NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Before there was the Clash, or there was the MC5.
鈥淭he MC5 was playing punk rock music before there was a name for it,鈥� says a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist for bands like Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.
鈥淭hey built the lattice on which bands like The Stooges, The Ramones, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down ply their trade.鈥�
The MC5 鈥� short for Motor City Five 鈥� are getting into the Rock Hall this year, only months after the deaths of the two last original members, drummer Dennis 鈥淢achine Gun鈥� Thompson and guitarist and singer
The Detroit-based MC5 are part of the that includes A Tribe Called Quest, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, Dionne Warwick, Alexis Korner, and Big Mama Thornton. The induction ceremony is Saturday in Cleveland.
The band 鈥� which also included Fred 鈥淪onic鈥� Smith on guitars, Rob Tyner on vocals, Michael Davis on bass 鈥� had little commercial success and put out just three albums, but its legacy endured, both for its sound and for its fusing of music to political action. During the chaos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, only the MC5 showed up to play.
鈥淭he reason why they deserve to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is not because of the depth or breadth of their catalog. It鈥檚 because of their influence. Without them, there is no punk rock music,鈥� says Morello. 鈥淭hey're on the Mount Rushmore of founders of this particular brand of music.鈥�
was their most famous song 鈥� with the lyrics "Put that mic in my hand/And let me kick out the jam" and 鈥淟et me be who I am/And let me kick out the jams." A live album of the same name reached the top 40 in 1969, their highest-charting release. They also released the studio albums 鈥淏ack in the USA鈥� and 鈥淗igh Time鈥� before breaking up at the end of 1972.
In quiet honor of the MC5, Rage Against the Machine would nickname their band's fastest song 鈥淢C5" when they were recording albums. For months, that's what from the album 鈥淭he Battle of Los Angeles鈥� was called.
Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was grew up in Detroit and vividly remembers catching MC5 live, calling what he heard 鈥渁 tsunami of sound.鈥�
鈥淭o me, they unleashed a power. You could taste the music and see it. It was never really captured on any recordings. It was a big, monolithic wall of distortion and groove.鈥�
Morello and Was are among several musicians appearing on a new which comes out this month and includes songs by Kramer and Thompson. Slash, Vernon Reid and William DuVall of Alice in Chains also contributed.
鈥淭he idea, as Wayne described to me, was to make one last great MC5 record that would distill the spirit that the band had decades before but was also a product of where those influences lead,鈥� says Morello. 鈥淚 put everything I had into it. I鈥檓 like, 鈥楲et鈥檚 make one more really, really great MC5 record.鈥欌��
There鈥檚 also a new book, by music journalists Brad Tolinski, Jaan Uhelszki and Ben Edmonds. It includes stories from Iggy and the Stooges, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, promoter Bill Graham, John Lennon and the Jefferson Airplane.
Morello, who on the nominating committee at the Rock Hall, says he's been pushing for the inclusion of the MC5 for years and has led to more fan favorites, like Rush, Kiss, Judas Priest 鈥� and now MC5.
鈥淭he Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tells a story. It can鈥檛 tell every story, but it tells a story. I think that story is becoming broader and more reflective of rock fandom than in the past when it might have been a more delicately curated situation.鈥�
Kramer, who spent years in prison on drug charges, later established , a nonprofit that donates musical instruments to inmates and offers songwriting workshops in prisons. He helped people get sober, find jobs for former inmates, build music careers for at-risk youth and was always up to back a progressive cause.
Was says Kramer went from believing that a revolution was coming in the 1960s to realizing it might fail but still trying to make life better for people.
鈥淲ayne Kramer was the best man I鈥檝e ever known,鈥� says Morello, who will help induct the MC5 on Saturday. 鈥淗e possessed a one-of-a-kind mixture of deep wisdom and profound compassion with beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction.鈥�
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
