Wayne Kramer guitarist of MC5 passed away this past weekend, he is also listed as a co-writer of most of the MC5 catalog. With his passing the only original member still alive is the drummer Dennis Thompson. Coming out of Detroit, MC5 had a short but fiery stint in the late 1960s and definitely could be considered proto-punks. Their live acts were incendiary and the band got in a bunch of trouble for their revolutionary views. Kick out the Jams is definitely a must hear album.

I actually had a one degree separation to Kramer, as a good friend of mine did a documentary on the MC5 that was getting good reviews in the film festival circuit. However, when they wanted to have a more widespread distribution, Kramer wouldn't release the rights to the music without more $$$ and the movie/DVD release languished. My friend and his wife won all court battles but the movie was never released. So he was kinda a dick too. He also threatens Dave with a gun on camera, so that was (not) cool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC5:_A_True_Testimonial

Btw, I actually have one of the few non-bootleg copies of the MC5 - A true Testimonial DVD if anyone is ever interested in seeing a copy. The band is quite fascinating and the story was fair and well done.

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