Watch rare footage of The MC5 playing ‘Kick Out the Jams’ in 1972
1972 would be the final year for the initial run of The MC5. The iconic Detroit proto-punk band had blown minds with their ragged aggressiveness and fiery political rhetoric, culminating in the take-no-prisoners 1969 live album Kick Out the Jams. An instant classic, Kick Out the Jams was the crux of The MC5’s career, recorded at the height of their collective talents.
But the band didn’t pack it up once they were captured on tape. Two additional studio albums, 1970’s Back in the USA and 1971’s High Time, failed to capture the manic energy that the band brought to their live shows. Drug abuse was filtering into the group’s scene as well, affecting performances and band morale.
Only three years removed from their live debut, The MC5 were still a potent live act. Lead singer Rob Tyner still swaggered around the stage in stark contrast to his paunchy demeanour. Wayne Kramer was still bringing the house down night after night with his falsetto-led version of ‘Rambin’ Rose’. Had the rest of the world cared about them, The MC5 could have easily lasted at least another half-decade to reap the benefits of the punk music that they helped inspire.
Instead, Elektra Records dropped the band, along with fellow Detroit proto-punks The Stooges. The Detroit rock scene began to focus on arenas, leaving little room for anarcho-rioters like The MC5. The left-wing politics that the group embraced at the end of the 1960s was starting to wane in the American midwest, so the group took their show on the road.
1972 saw the band make memorable appearances across Europe, including a legendary recording for the German television programme Beat Club. Footage from the band’s 1972 Paris concert proves that there was still fire in the band, even if they were relying heavily on their past material and R&B covers.
When they returned to Detroit, the outlook for the band was bleak. With concert opportunities dwindling, they decided to book one final farewell show at the Grande Ballroom, the same venue that had kickstarted their ascent as one of Detroit’s most vital rock bands. When Kramer took the stage, he saw only a fraction of the space filled with fans. After just a few songs, The MC5 left the stage, never to reform in their classic lineup again.
Watch footage of The MC5 playing ‘Kick Out the Jams’ in Paris from 1972 down below.
