Written by:	Doc G.
Published:	April 07, 2008

In Detroit-1964, something came alive, an explosive musical force of power and aggressiveness that had rarely been shown in music to date. Consisting of Fred "Sonic" Smith & Wayne Kramer on guitars, Dennis "The Machinegun" Thompson on drums, Michael Davis on bass and Rob Tyner on vocals. These 5 men perhaps didn't even realise the detrimental effect their collective short-lived career would have on rock n' roll history.

The Motor City Five, or The MC5 in its earliest forms began with high school friends Wayne Kramer & Fred Smith, under the name "Headhunters". Shortly to be joined by drummer Dennis Thompson. After auditioning a rather homely looking man by the name of Rob Tyner (then known as Rob Derminer) on bass, the band found him much more suitable as a lead singer. After the acquisition of bassist Michael Davis, The MC5 was born. Playing shows nightly, and gaining a reputation for incredibly energetic performances, the band achieved a respectable following, often selling out shows of over 1000 people.

Though the band released several well received singles before 1968, the real impact didn't strike until 1969, with the release of "Kick Out The Jams". The rare occurrence of a debut live album proved to be a smart choice for the band, capturing them in their truest form. Raw, aggressive, and altogether in-your-face; the way rock n' roll was meant to be.

But trouble was brewing from the get-go. The title track opened with "?And now its time to?kick out the jams motherfuckers!" This, as you can imagine, did not sit well with many people, including Hudsons (a Detroit-based department store). After Hudsons refused to shelve this album because of the cursing, the band retaliated by posting a full-page ad in a Detroit periodical which simply said "Fuck Hudsons". This war ended with Hudsons dropping all Elektra label albums from their shelves, and Elektra dropping The MC5. Shortly after Atlantic records picked them up and put them back into recording-this time in a studio.

1970 saw the release of "Back In The USA". With Jon Landau behind the mixing board the band suffered from lack of artistic control.
The music suffered with a more contained sound, as enjoyable as the album was, wasn't exactly appropriate for an MC5 record. The album received mixed reviews, and poor sales, not even making a dent in the charts. In this album you can see a potent influence on early punk, explosive, yet melodic songs that are short in length.

In 1971 the band would release their final effort, entitled "High Time", this time the band had much more control, and in turn, the artists were a lot more satisfied with the results. We see a return to form for the band, Kramer & Smiths love for free jazz is shown much more in this album, an altogether more experimental sound. Unfortunately the album was poorly promoted and resulted in even worse sales than the previous album, losing the record company money, leaving The MC5 without a label once again.
The band quickly started falling apart because of heavy drug use. After recording 3 final songs for the film "Gold" (without bassist Michael Davis) the band quickly became whittled down to just Kramer and Smith. The band would reunite for one last show on New Years Eve of 1972, attracting only a few dozen people. The turn out for this show was so lousy Kramer walked off stage after a few songs. The band would never be together as a whole ever again.

How did a band with such a short life span manage to make such a giant impact on almost every corner of rock we see today? It's the pure romance behind their story; a highly political rock band, being a voice of the underdog-scratch that, being the underdogs! Making very little money, and being genuinely offensive for their time while still keeping their integrity. These things made them pioneers for a louder generation to come. Many Metal & Punk bands owe musical influence to these 5 men, bands from all across the board like Motorhead, Kiss, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, The Ramones, Blue Oyster Cult, Rage Against The Machine, Corrosion Of Conformity, and even Entombed. Take Motorhead for example, the rockabilly sounds of "Back In The USA" echo into every one of their records, and if Motorhead were an early influence on extreme metal, then isn't there a chain that results in bands like Darkthrone or Sodom being somewhat of descendants of the MC5 in a way? There's no doubt about it. Unfortunately the most potent traces of The MC5 left in music today appears to be in the garage rock trend that resurges every now and then onto the pop charts, producing few original bands but instead mostly forgettable manufactured knock-offs, further proving how timeless and irreplaceable The MC5 were.

To truly hear the influences on the extreme ends of rock, whether it's metal or punk, one needs to listen to "Kick Out The Jams", or any live recording for that matter, some of these recordings cross the line from influence to genuine metal! These recordings also show what the MC5 were all about, making a loud noise while making everybody's parents worried. This is a band with very little fame in relativity to their influence, being pioneers for our pioneers, and by all means deserved a long healthy career but probably wouldn't have been as amazing as they were with their shooting-star style career. But enough talk, pop in K.O.T.J, crank it up, and enjoy some music from our forgotten ancestors.

I give you a testimonial, The MC5!