The 500 - #446 - MC5 - Back in the USA

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

My plan (amended). 

• One record per week (ish) and at least two complete listens.
• A blog post for each, highlighting the important details and, when possible, a background story that relates to the record.
• No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation of diverse forms of music.
• Listen to Josh and his guest on The 500 podcast to gather additional information and insights.

Album # 446

Album Title: Back in the USA
Artist: MC5
Released: January, 1970
My age at release: 4
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Shakin' Street (selected by my friend Claudio)
Great Lyric:
"Sixty-nine America in terminal stasis
The air's so thick it's like drowning in molasses
I'm sick and tired of paying these dues
And I'm finally getting hip to the American ruse." 
(The American Ruse)

Around 1981, a school pal Pat Keep and I bonded around our mutual interest of fantasy literature, Dungeons & Dragons and the progressive-rock band Yes. Over the next few months we shared records and cassettes in an attempt to influence each other's tastes. 
Pat took to the sound of the hard-rock band Blue Ӧyster Cult (abbreviated to BӦC). Yes, they rocked the Metal Umlaut (Ӧ) in their name. It was a decorative diacrtic employed by several heavy metal and punk rock bands in the 70s/80s. I've mentioned my humourous relationship with the Metal Umlaut in a previous post about album #488 by Husker Dü.

One weekend, Pat loaned me Blue Ӧyster Cult's 1978 live release Some Enchanted Evening. It was a seven track record which featured five of BӦC's hits and covers of We Gotta Get Out of this Place by The Animals and Kick out the Jams by MC5. This would be my introduction to the high energy sound of MC5 (short for Motor City Five - a nod to their Detroit roots) and I became a fan, albeit a casual one. 

Kick out the Jams appears on the first record by MC5, which we will encounter when I get to Album #294 on the Rolling Stone's list -- in about fours years. I was unfamiliar with Back in the USA but loved it from the opening track, a boisterous, uptempo version of Little Richard's Tutti Frutti.  

There was a time when I pigeonholed this band as a straight-ahead garage band/proto-punk act. Infact, they embraced left-leaning, sometimes radical, politics from the late 60s. This is evident on the tracks The American Ruse in which the band "attacks the hypocritical idea of freedom espoused by the U.S. government" and The Human Being Lawnmower, a not-so-subtle commentary on America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 1975, addiction issues resulted in the arrest of guitarist/singer Wayne Kramer who was caught selling cocaine to undercover federal agents. He served two years in a prison in Lexington, KY where he met Jazz trumpeter Red Rodney (of Charlie Parker fame). The two began to perform each Sunday in chapel. Eventually, their musical collaboration contributed significantly to Kramer's recovery. 

In 1978, The Clash released the song Jail Guitar Doors, rooted in Kramer's incarceration. Thirty years later, to honour the life of Clash founder Joe Strummer, musician Billy Bragg began an program to provide musical equipment to help rehabilitate inmates in the U.K. The project was named for the aforementioned song and, in 2009, Wayne Kramer helped found Jail Guitar Doors: USA - completing an interesting musical circle. 

Addendum
I learned about Jail Guitar Doors: USA about seven years ago while listening to Kramer share his story on Episode 186 of Jay Mohr's podcast Mohrstories. If you would like to learn more about MC5, Kramer, or this project, give it a listen.

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