Motorcity Roots

Kick out the Jams

The MC5 earned national attention with their first album, Kick Out the Jams, recorded live on October 30 and 31, 1968 at Detroit's Grande Ballroom. A live debut was all but unheard of in 1968 (and is still rare today), but Elekra executives Jac Holtzman and Bruce Botnick recognized that the MC5 were at their best when playing for a receptive audience. The first song, a version of the R&B standard "Ramblin' Rose," featured a ragged falsetto lead vocal from Kramer before Tyner joined the group onstage. Containing such songs as the proto-punk classics "Kick Out the Jams" and "Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa", the spaced-out "Starship" (co-credited to Sun Ra because the lyrics were partly cribbed from one of Ra's poems), and an extended cover of John Lee Hooker's "Motor City is Burning" wherin Tyner praises the role of Black Panther snipers during the Detroit Insurrection of 1967. The album is generally regarded as one of the best live rock and roll records: critic Mark Deming writes that the gleefully lusty Kick "is one of the most powerfully energetic live albums ever made ... this is an album that refuses to be played quietly."[1]

The album caused some controversy due to the title track's rallying cry of "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!" (edited without the band's consent to "Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters!" on later pressings of the single and LP; when released on CD) and Sinclair's inflammatory liner notes. The album was released in January, 1969; reviews were mixed, but the album was successful, quickly selling over 100,000 copies, and appearing for several weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

The band also generated political controversy by performing before the outbreak of violent protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The group's appearance at the convention is also notable for their lengthy performance: in an interview featured in the documentary Get Up, Stand Up, Kramer reported that while many musicians were scheduled to perform at a day-long concert, only the MC5 initially appeared. The MC5 played for over eight hours straight; of the other scheduled performers, Kramer stated in Get Up, Stand Up that only Neil Young actually arrived, though due to the chaos at the convention, Young didn't perform.

According to Kramer, the MC5 of this period was politically influenced by the "intercommunalism" of Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party.[2]

[edit] "Fuck Hudsons"

When Hudson's, a Detroit-based department store, refused to stock Kick Out The Jams due to the obscenity, the MC5 responded with a full page advertisement in the Fifth Estate saying "Fuck Hudson's!" and prominently including the logo of MC5's label, Elektra Records, in the ad.

Hudson's pulled all Elektra records from their stores, and in the ensuing controversy, Jac Holzman, the head of Elektra, dropped the band from their contract. Uncommonly, Elektra's classical division (Nonesuch) was operated on a nearly pro bono basis due to profits generated by popular music releases, and the removal of Nonesuch records from Hudson's represented a significant loss for the corporation.

The MC5 then signed with Atlantic Records.

[edit] Back in the USA

Their second album, Back in the USA, produced by future Bruce Springsteen mentor Jon Landau, virtually provided a prototype for punk rock with its short, fast, hard-edged angry guitar rock. The band sounded radically different from Kick, and McLease writes that except for Tyner's vocals, they were "barely recognizable as the same band." (McLease, 96) The second album also featured very different production from the first — the MC5 now sounded compressed and somewhat limited in their sonic palate compared to their earlier era — band members later said that Landau was overbearing and heavy-handed in production, trying to shape the group to his own liking.

Reviews were again mixed, sales were mediocre (the album did not appear on the charts) and the MC5's tours were not as well-received as before. Exhaustion was partly to blame, from the band's heavy touring schedule and increasingly heavy drug use.

They had fallen out with Sinclair, as well, and were conspicuous by their absence at the December, 1971 "Free John Sinclair" rally to protest his incarceration on marijuana possession.

[edit] High Time

Their third album, High Time would also prove influential on 1970s hard rock bands like Aerosmith and Kiss. The album was poorly promoted, and sales were worse than ever, but High Time was the best-reviewed of the band's original records upon its initial release. The group had much more creative control, and were very satisfied with the results.

[edit] Late career

Both Back in the USA and High Time lost money for Atlantic Records, which dropped the band.

On February 13, 1972, Michael Davis left the band (he was using heroin and was all but forced out by the others). The remaining members recorded three new songs — "Gold," "Train Music," and "Inside Out" — in London shortly afterwards for the soundtrack of a film called Gold. This would be the band's final recording session.

The group limped along a while longer, eventually reduced to Kramer and Smith touring and playing with local pick-up groups, playing R&B covers as much as their original material.

The MC5 reuninted for a farewell show on New Years' Eve, 1972-73 at the Grande Ballroom. The venue that had only a few years before hosted over a thousand eager fans now had a few dozen people, and, distraught, Kramer left the stage after a few songs.

The band broke up shortly afterwards amidst drug-related problems.

It doesnt get much better than this homeboys..