MC5
The Great Loo Roll Crisis of 2020 cont.
More classic vinyl distraction you can discover, or rediscover, for yourselves, while you’re waiting…
The MC5. From Detroit, the Motor City. One of my fave bands from the Sixties, along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges. Don’t get me wrong, I love Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks etc. from that time, but the MC5 sound like the Future. Punk before Punk.
‘Back in The USA’ from 1970 was their second album. They only made three before imploding from too many gigs and drugs, unpopular radical politics, prison visits, and no money. Theirs is the great untold story of the Sixties.
A fierce live band, the MC5 (as a support act) used to blow visiting UK bands to Detroit, like Cream and The Who, away. Detroit was a hard-werkin’ blue-collar town: people wanna party at the weekend! After their first album, (recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in 1968), failed to break big they needed help. Enter Jon Landau, later to make millions by ‘discovering’ Bruce Springsteen, who produced their second album despite never having produced an album before.
It’s a tinny, tight, coiled-spring set of songs, the lack of bass adding to the compressed fierce twin guitar attack of Wayne Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith (later to marry Patti Smith) and the machine-gun drumming of Dennis Thomson. These are not the extended hippy ramblings du jour. They’re short, sharp stabs of rockin’ pop. These guys are tighter than a gnat’s chuff. With lyrics from the Sticking It To The Man school of thought. ‘American Ruse’, with the Vietnam war at its height, is the funniest, spikiest putdown of the war you’ll ever hear. ‘Looking at You’ has a one string guitar solo that explodes. Old skool rocknroll in the shape of ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Back in the USA’ are twice their original speed. ‘Tonight’, ‘Teenage Lust’ and ‘High School’ speak to youth of any age. ‘Let Me Try’ is the only ‘ballad’ and is gorgeous. ‘Shakin’ Street’ has a solid acoustic chug and ‘The Human Being Lawnmower’ is rapid fire chords.
The whole album is only 30 minutes long - a sweaty, breathless rush and sounds like it could’ve been written today. Future Now was one of their slogans. It made it to the giddy heights of #137 on the charts. It bombed. But the future generation of punks waiting in the wings had their ears turned and burned by the MC5 (and the Stooges, also from Detroit). Listen LOUD.
MC5
The Great Loo Roll Crisis of 2020 cont.
More classic vinyl distraction you can discover, or rediscover, for yourselves, while you’re waiting…
The MC5. From Detroit, the Motor City. One of my fave bands from the Sixties, along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges. Don’t get me wrong, I love Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks etc. from that time, but the MC5 sound like the Future. Punk before Punk.
‘Back in The USA’ from 1970 was their second album. They only made three before imploding from too many gigs and drugs, unpopular radical politics, prison visits, and no money. Theirs is the great untold story of the Sixties.
A fierce live band, the MC5 (as a support act) used to blow visiting UK bands to Detroit, like Cream and The Who, away. Detroit was a hard-werkin’ blue-collar town: people wanna party at the weekend! After their first album, (recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in 1968), failed to break big they needed help. Enter Jon Landau, later to make millions by ‘discovering’ Bruce Springsteen, who produced their second album despite never having produced an album before.
It’s a tinny, tight, coiled-spring set of songs, the lack of bass adding to the compressed fierce twin guitar attack of Wayne Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith (later to marry Patti Smith) and the machine-gun drumming of Dennis Thomson. These are not the extended hippy ramblings du jour. They’re short, sharp stabs of rockin’ pop. These guys are tighter than a gnat’s chuff. With lyrics from the Sticking It To The Man school of thought. ‘American Ruse’, with the Vietnam war at its height, is the funniest, spikiest putdown of the war you’ll ever hear. ‘Looking at You’ has a one string guitar solo that explodes. Old skool rocknroll in the shape of ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Back in the USA’ are twice their original speed. ‘Tonight’, ‘Teenage Lust’ and ‘High School’ speak to youth of any age. ‘Let Me Try’ is the only ‘ballad’ and is gorgeous. ‘Shakin’ Street’ has a solid acoustic chug and ‘The Human Being Lawnmower’ is rapid fire chords.
The whole album is only 30 minutes long - a sweaty, breathless rush and sounds like it could’ve been written today. Future Now was one of their slogans. It made it to the giddy heights of #137 on the charts. It bombed. But the future generation of punks waiting in the wings had their ears turned and burned by the MC5 (and the Stooges, also from Detroit). Listen LOUD.