The
Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities - Wayne Kramer
(DaCapo)
The Detroit, Michigan based MC5 is quite possibly the
most influential rock ‘n’ roll band that never managed to score a hit record.
The band is known for their shear, raw intensity and their influence can be
heard in a riff ready legion of bands/genre ranging from punk to hard rock and
heavy metal.
Guitarist and founder Wayne Kramer recounts his and the
band’s story in the new bio, The Hard
Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities. Almost surprisingly
coherent, given the details Kramer divulges, and well written, The Hard Stuff, steeps you in the sites
and sounds from the band’s earliest inklings and the street level chaos of the
time.
You can really get a great sense of the band’s live
fast and play hard ethos; they truly exemplify what garage rock is all about.
They literally banged out three major label albums in the span of a couple
years and were gone. Aside from influencing a generation of musicians to come,
Kramer and the MC5 – vitriolic left wingers – provided the perfect soundtrack
for their times in the late 60s and early 70s.
While illicit drugs were a staple for Kramer and the
band, that alone was not a reason why they often and consistently found themselves
on the radar of not only local,Detroit police, but also an investigative
subject of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. In the The
Hard Stuff, Kramer describes an often harrowing tale of self-destruction
coupled with pure joy and agression of the music and later redemption and recognition.
Much like the music it is delivered with a raw intensity.
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