the taint of nostalgia, and it’s good and greasy from front to back.” And an ad for the album described it as “14 drunken, guitar-charged, nitro-burnin’ mantras about chicks, cars and booze! Total full-throttle devastation from start to finish.” I’d definitely agree with these two descriptive quotes, as evidenced by the album gracing the number one spot on my Top Ten Albums of 1992, as featured on CFCR’s Nightwaves radio show. Of the more than half-dozen excellent albums released by The Mono Men, Wrecker remains my all-time fave.

About the Author

Ron Spizziri grew up in Toronto in the 50s and 60s, building up a record library (which became an addiction early on and continues to this day). After moving to Saskatoon in 1979, he got into the “music biz” in a big way – running a record store (Records on Wheels), producing and hosting radio and TV shows, promoting concerts, doing some freelance writing, and starting up a record label (Rockin’ Rod records). Luddite that he is, Ron still favours vinyl analogue recordings over all other forms of recorded music.