Thank you so much for playing this. My name is Chris McNulty and I am the son of the drummer, Dennis Thompson. I am going to share this with the lead singer, Rob Tyner's wife. She is going to be so thrilled to see this. The MC5 are being inducted into the RRHOF in October and we will be there! Peace and keep up the good work. We watch all of the time, love you guys.
The MC5 were the real deal. Not a bunch of middle/upper class pussies. I was blessed to see the MC5 open for Johnny Winter and Led Zeppelin Boston Garden October 1969.
It’s about damn time. I’m only sorry that your father and the rest aren’t here to finally get their laurels. My father raised me listening to the MC5, and they’re my top 3 of Detroit bands (the other two being the stooges and Alice cooper).
I read an interview with Johnny Ramone where he said that when the MC5 came out he first dismissed them as Midwestern greasers; funny how this video starts with them calling themselves that
When I was thirteen, the manager of a local record store in my hometown made a "punk rock 101" mixtape for me. Side One of that cassette tape was MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" album. Side Two was "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols." That record store manager, and the tape he made for me, changed my life. That wonderful man changed the lives of so many young music fans in that town. Love you, Sherman! RIP!
Sure, all the bands you mentioned were punk. No doubt about that. I love each of them, plus many more you didn’t have time or space to list. Ask punk rockers about MC5 and the Stooges contributions to punk. To bring their sound to the masses in the 60s is pivotal to the genre that was to be named punk. If only considering the MC5 as simply “rock” is kind of myopic. If MC5 is just rock, then maybe The Cramps are just rock-a-billy, which I don’t believe. Make no mistake, The Motor City 5 godfathered punk. Just because the MC5 weren’t what punk became, they were punk before it was even a genre.
@@John-p2j1u If you don't think The Stooges was punk you know nothing about Punk. The Stooges started in the late 60's. The bands you mentioned listened to MC5 and The Stooges. Truthfully l think the start was The Trogges in the early 60's.
@@CBGB_1977I think both of those bands kind of had a different flair to the “first wave of punk bands” Stooges & MC5 were gods to bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Damned etc.
The MC5 was like the big brothers to The Stooges (iggy). They helped the Stooges get their first contract. There's a nice documentary about the Grande Ballroom floating around; MC5 was kind of the house band in between the big names that came through. Wayne Kramer just passed earlier this year. He wrote a memoir a "The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities". Fred Sonic Smith married Patti Smith, the famous poet & punk rocker, and then she retired from performing and they raised a family for many years around Detroit. MC5 had an interesting, complicated story.
The MC5 were far ahead of the curve. Audiences at the time often didn't know what to make of them, and ignored them as they waited for the headliner. In retrospect, they were key in the development of punk, from their sound, their wild stage presence and their far-left politics. They were one of the only bands to stick around in Chicago when the Democratic Convention descended into riots. Note the American flags on the stage and the instruments, which I believe is both ironic and a middle-finger directed at the dominance of British rock bands at the time.
This band was almost a decade ahead of its time, proto-punk, along with The Stooges. The MC5 and particularly this song, inspired a lot of other bands. It song has been covered many times. Blue Oyster Cult played it live often in the 70's and it appeared on their second live album, Some Enchanted Evening. Rage Against the Machine, Monster Magnet, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Jeff Buckley and others have all done covers.
Ah yes, the Motor City Five. This was actually released about a decade before punk rock was even a thing. It's more proto-metal/ acid rock. It's influence on punk bands a couple years later, however, is obvious. The dueling guitars of Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith and the charging rhythm section of bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson are enthralling, as are the raw vocals of Rob Tyner. Their "little brother" band was The Stooges, with a VERY young Iggy Pop. This was recorded live on Halloween 1968, and released a couple months later as their debut album (also called "Kick Out The Jams"). A couple of great studio tracks from their other 2 albums include "High School", "Looking At You", "American Ruse", "Sister Anne", and "Gotten Keep Movin'". Oh, and their supercharged version of "Tutti Frutti" and "Back In The USA" are pretty entertaining. :)
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, in the same time frame of years as the MC5, but not punk rockers, had a big hit titled "CC Ryder " in 1966, driving rock and roll. Had a number of hits: "Sock It To Me, Baby!", "Too Many Fish in the Sea", "Little Latin Lupe Lu", "Good Golly Miss Molly", and more.
Rob Tyner: Vocals. Wayne Kramer: guitar. Fred Smith: guitar (also married to Patti Smith). Dennis Thompson: drums. Michael Davis: bass. Every album was different. "Kick Out The Jams" was recorded anarchy; "Back In The USA" was a return to basic rock and roll; and "High Time" was kind of a hybrid of the two.
MC5 were first inspired by Native American Rocker *Link Wray* who invented the rock guitar's *"Power Cord"* Check out this iconic and historic song *Rumble* (only song without words to be banded from radio) *"Link Wray - Rumble (1958)"*
Just gotta say that I am so glad I subscribed to you way back in the early times. Your reactions, your growing appreciation of older, different types of music, and NOW your interviews!!! Keep it up, keep it up, and keep it up!!
I was in a rock band in college back in the 80’s and this song was one of our inspirations. Yet I only just learned from your reaction that it was released the day before I was born. Thanks!
The MC5's live performance of "Lookin' At You" at Tartar Field, 1970 is probably the greatest live rock performance ever captured on film. PLEASE check it out. I love that you dug this.
I was a senior in high school when the MC-5 started touring the state of Michigan. They played at the Shadowland Ballroom in St. Joseph Michigan for $3.00 a ticket. The original concert of Kick Out the Jams lyric's opening line was "Kick Out the Jams Mother Fuckers!" After 850+ records they were pulled off the shelf and the song was rerecorded with the opening line as "Kick out the jams brothers and sisters." F.M. radio was just starting and it was called underground music: MC5, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Frost, Grand Funk Railroad along with British groups: Slade, Deep Purple, the Who, Cream, Robin Trower and Yes. These groups created songs based on Delta Blues, Chicago or St. Louis Jazz/Blues combined with Philly and Motown Soul. Every little town back then had start up garage bands. Some made it to one hit wonders: American Breed, Frost and Frijid Pink (all Michigan kids and 3 made it big: Tommy James and the Shondells, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and Grand Funk Railroad (not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame). I loved growing up in the heart and soul of rock and roll in Michigan with the creation of Motown soul, the Punk rock and underground sounds. God Bless American, the land of Music, which makes us great. Love you guys by the way when you get that stank face going. Rock on! You're the heartbeat of American greatness and freedom! P.S. Play Frijid Pink's version of "House of the Rising Sun" it is sick!
I don't know why people are so obsessed with Punk starting here, moving there, whether it's British or American etc. no other genre of music has this. I think they're 2 separate movements with some common ground.
One of the best songs out of the 60s that captures the mood and angst of the protest generation. Happy to see y’all reacting and enjoying this. It’s a heavy one. Some people say the birth of Punk, but others like me say it also helped ignite Metal.🔥🔥🔥🔥🤘🏼😎
This will wake you up!! LOL!! Wayne Kramer, a member, died just last February. Fred 'Sonic' Smith, another member, was married to Patti Smith (I think you've reacted to her). Their influence has lasted for decades!
Fred was included in a Rolling Stone list of the 100 best guitarists of all time at one point. And Patti Smith wrote the song “Frederick” for Fred, who sometimes collaborated with her.
Ned from Spain here for the Mighty MC5 ! Thank you x 10000000 Jay and Amber for putting this up and freakin out to it, coz there aint no other way to react if you're truly alive. These guys said they had a few options : auto factory, crime or making it in a band. It took a long time for these guys to get their due and only a few of them lived to enjoy it. Vox man Rob Tyner died in '91, guitarist Fred Sonic Smith in '94 but the rest got some love when they reformed as MC3 / DKT in the 2000's. All of them have gone but they continue thru recordings and videos so thanx for "keepin them alive" ! There's a video of them going wild at Tartar Field that you gotta see. They're on Beat Club too but I know that company litigates. Their LPs " Kick Out.." " Back in the USA " and the slammin " High Time " are all amazing. One criticism try not to associate MC5 with Spinal Tap, it's kind of an insult much as I love them both. Peace, love and Kick 'Em Out !
David Bowie called out this song in his own song The Cygnet Committee, which is about what he perceived to be the dark side of the Hippie movement: "[We] stoned the poor on/Slogans such as "wish you could hear", "love is all we need"/"Kick out the jams", "kick out your mother"/"Cut up your friend", "screw up your brother/"Or he'll get you in the end." In Robert Anton Wilson's classic counterculture novel The Illuminatus, the song is said to hold a cryptic message: the JAMs are the Justified Ancients of Mumu, an ancient group of Atlanteans who who've been expelled from the Illuminati, hence the song title. Later a British techno group adopted the name JAMs in reference to the group before changing to KLF.
The first time I saw them was in 1972 at a local club in western Ohio. We had no idea. They just said it was a band from Detroit so off we went. Holy Shit! I wasn't right for weeks but went back for more any time they were in the area. Their Back In The USA album is vicious
Yo! Shout out to Grande Ballroom in Detroit and my hometown Birmingham MI. I was in High School and not hip to the scene, but my sister bought their record, and it was outrageous. Turmoil in the High School hallways. Thanks! Motor City 5
Awesome project-punk. Groundbreaking stuff. Fast forward 10 years and you got Teenage Head. Call this a request for “Picture My Face” by Teenage Head circa 1978.
Shocked you did this one, but you continue to surprise me. As some have written, the birth of punk. Few remember this band. Had this on plastic in 69 when it was released. Happy you enjoyed it!!
The two house bands of the Grande Ballroom in Detroit were the MC5 and Iggy Pop and The Stooges. Both got signed to Elektra. For like $500. The MC5 got dropped by Elektra quickly because of a controversy over the language they used and their reaction to it. "When Hudson's, a Detroit-based department store chain, refused to stock Kick Out the Jams due to the obscenity, MC5 responded with a full page advertisement in the local underground magazine Fifth Estate saying "Stick Alive with the MC5, and Fuck Hudson's!", 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. MC5 then signed with Atlantic Records"
Hi My Oklahoma Friends!! My friend JD Souther passed away on the 17th...... You all reacted to one of his songs "You're Only Lonely" RIP John David Souther
As soon as I saw the song title I put my headphones on and started Jamming. R.I. P. Wayne Kramer. Believe it or not, I was ten years old when I first heard this song. I shared a room with two teenage brothers. I still listen to this song on a regular basis. In 1969 the MC5's manager John Sinclair was sentenced to ten years in prison for distributing marijuana. He was freed after three years when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the Possession of Marijuana law was unconstitutional. Wayne Kramer also had a band called Kramer's Kreemers. Amber, there is a B&W video of the band performing this song where you can actually see the band.
MC5 rocks it. I was driving yesterday and MC5 came on from my playlist. Was wondering if anyone has reacted to them yet and here it is. Thunder Express was my song that came on. Give that one a listen. You'll be shaking your butt to that one.
I am 65 Y.O., I was fortunate to be exposed to a lot of rock and roll from the late sixties all the way to the present, by 8 uncles my mother was the only girl. None of us really knew we were part of an incredible amount of history being made, the tribute bands today do a very good job of keeping the music of the past going. But nothing can compare to growing up listening to the bands that made it famous. I do want to say of the sites I have seen, I keep coming back to yours, the reason why is simple, both of you make it interesting but more important, when either of you share comments or insights you never make it about either of you, that may sound simplistic but it is true. I thank you both for being informative with out being narcissistic. Tom Slick.
From Lincoln Park, MICHIGAN, but hit it HARD in Detroit, this band made us Detroiters head bang before head bangin' was a thang. 'MC5' is short for 'Motor City Five'. Only ONE FM station (WABX) would play this version. The cleaned up version starts with "Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters".
OHHHHHH, YEAHHHHHHH!!! GREAT REACTION, YOU-GUYS!!! LOVE this band AND this SONG!! THANKS for MAKIN' MY DAY!!! CANNOT sit STILL to THIS ONE!!! ROB SQUAD: GOIN' PUNK!!! WOOOHOOOOO!
The MC5 were a very important Rock band. They were a major influence on Punk Rock music in the 1970s. They wrote and performed songs that were very political for the late-1960s and early-1970s. The MC5 were the ONLY Rock band to play outside the convention hall at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, prior to the riots that took place. Recently declassified FBI film footage showed the band in concert (there was no audio: they were looking for political subversives trying to promote unrest amongst the crowds in the city). Another song by The MC5 that the both of you might want to react to, is their song,”The American Ruse”. The MC5 are inductees in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Rob Squad needs to check out another band called, Death, from around the same timeframe and they too are from Detroit. There is a documentary called, A Band Called Death. In the documentary, one of the band's members son, college aged, runs across their album to find out his dad was in the band. A Band Called Death is the story of three musician brothers. The three brothers later become a promising punk rock/rock/funk band, before punk rock ever hit the scene. It's a great documentary.
Another band from Detroit that laid the groundwork for punk, in addition to MC5 and The Stooges, was a band called Death. Check out their songs, such as "Politicians in My Eyes" and "Keep On Knocking" when you get the tIme.
So glad you heard the version with the intro, because that's necessary! [EDIT]: forgot to mention how historic this band was. not just for the birth of punk, but politically! they were explosive. Read their Wiki! They were the band that played at the Democratic Convention in 1968, the year of the famous riots in Chicago.
As a young teenager when this album was released, I'd wait till my parents were out and with the house empty, I'd crank up the volume on my Marantz amp and push those AR speakers to their limits. Along with Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, J. Giels band live...A different era.
@@TYJGB Ohms were always a good choice. Sometime between 95-97, I bought JBL Sat 1's. They are satellite speakers with subwoofers. Crank those out to this day. My wife has some old Infinity speakers I plan on setting up in the basement.
Amber mentioning she liked the drums. Dennis Thompson unfortunately passed away earlier this year. The last surviving member up until then. His nick name was “Machine Gun”. Pretty fitting. RIP Dennis, Rob, Wayne, Sonic & Mike
also from detroit around this time was a protopunk A BAND CALLED DEATH - they only recorded 1 album that saw limited release but there is a great documentary w/ the same name
@@mperezmcfinn2511 the Poor Boys Pride. I am not sure how many nights they played with them, it may have been only one, but I remember my dad telling me stories about MC5.
@@lowellwebster4198 That's so cool! That name actually sounds familiar. Those 60s era Michigan gigs were usually multi band situations. So when you look at the old flyers they'll have 2 or 3 bands (like MC5, The Rationals, The Amboy Dukes, or whoever) in large print across the top, then everyone else got the smaller print. I always wonder about the bands in smaller print. My uncle played in a band called The Renegades (and roadied for The Whiz Kids and The Bob Seger System) but I've never been able to find them on a flyer. I'm gonna look out for Poor Boy's Pride.
@@mperezmcfinn2511 they were a band from west Michigan. They had a couple singles that was getting air play and was scheduled to go on American bandstand then 3 of the members got drafted to Vietnam. Their music can be found on TH-cam.
@@mperezmcfinn2511they were a band from west Michigan. they had a couple singles that was getting air play and was scheduled to go on American bandstand but 3 of the guys got drafted to Vietnam. Their music is posted on TH-cam.
Checkout MC5 Tartar Field Wayne State. "Looking At You" and "Ramblin' Rose". It's live footage from 1970. It's an amazing performance with great choreography.
MC5 ... Motor City 5 This song was on a compilation record I had as a child in the 1970's. I fell in love with it then. "Mother fuckers" was edited to be "brothers and sisters" but I loved hearing the OG version when I got to be a teen in the 80's Can't wait to see what y'all think.
I grew up on the other side of Michigan, MC5 used to come and play the roller rink in my hometown, I was just a very little kid. Someone posted the flyer in my hometown community facebook group about a year ago.
Im from the old school of rock so I knew about the MC5 back in High School but I had never really listened to them until just this week in fact. These guys kicked ass!!!
A few mentions of The Stooges in the comments. You've reacted to some of Iggy Pop's later work but it's tracks like No Fun, TV Eye, Search & Destroy and I Wanna Be Your Dog that were referenced by punk bands in the 70s.
Saw MC5 in 1970 opening on a triple bill at Boston Garden backing up Johnny Winter and Led Zepplin. Nearly brought the roof down. They opened with "You Can't Sit Down" and nobody did for the next 3 hours. Tix $6.50. Those were the days !
I saw the MC5 live back in 1965 - outdoors standing in the first row right next to the speakers! What a show! I don't think most of the teens and 20-somethings were ready for them!
John Sinclair is from Ann Arbor, Mi. At the University of a Michigan in Ann Arbor, John Lennon attended a benefit for Sinclair who was in jail for smoking pot. Lena was his wife.
John Lennon had a concert in Ann Arbor for John Sinclair. Sinclair was involved with the MC5 (manager ?) and had received a long senfence for weed possession. Lennon and Yoko recorded free John Sinclair. Detoit late sixties had a vibrant rock scene with the Stooges, the MC5, the Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent), Alice Cooper, Grand Funk, Bob Seger, the Frost, and SRC and more.
Back in the day, Plymouth Township used to have outdoor concerts through the summer. I was at one of those concerts, sitting on the side of a hill when a friend of mine who had just gotten out of the joint came walking up with another guy. They sat down and fired one up and he introduced me to his compadre.....John Sinclair. They had both been in together and got released about the same time. Good times!
😁 I grew up in the 70’s. Started them as a 12 year old, ended them as a 22 year old. We always referred to blasting the music up as “kicking out the jams”. Now I’m 66 and just learning why we said that! 😆 Guess you can teach an old dog a new trick 😉😁
And here we are, finally! The Detroit Sound! (Which has ZERO to do with Motown, even though they were both based in the same city.) It's loud and it's hard. It's not quite proto-punk, but you can see the path from there to here. Keep going into the MC5's catalog, but also check out Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels ("Devil with a Blue Dress", "Jenny Take a Ride"), The Stooges (featuring a young Iggy Pop)… …and, as I keep telling you, the Bob Seger System. Bob before that mediocre Silver Bullet stuff. "Death Row" or "2+2=?" or the *original* "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (not the watered down live version from 1975, the 1968 original) or "Lucifer" or…
MC5 and The Stooges coming out of Detroit at around the same time helped kickstart the American punk scene. Wayne Kramer, the guitar player you see with the US flag pattern on his guitar, actually did some federal prison time over drug charges. He sadly passed in February this year but he was incredibly mellow and had his own TH-cam channel where he did some interviews and guitar lessons for MC5 songs.
Amazing group! Mind boggling that they had to wait so long to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, especially considering all the mediocre or downright terrible bands that got in before them. Inducting them posthumously is a real slap in the face.
So. This song is widely misunderstood. Most people think they are saying something like “kick out the music!” It wasn’t about that. What they were talking about was “jam” bands. Kick out the bands that would “jam” incessantly. Here’s a quote from Wayne Kramer, the lead guitarist: “People said "oh wow, 'kick out the jams' means break down restrictions" etc., and it made good copy, but when we wrote it we didn't have that in mind. We first used the phrase when we were the house band at a ballroom in Detroit, and we played there every week with another band from the area. [...] We got in the habit, being the sort of punks we are, of screaming at them to get off the stage, to kick out the jams, meaning stop jamming. We were saying it all the time and it became a sort of esoteric phrase. Now, I think people can get what they like out of it; that's one of the good things about rock and roll.”
Thank you so much for playing this. My name is Chris McNulty and I am the son of the drummer, Dennis Thompson. I am going to share this with the lead singer, Rob Tyner's wife. She is going to be so thrilled to see this. The MC5 are being inducted into the RRHOF in October and we will be there! Peace and keep up the good work. We watch all of the time, love you guys.
The MC5 were the real deal. Not a bunch of middle/upper class pussies. I was blessed to see the MC5 open for Johnny Winter and Led Zeppelin Boston Garden October 1969.
The RRHOF is nothing but a joke.They are inducting MC5 before Grand Funk? You gotta be kidding.
Your fathers music means the world to me
And I'm the son of Ozzy Osbourne. 😂
It’s about damn time. I’m only sorry that your father and the rest aren’t here to finally get their laurels.
My father raised me listening to the MC5, and they’re my top 3 of Detroit bands (the other two being the stooges and Alice cooper).
The birth of Punk. Remember this was the 60's
I read an interview with Johnny Ramone where he said that when the MC5 came out he first dismissed them as Midwestern greasers; funny how this video starts with them calling themselves that
The first punk band imo,and I’m a Brit who LOVED The Sex Pistols.
1969. They were punk before there was even a hint of punk.
debatable.......its not only the music
@@TheCornishCockney for straight "punk rock", I'd say it was the Electric Eels, but the MC5 definitely laid the foundation
When I was thirteen, the manager of a local record store in my hometown made a "punk rock 101" mixtape for me. Side One of that cassette tape was MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" album. Side Two was "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols." That record store manager, and the tape he made for me, changed my life. That wonderful man changed the lives of so many young music fans in that town. Love you, Sherman! RIP!
My cousin from Detroit dropped this LP on his Canadian cousins back in 1970. This blew my 15 year old mind.
MC5 and The Stooges was the start of Punk.
This ain't punk rock. It's just rock. Real punk rock is sex pistols, dead Kennedys, Ramones, clash, Buzzcocks, minor threat, the cramps
Sure, all the bands you mentioned were punk. No doubt about that. I love each of them, plus many more you didn’t have time or space to list.
Ask punk rockers about MC5 and the Stooges contributions to punk. To bring their sound to the masses in the 60s is pivotal to the genre that was to be named punk. If only considering the MC5 as simply “rock” is kind of myopic. If MC5 is just rock, then maybe The Cramps are just rock-a-billy, which I don’t believe.
Make no mistake, The Motor City 5 godfathered punk. Just because the MC5 weren’t what punk became, they were punk before it was even a genre.
@@John-p2j1u If you don't think The Stooges was punk you know nothing about Punk. The Stooges started in the late 60's. The bands you mentioned listened to MC5 and The Stooges. Truthfully l think the start was The Trogges in the early 60's.
@@John-p2j1u
This is the direct predecessor to punk. Without bands like this from that era, there is no punk.
Uh, Velvet Underground, anyone?
We'll all remember this as "The Day Rob Squad Went Punk"!!! 🤘🏻😝🤘🏻
This ain't punk rock. It's just rock. Real punk rock is sex pistols, dead Kennedys, Ramones, clash, Buzzcocks, minor threat, the cramps
@@John-p2j1uThe MC5 and The Stooges were the foundation of what later was called punk.
🫡
@@CBGB_1977I think both of those bands kind of had a different flair to the “first wave of punk bands” Stooges & MC5 were gods to bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Damned etc.
@@John-p2j1u Oh cool the guy who gatekeeps "real punk" is here
The MC5 was like the big brothers to The Stooges (iggy). They helped the Stooges get their first contract. There's a nice documentary about the Grande Ballroom floating around; MC5 was kind of the house band in between the big names that came through. Wayne Kramer just passed earlier this year. He wrote a memoir a "The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities". Fred Sonic Smith married Patti Smith, the famous poet & punk rocker, and then she retired from performing and they raised a family for many years around Detroit. MC5 had an interesting, complicated story.
The MC5 were far ahead of the curve. Audiences at the time often didn't know what to make of them, and ignored them as they waited for the headliner. In retrospect, they were key in the development of punk, from their sound, their wild stage presence and their far-left politics. They were one of the only bands to stick around in Chicago when the Democratic Convention descended into riots. Note the American flags on the stage and the instruments, which I believe is both ironic and a middle-finger directed at the dominance of British rock bands at the time.
This is the spirit that became punk rock. It's about the energy. Not speed, not heaviness, but the spirit of it, the recklessness.
This band was almost a decade ahead of its time, proto-punk, along with The Stooges. The MC5 and particularly this song, inspired a lot of other bands. It song has been covered many times. Blue Oyster Cult played it live often in the 70's and it appeared on their second live album, Some Enchanted Evening. Rage Against the Machine, Monster Magnet, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Jeff Buckley and others have all done covers.
I’m from Detroit. To me and everyone I grew up with this is ROCK & ROLL!
Same and same!
Last surviving member, the drummer Dennis Thompson, died a few months back. RIP.
Ah yes, the Motor City Five. This was actually released about a decade before punk rock was even a thing. It's more proto-metal/ acid rock. It's influence on punk bands a couple years later, however, is obvious. The dueling guitars of Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith and the charging rhythm section of bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson are enthralling, as are the raw vocals of Rob Tyner. Their "little brother" band was The Stooges, with a VERY young Iggy Pop.
This was recorded live on Halloween 1968, and released a couple months later as their debut album (also called "Kick Out The Jams"). A couple of great studio tracks from their other 2 albums include "High School", "Looking At You", "American Ruse", "Sister Anne", and "Gotten Keep Movin'". Oh, and their supercharged version of "Tutti Frutti" and "Back In The USA" are pretty entertaining. :)
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, in the same time frame of years as the MC5, but not punk rockers, had a big hit titled "CC Ryder " in 1966, driving rock and roll. Had a number of hits: "Sock It To Me, Baby!", "Too Many Fish in the Sea", "Little Latin Lupe Lu", "Good Golly Miss Molly", and more.
Blue Cheer was another band known for their wall of Marshalls, and decibel maximus.
Thanks for sharing this rare gem.
Rob Tyner: Vocals. Wayne Kramer: guitar. Fred Smith: guitar (also married to Patti Smith). Dennis Thompson: drums. Michael Davis: bass. Every album was different. "Kick Out The Jams" was recorded anarchy; "Back In The USA" was a return to basic rock and roll; and "High Time" was kind of a hybrid of the two.
This is legendary! Punk before punk
I loved growing up in the Detroit area in the 1960's. So much great music and so many innovative sounds. This is the birth if punk right here.
My Brothers band opened for them in 1967 at the Grande Ballroom In Detroit. It was wild.
Not near enough people have heard of MC5 ! Thanks for sharing this !
Never ever expected you guys to react to this! You stunned me!
MC5 were first inspired by Native American Rocker *Link Wray* who invented the rock guitar's *"Power Cord"*
Check out this iconic and historic song *Rumble* (only song without words to be banded from radio)
*"Link Wray - Rumble (1958)"*
Link Wray! Rumble!!! I've seen bowling allies clear out if somebody plays this on the jukebox
Jimmy Page sure is a fan of Link Wray, see his performance of that song not too long ago, huge influence number.
Michigan music gave us everything we could ever want ! Fun time to be a teen in the late 60's and 70's!
Being a teenager in the 80s, it seemed like all the rock bands I loved would name-drop the MC5. Thanks to TH-cam, I get it. They were badasses.
Just gotta say that I am so glad I subscribed to you way back in the early times. Your reactions, your growing appreciation of older, different types of music, and NOW your interviews!!! Keep it up, keep it up, and keep it up!!
I was in a rock band in college back in the 80’s and this song was one of our inspirations. Yet I only just learned from your reaction that it was released the day before I was born. Thanks!
Motor City Rock N Roll Baby! Yes!!!
What a song from the 1960’s! Very hard rock!
Blue Oyster Cult's live version from '78 is killer.
An inchanting evening great album
Yep. An infinitely better version. Not even in the same universe, man
The MC5's live performance of "Lookin' At You" at Tartar Field, 1970 is probably the greatest live rock performance ever captured on film.
PLEASE check it out.
I love that you dug this.
That is correct.
MC5
Rob Tyner-Vocals
Wayne Kramer-Guitar
Fred "Sonic" Smith-Guitar
Michael Davis-Bass
Dennis Thompson-Drums
Sadly all no longer with us.
I was a senior in high school when the MC-5 started touring the state of Michigan. They played at the Shadowland Ballroom in St. Joseph Michigan for $3.00 a ticket. The original concert of Kick Out the Jams lyric's opening line was "Kick Out the Jams Mother Fuckers!" After 850+ records they were pulled off the shelf and the song was rerecorded with the opening line as "Kick out the jams brothers and sisters." F.M. radio was just starting and it was called underground music: MC5, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Frost, Grand Funk Railroad along with British groups: Slade, Deep Purple, the Who, Cream, Robin Trower and Yes. These groups created songs based on Delta Blues, Chicago or St. Louis Jazz/Blues combined with Philly and Motown Soul. Every little town back then had start up garage bands. Some made it to one hit wonders: American Breed, Frost and Frijid Pink (all Michigan kids and 3 made it big: Tommy James and the Shondells, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and Grand Funk Railroad (not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame). I loved growing up in the heart and soul of rock and roll in Michigan with the creation of Motown soul, the Punk rock and underground sounds. God Bless American, the land of Music, which makes us great. Love you guys by the way when you get that stank face going. Rock on! You're the heartbeat of American greatness and freedom!
P.S. Play Frijid Pink's version of "House of the Rising Sun" it is sick!
Being from Detroit this band is iconic. Motown is where the best music originated from!😊
Fred 'Sonic' Smith married Patti Smith. Them and The Stooges were the beginning of Punk before it moved to Britain in the mid 70's.
Ramones toured England and about 20 bands were spawned
Absolutely! Punk was started in the U.S.A. I'm not American.But it is true.
I don't know why people are so obsessed with Punk starting here, moving there, whether it's British or American etc. no other genre of music has this. I think they're 2 separate movements with some common ground.
One of the best songs out of the 60s that captures the mood and angst of the protest generation. Happy to see y’all reacting and enjoying this. It’s a heavy one. Some people say the birth of Punk, but others like me say it also helped ignite Metal.🔥🔥🔥🔥🤘🏼😎
This will wake you up!! LOL!! Wayne Kramer, a member, died just last February. Fred 'Sonic' Smith, another member, was married to Patti Smith (I think you've reacted to her). Their influence has lasted for decades!
Fred was included in a Rolling Stone list of the 100 best guitarists of all time at one point. And Patti Smith wrote the song “Frederick” for Fred, who sometimes collaborated with her.
Their drummer, Dennis Thompson, died in May.
all 5 of them are gone now
Ned from Spain here for the Mighty MC5 ! Thank you x 10000000 Jay and Amber for putting this up and freakin out to it, coz there aint no other way to react if you're truly alive. These guys said they had a few options : auto factory, crime or making it in a band. It took a long time for these guys to get their due and only a few of them lived to enjoy it. Vox man Rob Tyner died in '91, guitarist Fred Sonic Smith in '94 but the rest got some love when they reformed as MC3 / DKT in the 2000's. All of them have gone but they continue thru recordings and videos so thanx for "keepin them alive" ! There's a video of them going wild at Tartar Field that you gotta see. They're on Beat Club too but I know that company litigates. Their LPs " Kick Out.." " Back in the USA " and the slammin " High Time " are all amazing. One criticism try not to associate MC5 with Spinal Tap, it's kind of an insult much as I love them both. Peace, love and Kick 'Em Out !
David Bowie called out this song in his own song The Cygnet Committee, which is about what he perceived to be the dark side of the Hippie movement: "[We] stoned the poor on/Slogans such as "wish you could hear", "love is all we need"/"Kick out the jams", "kick out your mother"/"Cut up your friend", "screw up your brother/"Or he'll get you in the end."
In Robert Anton Wilson's classic counterculture novel The Illuminatus, the song is said to hold a cryptic message: the JAMs are the Justified Ancients of Mumu, an ancient group of Atlanteans who who've been expelled from the Illuminati, hence the song title. Later a British techno group adopted the name JAMs in reference to the group before changing to KLF.
The first time I saw them was in 1972 at a local club in western Ohio. We had no idea. They just said it was a band from Detroit so off we went. Holy Shit! I wasn't right for weeks but went back for more any time they were in the area. Their Back In The USA album is vicious
Yo! Shout out to Grande Ballroom in Detroit and my hometown Birmingham MI. I was in High School and not hip to the scene, but my sister bought their record, and it was outrageous. Turmoil in the High School hallways. Thanks! Motor City 5
Awesome project-punk. Groundbreaking stuff.
Fast forward 10 years and you got Teenage Head. Call this a request for “Picture My Face” by Teenage Head circa 1978.
Shocked you did this one, but you continue to surprise me. As some have written, the birth of punk. Few remember this band. Had this on plastic in 69 when it was released. Happy you enjoyed it!!
Sadly, they're all gone now. Guitarist Wayne Kramer and drummer Dennis Thompson both died earlier this year. RIP
The two house bands of the Grande Ballroom in Detroit were the MC5 and Iggy Pop and The Stooges. Both got signed to Elektra. For like $500. The MC5 got dropped by Elektra quickly because of a controversy over the language they used and their reaction to it. "When Hudson's, a Detroit-based department store chain, refused to stock Kick Out the Jams due to the obscenity, MC5 responded with a full page advertisement in the local underground magazine Fifth Estate saying "Stick Alive with the MC5, and Fuck Hudson's!", 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. MC5 then signed with Atlantic Records"
Hi My Oklahoma Friends!! My friend JD Souther passed away on the 17th...... You all reacted to one of his songs "You're Only Lonely" RIP John David Souther
As soon as I saw the song title I put my headphones on and started Jamming. R.I. P. Wayne Kramer. Believe it or not, I was ten years old when I first heard this song. I shared a room with two teenage brothers. I still listen to this song on a regular basis. In 1969 the MC5's manager John Sinclair was sentenced to ten years in prison for distributing marijuana. He was freed after three years when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the Possession of Marijuana law was unconstitutional. Wayne Kramer also had a band called Kramer's Kreemers. Amber, there is a B&W video of the band performing this song where you can actually see the band.
MC5 rocks it.
I was driving yesterday and MC5 came on from my playlist. Was wondering if anyone has reacted to them yet and here it is.
Thunder Express was my song that came on. Give that one a listen. You'll be shaking your butt to that one.
Patti Smith was married to Fred Sonic Smith (the guitar player). Both were born as Smith. Patti had a used clothing store in the Detroit area,
I am 65 Y.O., I was fortunate to be exposed to a lot of rock and roll from the late sixties all the way to the present, by 8 uncles my mother was the only girl. None of us really knew we were part of an incredible amount of history being made, the tribute bands today do a very good job of keeping the music of the past going. But nothing can compare to growing up listening to the bands that made it famous. I do want to say of the sites I have seen, I keep coming back to yours, the reason why is simple, both of you make it interesting but more important, when either of you share comments or insights you never make it about either of you, that may sound simplistic but it is true. I thank you both for being informative with out being narcissistic. Tom Slick.
Ah!!! I've been waiting for this day! You finally did it ❤❤❤❤❤ The beginning of punk rock. It wasn't the dirty boys from England. It was the MC5🔥🔥🔥
Check out the video of the MC5 playing "Looking At You" live at Tartar Field at Wayne State University.
From Lincoln Park, MICHIGAN, but hit it HARD in Detroit, this band made us Detroiters head bang before head bangin' was a thang. 'MC5' is short for 'Motor City Five'. Only ONE FM station (WABX) would play this version. The cleaned up version starts with "Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters".
OHHHHHH, YEAHHHHHHH!!! GREAT REACTION, YOU-GUYS!!! LOVE this band AND this SONG!! THANKS for MAKIN' MY DAY!!! CANNOT sit STILL to THIS ONE!!! ROB SQUAD: GOIN' PUNK!!! WOOOHOOOOO!
Absolute pioneering legends!!
GOING IN THE ROCK OF RAME ABOUT TIME !
MC5 The New York Dolls and Iggy Pop are the God Fathers of Punk brilliant.
Patti Smith and the Ramones too
@@markhighfill fair one good shout
Gotta love the Motor City 5. Just a part of all the great music coming out of Detroit at that time
The MC5 were a very important Rock band. They were a major influence on Punk Rock music in the 1970s. They wrote and performed songs that were very political for the late-1960s and early-1970s. The MC5 were the ONLY Rock band to play outside the convention hall at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, prior to the riots that took place. Recently declassified FBI film footage showed the band in concert (there was no audio: they were looking for political subversives trying to promote unrest amongst the crowds in the city). Another song by The MC5 that the both of you might want to react to, is their song,”The American Ruse”. The MC5 are inductees in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Rob Squad needs to check out another band called, Death, from around the same timeframe and they too are from Detroit. There is a documentary called, A Band Called Death. In the documentary, one of the band's members son, college aged, runs across their album to find out his dad was in the band. A Band Called Death is the story of three musician brothers. The three brothers later become a promising punk rock/rock/funk band, before punk rock ever hit the scene. It's a great documentary.
"Politician In My Eyes" is so damn intense.
Another band from Detroit that laid the groundwork for punk, in addition to MC5 and The Stooges, was a band called Death. Check out their songs, such as "Politicians in My Eyes" and "Keep On Knocking" when you get the tIme.
Great picks !
.
Fred Sonic Smith, one of the guitar players in this band was married to Patty Smith, who you have reacted to on this channel.
Jay and Amber thank you for this one. I love this song .
So glad you heard the version with the intro, because that's necessary! [EDIT]: forgot to mention how historic this band was. not just for the birth of punk, but politically! they were explosive. Read their Wiki! They were the band that played at the Democratic Convention in 1968, the year of the famous riots in Chicago.
That riff is massive. It just bludgeons you.
Detroit birthplace of Punk, MC5, Death & Iggy
Facts!
As a young teenager when this album was released, I'd wait till my parents were out and with the house empty, I'd crank up the volume on my Marantz amp and push those AR speakers to their limits. Along with Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, J. Giels band live...A different era.
I had AR18's. Small speaker, big sound.
@@adamsher2538 You bet! I then moved to floor standing Ohms and have them to this day.
@@TYJGB Ohms were always a good choice. Sometime between 95-97, I bought JBL Sat 1's. They are satellite speakers with subwoofers. Crank those out to this day. My wife has some old Infinity speakers I plan on setting up in the basement.
Me too, bought a pair of Ohm C2s. Couldn't afford the larger Ohm Walsh though.
Amber mentioning she liked the drums. Dennis Thompson unfortunately passed away earlier this year. The last surviving member up until then. His nick name was “Machine Gun”. Pretty fitting. RIP Dennis, Rob, Wayne, Sonic & Mike
also from detroit around this time was a protopunk A BAND CALLED DEATH - they only recorded 1 album that saw limited release but there is a great documentary w/ the same name
This whole first album was known to have caused moments of incontinence in older people in 1968.
Yep, like Motorhead, if they moved next door, your lawn would die!
My dad's band used to be an opening act for some of their concerts
What band?
@@mperezmcfinn2511 the Poor Boys Pride. I am not sure how many nights they played with them, it may have been only one, but I remember my dad telling me stories about MC5.
@@lowellwebster4198 That's so cool! That name actually sounds familiar. Those 60s era Michigan gigs were usually multi band situations. So when you look at the old flyers they'll have 2 or 3 bands (like MC5, The Rationals, The Amboy Dukes, or whoever) in large print across the top, then everyone else got the smaller print.
I always wonder about the bands in smaller print.
My uncle played in a band called The Renegades (and roadied for The Whiz Kids and The Bob Seger System) but I've never been able to find them on a flyer. I'm gonna look out for Poor Boy's Pride.
@@mperezmcfinn2511 they were a band from west Michigan. They had a couple singles that was getting air play and was scheduled to go on American bandstand then 3 of the members got drafted to Vietnam. Their music can be found on TH-cam.
@@mperezmcfinn2511they were a band from west Michigan. they had a couple singles that was getting air play and was scheduled to go on American bandstand but 3 of the guys got drafted to Vietnam. Their music is posted on TH-cam.
A cover of this song by Bad Brains and Henry Rollins was used on the soundtrack of the movie "Pump Up the Volume".
Checkout MC5 Tartar Field Wayne State. "Looking At You" and "Ramblin' Rose". It's live footage from 1970. It's an amazing performance with great choreography.
MC5 ... Motor City 5
This song was on a compilation record I had as a child in the 1970's. I fell in love with it then. "Mother fuckers" was edited to be "brothers and sisters" but I loved hearing the OG version when I got to be a teen in the 80's
Can't wait to see what y'all think.
I grew up on the other side of Michigan, MC5 used to come and play the roller rink in my hometown, I was just a very little kid. Someone posted the flyer in my hometown community facebook group about a year ago.
The Motor City 5! Definitely one of the bands that can be called the foundation of punk! Kick out the jams, indeed!
Im from the old school of rock so I knew about the MC5 back in High School but I had never really listened to them until just this week in fact. These guys kicked ass!!!
A few mentions of The Stooges in the comments. You've reacted to some of Iggy Pop's later work but it's tracks like No Fun, TV Eye, Search & Destroy and I Wanna Be Your Dog that were referenced by punk bands in the 70s.
Saw MC5 in 1970 opening on a triple bill at Boston Garden backing up
Johnny Winter and Led Zepplin. Nearly brought the roof down. They
opened with "You Can't Sit Down" and nobody did for the next 3 hours.
Tix $6.50. Those were the days !
J'ai 70 ans,j'ai commencé la batterie avec ce groupe en 1970......je joue toujours....et ce morceau aussi.....encore. Encore 😂😂😂😂
I saw the MC5 live back in 1965 - outdoors standing in the first row right next to the speakers! What a show! I don't think most of the teens and 20-somethings were ready for them!
John Sinclair is from Ann Arbor, Mi. At the University of a Michigan in Ann Arbor, John Lennon attended a benefit for Sinclair who was in jail for smoking pot. Lena was his wife.
He's from Flint. But he lived here for a while in the 70s/80s. His daughter went to my high school.
John Lennon had a concert in Ann Arbor for John Sinclair. Sinclair was involved with the MC5 (manager ?) and had received a long senfence for weed possession. Lennon and Yoko recorded free John Sinclair. Detoit late sixties had a vibrant rock scene with the Stooges, the MC5, the Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent), Alice Cooper, Grand Funk, Bob Seger, the Frost, and SRC and more.
Back in the day, Plymouth Township used to have outdoor concerts through the summer. I was at one of those concerts, sitting on the side of a hill when a friend of mine who had just gotten out of the joint came walking up with another guy. They sat down and fired one up and he introduced me to his compadre.....John Sinclair. They had both been in together and got released about the same time.
Good times!
The Forefathers of punk. One of my favorite songs of all-time!
R.I.P. to Wayne Kramer and Don Thompson, the last two founding members who passed this year.
😁 I grew up in the 70’s. Started them as a 12 year old, ended them as a 22 year old. We always referred to blasting the music up as “kicking out the jams”. Now I’m 66 and just learning why we said that! 😆 Guess you can teach an old dog a new trick 😉😁
MC5- Looking at You. My personal favorite. 😊
First time I ever heard this song was the Beat Club performance, with Rob holding the mic between his teeth. Blew my tiny mind, that whole thing.
Back in the day we called this Acid Rock😅
And here we are, finally! The Detroit Sound! (Which has ZERO to do with Motown, even though they were both based in the same city.) It's loud and it's hard. It's not quite proto-punk, but you can see the path from there to here.
Keep going into the MC5's catalog, but also check out Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels ("Devil with a Blue Dress", "Jenny Take a Ride"), The Stooges (featuring a young Iggy Pop)…
…and, as I keep telling you, the Bob Seger System. Bob before that mediocre Silver Bullet stuff. "Death Row" or "2+2=?" or the *original* "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (not the watered down live version from 1975, the 1968 original) or "Lucifer" or…
MC5 were a Vibe that you either LOVED or HATED.... legends!
All our parents HATED them!
Found this song when I was 12 in 2009 and lost my mind lol. Glad you loved it!
There was an album of theirs making the rounds in my senior year of high school. Hardcore rock gold from start to finish.
One best band for metal and punk music it’s a great live band watch them live other group like group Gang of Four and iggy pop and pil
MC5 and The Stooges coming out of Detroit at around the same time helped kickstart the American punk scene. Wayne Kramer, the guitar player you see with the US flag pattern on his guitar, actually did some federal prison time over drug charges. He sadly passed in February this year but he was incredibly mellow and had his own TH-cam channel where he did some interviews and guitar lessons for MC5 songs.
This and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges are the sound of the 60s giving way to the 70s. Great reaction!
Amazing group! Mind boggling that they had to wait so long to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, especially considering all the mediocre or downright terrible bands that got in before them. Inducting them posthumously is a real slap in the face.
Goddamn right it is! Induct them on the same year the last 2 surviving members died.
They didn't just talk the talk! This was the youth of America yellin' "We are here, this is our time"!
So. This song is widely misunderstood. Most people think they are saying something like “kick out the music!” It wasn’t about that. What they were talking about was “jam” bands. Kick out the bands that would “jam” incessantly. Here’s a quote from Wayne Kramer, the lead guitarist:
“People said "oh wow, 'kick out the jams' means break down restrictions" etc., and it made good copy, but when we wrote it we didn't have that in mind. We first used the phrase when we were the house band at a ballroom in Detroit, and we played there every week with another band from the area. [...] We got in the habit, being the sort of punks we are, of screaming at them to get off the stage, to kick out the jams, meaning stop jamming. We were saying it all the time and it became a sort of esoteric phrase. Now, I think people can get what they like out of it; that's one of the good things about rock and roll.”
MC5 was already legendary when I first heard of them when I was in high school in the late 60s/ early 70s
Need to also check out The Presidents of the United States of America's version of this song.
MC5 (RIP) They're all gone but their mark on music history will last forever