MC5 co-founder and activist Wayne Kramer has died aged 75

Wayne Kramer, a founding member of legendary Detroit proto-punk band MC5 and one of rock's greatest guitarists, has died aged 75.

The death of the singer-songwriter-political activist was announced on Friday via his official social media accounts. no cause of death was reported.

On Rolling rocklist of the 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time — with Kramer sharing the placement with Fred “Sonic” Smith — we wrote, “Forged in Detroit during the 1960s, the MC5 guitar tandem of Kramer and Smith worked together like the pistons of a powerful engine.Combining Chuck Berry and early Motown influences with a budding interest in free jazz, the pair could launch their band's legendary high-energy jams deep into space while keeping one foot in the groove”.

Formed in Detroit in the mid-60s, the MC5 (short for Motor City Five) first emerged as the left-wing rally band in the city at the time. After a performance outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, Kramer and company returned to Detroit and its Grande Ballroom in October of that year to record what would become their landmark album. Kick Out the Jams.

The live LP – with his cry of “Kick out the jams, momfuckers” – will eventually land on Rolling rocklist of the 500 greatest albums of all time. “Kick Out the Jams he spins and screams with the belief that rock & roll is a necessary act of civil disobedience. The proof: Banned from a Michigan department store. Rolling rock wrote for the album. “The MC5 proved their leftist credentials the summer before the album was recorded, when they were the only band to show up to play for the Yippies protesting the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.”

While the MC5's tenure was short-lived – the band only released two studio albums in the 1970s Back to the US and of 1971 High time before their initial breakup — the group had a lasting impact on what would become punk rock, both in its overtly political lyrics and the explosive riffs of the Kramer/Smith tandem.

After the MC5's death, Kramer remained in Detroit, and while he remained musically active, he also found himself in trouble with the law: In 1975, he was arrested for selling drugs to an undercover cop, resulting in a four-year prison sentence. proposal. Although released in 1979, the experience left an indelible mark on Kramer, who later founded the non-profit Jail Guitar Doors – named after the Clash song inspired by Kramer's ordeal. “Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his cocaine deals/A little more every day/I'm holding out for a friend until the band does well/Then the DEA locked him away” – who provided musical instruments to inmates as a means rehabilitation “Through the transformative power of music”.

Throughout the eighties, Kramer bounced from city to city, working with artists wherever he landed, including stints with Was (Not Was) and Johnny Thunders. However, in the '90s, the legions of punk songwriters who owed Kramer and the MC5 began to show their appreciation, with Kramer eventually signing with the famous punk label Epitaph Records to begin his solo career in earnest.

Kramer's first LP on the label, The hard stuff, arrived in 1995 and featured guests such as Melvins' Dale Crover, drummer Josh Freese, Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris, Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz and many more. Kramer also remained politically active over the next few decades, playing alongside Rage Against the Machine at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver (a rebel show that mirrored the MC5 concert 40 years earlier) as well as playing shows in support of the presidential campaign by Bernie Sanders.

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