MC5

This article was produced by Capital & Main. It is co-published in partnership with Rolling Stone. In many ways, rock musician Wayne Kramer was a true radical. The former guitarist for the protopunk band the MC5 — who died Feb. 2 of cancer at age 75 — was known for the revolutionary fire in his music, but also for the activism for prison reform that defined his later years. That cause was informed by his own life-changing experience as a federal drug offender imprisoned in the mid-1970s. It led to his…

Wayne Kramer, who died Feb. 2 at the age of 75, lived a truly rock n’ roll life, from his gloriously unhinged guitar playing with influential proto-punk revolutionaries MC5 to a prison term, years of addiction, and a musical comeback in the Nineties.  In this 2018 interview, previously available only in audio form on our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, he looked back at all of it. (To hear the full episode, go here for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play below.)…

Wayne Kramer, the co-founder of the protopunk Detroit band the MC5 that thrashed out such hardcore anthems as “Kick Out the Jams” and influenced everyone from the Clash to Rage Against the Machine, has died. He was 75. Kramer died Friday at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, according to Jason Heath, a close friend and executive director of Kramer’s nonprofit Jail Guitar Doors. Heath said the cause of death was pancreatic cancer. From the late 1960s to early 1970s, no band was closer to the…

Wayne Kramer, the guitarist who co-created MC5 – one of the rawest, most influential and politically engaged bands in US history – has died aged 75. His Instagram page announced the news: “Wayne S Kramer. Peace be with you. April 30 1948 – February 2 2024.”Born and raised in Detroit, Kramer teamed with teenage friend and fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, each of them influenced as much by free jazz as they were by R&B and rock’n’roll. Along with the frontman Rob Tyner, they made MC5 into an incendiary force in…

Wayne Kramer, the influential guitarist of Michigan’s hard rock band MC5, has died. He was 75.Kramer died Friday, according to a joint announcement on his and MC5’s official Instagram pages. No cause of death was given. “PEACE BE WITH YOU” 🕊️,” the statement said, featuring a black and white portrait of the musician.Kramer — who spent his lifetime as a musician, activist, federal drug prisoner and a family man, led the notorious proto-punk band. MC5 released their debut album “Kick Out the Jams” in 1969, which was…

Wayne Kramer, founding member of the legendary Detroit proto-punk outfit MC5 and one of rock’s greatest guitarists, has died at the age of 75. The singer-songwriter-political activist’s death was announced Friday via his official social media accounts; no cause of death was provided. On Rolling Stone’s 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list — with Kramer sharing placement alongside Fred “Sonic” Smith — we wrote, “Forged in Detroit during the 1960s, the MC5 guitar tandem of Kramer and Smith worked together…