CREEM ONLINE: MC5 — Sell Out The Jams?

On March 13, the surviving members of the MC5 played what was billed as a one-off reunion at London’s legendary 100 Club. (wanna read more about the show?) That storied venue, which played a huge role in punk rock history, was the setting for the return to the stage by guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson. The event featured ex-Cult and current Doors singer Ian Astbury, Dave Vanian from the Damned, Motorhead’s Lemmy and Nicke Royale from the Hellacopters (among other special guests).

But nothing is ever easy with the MC5. The show was billed as "Levi’s Vintage Clothing Celebrates Sonic Revolution with the MC5: New Energy Rising." That commercial tie-in made some fans and pundits jeer the show as a colossal sell-out.

Almost as soon as the last note was played, negative reaction erupted in places like the Starpolish.com message board, the MC5 newsgroup on Yahoo! and even Kramer’s own message board.

"We always catch shit," said Thompson. "The entity of the MC5, as the mythic legendary revolutionary band, is always embroiled in controversy."

The online posts angered Davis.

"I didn’t have any time to deal with it (right away), because I had to go to work. But the whole day, I was just fuming. I was furious. How dare they fucking talk like that? I just had the experience of my life, and here’s these guys talking about me like I’m some fucking Judas Iscariot guy, like I’m some fucking Detroiter of the revolution. Give me a fucking break," Davis said.

It wasn’t only on Internet chat rooms that the show was trashed. The Detroit Free Press in a headline referred to the show as "snooty."

"That pissed me off. There was nothing snooty about the damn thing," said Thompson. "It was amazing that we pulled it off at all. It was tough to get us all together, it was tough to get through all the animosity, it was tough to get through the distance between here and London just to get us over there to do the thing. And then to call it snooty? Fuck you."

The negative reaction is hardly a surprise to Kramer. Back in December, he spoke with CREEM’s Michigan Desk about the partnership with the clothing manufacturer, and even then, he anticipated the brickbats from people with a more radical notion of what the band was all about.

"The easy answer is, I’ve been trying to sell out for years. Nobody’s been buying," Kramer said. "It’s a gross oversimplification to attach a standard to artists and musicians that are in fact unrealistic and unworkable and undoable. If an artist chooses to identify himself with a product, that’s his call. If he chooses not to, that’s his call."

Kramer said those criticisms are like imagining that the MC5 were a revolutionary force living in the mountains and coming down to strike at the heart of fascism, only to retreat back into the hills.

"That’s not really what we’re doing here. That never was the revolution that we’re talking about. It’s a revolution of mind, it’s a revolution of concept," Kramer said.

In fact, Kramer said, many of those same questions plagued the band 35 years ago.

"It’s fascinating that this whole subject comes up again," he said. "I was having this conversation 30 years ago, when the MC5 wasn’t revolutionary enough for the revolution."

And there’s a realistic side to it all, too, considering the fact that being in the MC5 has left none of the members wealthy by a long shot. Kramer has long dismissed the blanket anti-sponsorship message of folks like Neil Young as unrealistic and disingenuous. He has accepted sponsorship from Apple Computers and Fender Guitars in the past.

"If you don’t need the money, then you don’t have to do it. If you need the money, it’s a realistic way for an artist to finance a career, and existence in the world. The money has to come from somewhere," he said.

And where better to get that money than from a company with the good taste to want to hitch itself to the MC5 legacy?

"Levi’s has been creative enough and smart enough to come to the MC5 and want to associate itself with the MC5. This is perfect for us, because this is what the MC5 has always been about, using the system to carry this message," Kramer said.

It’s not as though the band’s name is being used to promote a product Kramer doesn’t endorse.

"I buy Levi’s, I wear Levi’s, I like Levi’s. We’re happy to be talking to them," Kramer said.

Plus, Thompson said, the pay wasn’t bad.

"We each got a couple shirts and a couple pairs of pants. At least we didn’t get paid in brown rice this time," said Thompson, chuckling. "We’re moving up."