WAYNE KRAMER,
1948-2024

Wayne Kramer, influential co-founder of proto-punk Detroit band The MC5, died 2/2 at the age of 75, per a post on his Instagram page. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

The rise (and fall) of the legendary Motor City rock act—"MC5" stood for Motor City Five—came at a time when people still believed music could bring about revolutionary change, and Kramer's feedback-powered guitar was at the center of that countercultural moment, particularly on such classics as 1969's "Kick Out the Jams."

The MC5 was still just a local band with a regular gig at the Grande Ballroom when it came to the attention of Detroit radical John Sinclair, of White Panther party fame, who became the act's manager in 1967 and pushed it to address the political and cultural tumult of the era head-on.

Elektra A&R rep Danny Fields signed the band after watching it play at Vietnam War protests during the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention, sending them back to the Grande that October to record the incendiary Kick Out the Jams. "The music comes from the people and it has to constantly be in touch with the people, on all levels," Kramer told CREEM at the time.

Due to vocalist Rob Tyner's use of the word "motherfucker" on the title cut, however, the LP was quickly beset by controversy, which led to Elektra dropping the band.

The MC5 thereafter recorded two poorly selling LPs before disbanding in 1972. Kramer spent 1975–79 behind bars, having sold drugs to undercover federal agents. The experience later inspired him to create a U.S. version of the Billy Bragg-founded U.K. nonprofit Jail Guitar Doors. Named after a 1977 Clash song referencing Kramer's incarceration, the organization provides "musical instruments and mentorship to help rehabilitate individuals experiencing incarceration through the transformative power of music."

After his release, Kramer spent the next 40-plus years keeping that early punk spirit alive through a series of bands, recordings and charitable initiatives. His post-MC5 solo work included several well-regarded '90s albums for Epitaph, including The Hard Stuff and Citizen Wayne, and film and TV score work for Will Ferrell's Step Brothers and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and HBO's Eastbound & Down.

With help from rockers like Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Soundgarden's Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil, Kramer toured under the MC5 name on and off from the early 2000s, helping cement the band's influence and introducing its music to new generations of activists-in-the-making. After six times on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot, The MC5 were finally nominated for enshrinement in 2022 but did not make the final cut.

"I've spent the past 50 years of my life playing the music of The MC5," Kramer wrote in 2018. "When I started, I didn't even have a driver's license. But what I did have was an electric guitar and friends who saw the world the same way I did. We would meet in the basement of my house in Detroit to play. We created this music together."

Morello, who serves on Jail Guitar Doors USA's board of directors, wrote on X, "Wayne embodied a combination of wisdom and compassion that was beyond inspiring." Said Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash thereon, "My life was forever changed for the better when I met this man [and] I'm going to miss him immeasurably. The embodiment of all things rock 'n' roll and a really fucking great human being."

Kramer was preceded in death by MC5 bandmates Tyner in 1991, guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith in 1994 and bassist Michael Davis in 2012.