wayne kramer

No introduction needed for the onetime spiritual leader of the MC5 so here’s a personal note about meeting John Sinclair:

It was on a night off during a business trip that involved a flying visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan in the early 2000s. Sinclair was in town for that city’s annual Hash Bash and had just played a show at The Blind Pig. I’d been drinking at the Eight Bar Saloon with some locals, including Scott Morgan who did the introduction.

Some of us have had a lot of problems forgiving Alice Cooper the man for ditching Alice Cooper the band.  The first two Alice Cooper band albums, “Pretties For You” and “Easy Action” were fairly decent if you go in for a bit of whacky hippy burlesque.  They have their fans but, truth be told, they needed a firmer hand than Frank Zappa if they were going to amount to anything more than a sideshow.

Next came five albums of perfection.  Even the much maligned “Muscle of Love” shits over anything that tried to pass itself off as competition.  I know we're all Stooges and Dolls fans here but the Coop actually owned the mainstream throughout the early ‘70s. 

Well, they were a shit hot band with great song-writing, a genius producer and a grand guignol stage show.  How could they miss? 

Well, the thing is... 

Out of print for two years? Shit, hard to believe, but it's good to have this one back in circulation (on Bro. Wayne's new label, with expanded versions of the rest of his Epitaph catalog and even the L-O-N-G gone "Death Tongue" set to follow in its wake - a reissue program long anticipated by true Rock Action devotees, especially those who missed out on 'em the first time). This was, after all, the one that started it all, solo-career wise, as well as serving notice to the world at large that Detroit rock'n'roll was alive and well in the '90s.

Accuse me of revisionism if you will...but when I caught Mad for the Racket live at SXSW, I was less than optimally stoked with their performance. Coupla months later, in a column, I was making more conciliatory noises.

Wayne Kramer, one of contemporary hard rock’s most influential guitarists, passed away in hsiopital in Los Angeles on Friday, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 75.

The former MC5, MC5-DKT, Gang War, solo band and soundtrack artist was on the verge of releasing a new album under the MC5 name.

The influence of Wayne Kramer and the MC5 on bands like The Damned, Radio Birdman, Rage Against the Machine, Ramones, New York Dollsand scores of others can’t be underestimated.