Wayne Kramer, the guitarist who co-founded the MC5, one of the rawest, most influential and politically engaged bands in American history, has died at the age of 75. His Instagram page announced the news as follows: Peace is with you. From April 30, 1948 to February 2, 2024. ”
Born and raised in Detroit, Kramer teamed up with his teenage friend and fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, each of whom was heavily influenced by free jazz as well as R&B and rock ‘n’ roll. Along with frontman Rob Tyner, they, along with friends such as the Stooges, made the MC5 a sensation in the local music scene.
The MC5 (short for Motor City 5) quickly developed a formidable live reputation, playing with the likes of Cream, and signed with Elektra in 1968. Their debut album, Kick Out the Jams, was released the following year. Grande His Ballroom in Detroit, where the band made its name.
The band was proud of its working-class roots and had revolutionary fervor from the beginning. Manager John Sinclair formed the White Panther Party, and the band protested the Vietnam War and the Democratic National Convention. Backed by Kramer and Smith’s surprisingly heavy guitar tones, Tyner’s cry of “Kick out the Jam” on the album’s title track became synonymous with resistance and pointed the way to 1970s punk rock. .
“People were saying, ‘Wow, ‘busting the traffic’ means beating the limit.’ And that made for good copy, but when we wrote this, we didn’t mean that. I didn’t have that in mind,” Kramer later said, explaining that he had more direction with a band that jammed constantly.
The group moved to Atlantic Records and released their first studio album, Back in the USA, in 1970, followed by High Time the following year. Each album was a commercial failure. Bankrupt and addicted to drug use, the MC5 split in 1972.
Kramer continued his musical career alongside his drug dealing, and was imprisoned for four years after his 1975 bankruptcy. After his release in 1979, he joined funk rockers Was (Not Was) and became a fixture in New York City’s underground music scene. , but he spent most of the 1980s away from the spotlight, working primarily as a carpenter. In the mid-90s, he signed with the punk label Epitaph Records and began releasing music again as a solo artist.
Tyner and Smith died in the early-to-mid 1990s, but in 2001 Kramer formed a supergroup to perform the music of the MC5, which included the likes of The Cult’s Ian Astbury and Motörhead’s Lemmy. Although the lineup was less than stellar, MC5 rekindled itself as a touring presence, playing gigs around the world in various iterations, including a 50th anniversary tour in 2018. That year, he also published his memoir, The Hard Stuff: Dope. My Life of Crime, MC5, and the Impossible.
At the time of his death, Kramer was preparing to release the band’s long-awaited third studio album. Kramer said of the reason for his return: I think we are at a very dangerous time in history. And I think if we don’t all organize and come together and move forward, we could lose everything. Democracy can disappear. The forces we are up against are no joke. This is not play time. This is serious. “
Release was scheduled for spring 2024.
In later years, Kramer co-founded the US arm of Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Door Initiative, which provided instruments to prison inmates.
Among those who paid tribute to Kramer after his death was former collaborator and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. “Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I have ever known,” he wrote. “He was a unique combination of deep wisdom, deep compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious faith.”
