349. MC5, "Kick Out the Jams"

 


Just a pure blast of guitar energy.  It's really unfocused and raw but that's ok because MC5 was busy inventing punk in 1969 and then wedding it to explicitly far-left (at the time) politics.  Hey, guess where Rage Against the Machine came from?  RATM is like if you took all the partying out of this, and there's a lot of partying.

I appreciate how incredibly influential it was and how fresh and brash it must have seemed at the time but it's just a little unfocused for my taste.  ALSO it's ironic that the name of the song "Kick Out the Jams" came from the band's dislike of lengthy jams when the last song on this album - "Starship" - is really just a long, messy jam.

All that said, however, this album truly is a charge, raw energy and rebellious spirit at its finest.  Recorded live, it starts with what would become an iconic call to arms issued by Rob Tyner:

Brothers and sisters, the time has come for each and every one of you to decide
Whether you are gonna be the problem or whether you arew gonna be the solution
You must choose, brothers, you must choose
It takes five seconds, five seconds of decision
Five seconds to realize your purpose here on the planet
It takes five seconds to realize that it's time to move
It's time to get down with it
Brothers, it's time to testify and I want to know
Are you ready to testify?
Are you ready?  
I give you a testimonial...the MC5!

Crowd goes nuts.  Rock begins.  The 60's crash and burn.  Legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer is still alive, somehow; everyone else in the original lineup is dead.  This is a hell of a legacy to leave.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Without a doubt.

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