- Kick Out the Jams · 1969
- The Big Bang! Best of the MC5 · 1969
- Back In the USA · 1970
- Anthology 1965-1971 · 1969
- Back In the USA · 1970
- Kick Out the Jams · 1969
- High Time · 1971
- Kick Out the Jams · 1969
- The Big Bang! Best of the MC5 · 2000
- Kick Out the Jams · 1969
- Back In the USA · 1970
- Back In the USA · 1970
- Kick Out the Jams · 1969
Essential Albums
- Few burned as bright as Detroit proto-punk legends MC5. Kick Out the Jams was intended as merely a document of the band’s live show, but it stands as a flashpoint for punk, garage, and the visceral power of politically charged rock. Witness the wild dueling guitar solos of Wayne Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith on “Rocket Reducer No. 62,” and frontman Rob Tyner’s infamously foul-mouthed introduction to the title track. In capturing a moment, this album defines a movement.
Albums
- 1971
- 1970
- 1969
Artist Playlists
- These Motor City rockers paved the way for high-energy, politically charged music.
- The psych punks worshipped British rockers, R&B, and free jazz.
- Blues, free jazz, and '50s rock lurk inside their proto-punk.
- The '60s proto-punks blazed a trail for rock to rage against the machine.
Singles & EPs
Live Albums
Compilations
- 2008
- 2008
About MC5
Alongside their Detroit-area brethren the Stooges, MC5 essentially laid the foundations for the emergence of punk; deafeningly loud and uncompromisingly intense, their revolutionary sloganeering and anti-establishment outrage crystallizing the counterculture movement at its most volatile and threatening. The band barreled furiously through a brief initial run before disintegrating by the early '70s, leaving behind a legacy of controversy and three electrifying albums that would set the course for punk, hard rock, and all stripes of heavy music that followed. As classic MC5 material like 1969's bombastic live set Kick Out the Jams was discovered by new generations of listeners and artists alike, various reunion tours and re-formations ensued. In 2022, a new version of the band was preparing both a tour and a new recording, which would be the first album of all-new studio material from the MC5 in over 50 years.
- ORIGIN
- Lincoln Park, MI, United States
- FORMED
- 1964
- GENRE
- Rock