I saw the 5 in a show in '71; middle billing with Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes on the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST tour. The 5 were absolutely riveting. My best friend bought KICK OUT THE JAMS when it was released. He sent away to an address listed on the album and received several envelopes of printed material about the 5, "Armed Love", White Panthers etc. I am very grateful to have witnessed the 5 original guys in all their glory. Witnessing Wayne sing and play "Rambling Rose" live is one of my "ultimate concert memories." They played a long and powerful set because The Nug was delivered to another performance hall across town. They played a longer than normal set to allow time to deliver Ted to the Salem-Roanoke Valley Civic Center rather than the Roanoke Civic Center.
I met Rob Tyner a couple years before he passed . A summer headbanger house party in Royal Oak (just outside Detroit) Michigan in 1988 or 89 . Super cool , nice guy . Couple months later me and the singer in my band go to the local supermarket to get beer and a big black clad afo-ed guy guy in sunglasses with little chicken legs in skinny jeans appears at the end of the aisle . ROB !! We exclaimed !! He turned to us , put his finger to his lips and said - Shhhhhh !! 100% True story . He passed away in 1991 and they had a benefit show at the State Theater . Went to that show - Climax was the Cult played that same night literally NEXT DOOR at the Fox Theater (All in Detroit in case your not familiar) The Cult came over and played with the remaining MC5 on KICK OUT THE JAMS , MOFOS !! Great show !!
I went to that show with my wife. The Cult was the icing on the cake. Dark Carnival did a great set that night. Fred wouldn't go on until he drank 2 bottles of wine. Wayne was at wits end.
Born in Pontiac ... Left for California in 67 at 12 years old ... Dad played piano clubs in Detroit then ... I feel it. I'm an oboist and still a guitarist too. I would have been more trouble there if I never left!
No offense to Rob or Michael but Wayne, Dennis and Fred were magic. Watch the old videos. Those three were as good as anyone else. They were just so in sync together.And their sound together was an explosion.
*wpl*___Indeed....It's cool Wayne is still around to reap some well deserved long overdue recognition....but these old masters who understandably try to recreate old glories, are a bit......ehhh...... All these talking heads are slightly off too.....
I guess what I really meant was that a band wanting to 'make it' would really be taking a risk by introducing themselves to the buying public by promoting their music in a LIVE format. It often takes some studio editing and multi-task to get a song to sound 'good' for radio play. In the case of the MC5, the risk paid off. On an interesting side note, most band's that release a LIVE Album already have recordings of the songs as previously released STUDIO recordings. In the case of the MC5, many of the songs from Kick out the Jams were ONLY ever recorded LIVE. Now that's a Rarity!
Anxiety Entertainment The other thing is how much was tweaked in a studio as a production. Not a début but Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous had so much over dubs that it was almost a non live album
"They were in complete contrast to the whole hippy-dippy flower power ..blah blah" --not true, just look at their clothes and hair. I love the MC5, but a lot of millennial revisionists get it wrong. Long hair, drugs and rock and roll got you in trouble in the 60's no matter what town you were from.
They were naive angels compared to some of yer typical Californian hippy hard drugs pushing family communes ,........Sinclair's rambling ; although somewhat understandable at the time , was the ultimate joke. "Kick out the jams", while ( especially later on) they themselves were prone to endless blues jams; an easy option when you're smacked out .. Prime example , Lennon's Toronto and 'Rock'n Roll Circus' blues jams.
MC5 are such legends! We had an amazing interview with Brad Tolinski, author of the new book "MC5: An Oral Biography of Rock's Most Revolutionary Band". We hope you will check it out!
them guys invented in your face type rock. never realized how much the j geils band was influenced by the 5 . people talk about who came up with punk type rock people from detroit know
+Marie Miller it was like the 5 came out to announce the huggy flower power 60s were over. and shit was getting real. time to push back. the 70s 5 was like the militant boys and by the 80s it was material girls wtf?
Chas Anthony Thats a Swedish guy named Nicke Andersson (Nick Royale ) who used to be the singer & guitarist in a Swedish band heavily influenced by MC5 called "The Hellacopters" nowadays he's playin in a band called Imperial State Electric if there still around...
Jack White would like to think the MC5 is how rock music was meant to sound because so many bands copied their style but that's a really narrow minded point of view
"We are not the MC5," announced founding MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer during a press conference at London's 100 Club. "This is not an MC5 show. This is not an MC5 reunion. It's a celebration of the music of the MC5." We were at the 100 Club in London on March 13, 2003, at this amazing gig and found to be anything but brilliant. Am I assuming you were there too or just watched the video? It was their first live gig together in thirty years, with only three surviving members and many years on from the band's conception, however, I found them as riveting as the first time I had the extreme pleasure of witnessing one of their performances 1972. Just my opinion, certainly do not have to agree.
