Showdown

Michael Monarch's guitar playing perhaps helped best to capture the spirit of the 1960's. As the original guitarist for "Steppenwolf", he played on all the major hits including "Born To Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride", "Rock Me Baby" and "The Pusher".

With over 30 years of stage and studio experience as a musician and composer, Michael has worked with such all-time legends as "Steppenwolf", Janis Joplin, SwanSong/Atlantic recording group "Detective", as well as with Roger Glover of "Deep Purple" and Andy Fraser of "Free".

Some of his film soundtrack and television credits include: Easy Rider, Coming Home, Star 80, Candy, WKRP In Cincinnati, Miami Vice, A Current Affair, Saturday Night Live, Geraldo, Kathy & Regis, Alley McBeal, Cold Case, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Contact, Sex And The City, ER, Star Trek: First Contact, Sahara, The Wonder Years, Disney's It's A Bugs Life, Herbie: Fully Loaded & Racing Stripes, Penny Dreadful, The Simpsons, My Name Is Earl and Borat!

For the last decade Michael has been writing and producing music as well as performing with Randy Meisner (Eagles), Denny Laine (Moody Blues/Wings), Spencer Davis, Aynsley Dunbar (Journey) and musicians from Toto (Fergie Frederiksen), Steppenwolf (Nick St.Nicholas), Foreigner (Ron Wikso), Santana (Alex Ligertwood) and Lynyrd Skynyrd (Randall Hall) as the World Classic Rockers. Michael is a guitarist extraordinaire as well as a highly accomplished keyboardist with many gold and platinum records to his credit.



REVIEWS
Michael Monarch - "Guitar Bazaar"
Many "guitar-oriented" albums are released each year. Some are wimpy new-age efforts, others bluesy romps, recycling old licks 'til the cows come home. This is none of these - just a straight-ahead rock and roll whirlwind, moving effortlessly one tune to another, with major influences Jeff Beck and Albert King echoing throughout.
Monarch, former lead guitarist for Steppenwolf, is an accomplished fret man, and he plays the majority of instruments on this outing. The tunes range from the subtle, moody "Black Satin Sheets" to "Technical Meltdown," which begins tongue-in-cheek, pastiching the faux-jazz that passes for music on our local station - very tasty, and quite aggressive.
Monarch has an attack and control over tone seasoned by years of playing, and he's a joy to hear, whether playing forceful, crunchy rock ("Toastin' Jam") or something more playful and thoughtful ("Little Dreamer"). All in all, this outing is a delight for guitar lovers..........Stephan Patt, Vintage Guitar Magazine, May 2001