My first encounter with the MC5 was at a very young age, not through someone who played their music for me to listen to, but through a relatively mainstream yet good Greek music magazine, which had published a feature on the best live LPs of all time. "Kick Out the Jams" ranked second, surpassing names that were better known to me at the time (The Doors, Thin Lizzy, etc.). The cover art was also enough to make you fall in love with it at first sight - a psychedelic kinda collage yet punk at the same time. It might even have been the first of many albums I'd go on to buy based solely on what caught my eye (for the record, the second was "Raw Power"). The reviewer left me no room for doubt writing that this particular album "broke through the virgin membrane of rock'n'roll and gave birth to punk" or that "there's a lot of debate, with serious arguments on both sides, about whether the hippies or the punks played better but there was no question as to who sounded better." The fact that I can recall all of this without referring back to the review means that it left a lasting impression on me.
So, I bought "Kick Out the Jams" on CD (it was 1991 or '92 and vinyl records had begun to gradually disappear from the market, making way for the new format) which included the intro with the famous "motherfucker" yell - which, for some strange reason, later editions removed before reinstating it in the "Big Bang!" compilation, if I'm not mistaken. In the '90s, that particular expression didn't seem offensive at all, but just imagine how all of this would have sounded in 1968 in an America rife with racism and prudishness. Something that has been making a comeback like a whirlwind for many years now, on a global scale. The guitars cut like sickles, and the drums, maracas, and tambourines pounded like hammers. A little later, I discovered that this was by no means a coincidence, since this particular band had much more to offer in terms of challenging the fascist ideologies of the era than just their music.
As I usually do in this space, unless the band is completely unknown, I don't think it's necessary to recount its history. Where do you even start with The 5? There are books and documentaries out there that you should look up and watch (all of them!) if you want to consider yourselves serious rock'n'roll fans, since we're talking about a group of people who unwittingly wrote the rulebook for true revolutionaries, even though they didn't like the rules themselves. They brought the entire (rich) musical tradition of Detroit (and beyond) into one package and took it even further, so much so that I don't think anyone has yet come along to take up the torch from them and carry it on. For better or worse, some people arrive and put an end to things. Like prophets who hate prophecies. Honestly, I don't care if anyone agrees or disagrees with what I write, but the MC5 played just as important a role in my life as Karl Marx.
I created this MC5 package as an alternate "Best Of" compilation, an extreme digital dirt done properly featuring their early garage punk - needle in the red and no overdubs 45s, the unused Grande Ballroom recordings that didn't make it to the "Jams", pre-production studio tapes, alternate takes, remixes, full-length versions and outtakes from their studio albums. All of these are from the best audible sources that are known to me (for more details, look at the parentheses next to the songs titles).
"BROTHERS AND SISTERS! I WANNA SEE A SEA OF HANDS OUT THERE!"
