MC5: Dope, Guns, and F***ing in the Streets
DISGRACELAND
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 13.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2023
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
MC5 embodied revolution in a way most bands only pay lip service to. The Detroit cops sent riot squads and even a tank to break up their shows, and even raided their house. They were the only band to play at the infamous protest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Their radical manager, John Sinclair, wrote manifestos allying with the Black Panthers and declaring rock ‘n’ roll THE vehicle for revolution. But by the 1970s, all that idealism curdled into the classic story of broken record deals, drugs, crime, and jail, with redemption only possible through personal, not political, revolution.
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This episode was originally published on April 11, 2023.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. |
| 0:11.2 | The stories about the MC5 are insane. |
| 0:16.0 | Their music soundtrack, the violence of multiple 1960s riots. |
| 0:23.4 | They were the only band to perform at the infamous protest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Their home was raided by |
| 0:30.0 | cops, government officials clocked their subversive career moves, and a U.S. Army tank was |
| 0:35.2 | once deployed to intimidate the group and bring them into custody. |
| 0:39.5 | Their manager, John Sinclair, aligned the band with the Black Panthers |
| 0:43.5 | and openly subscribed to a revolutionary ethos of rock and roll, dope, and fucking in the streets. |
| 0:51.1 | The MC5's politics scared the shit out of mainstream white America, as did their music. |
| 0:58.6 | Great music. Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music. |
| 1:05.3 | That was a preset loop from my Melotron called Croc Rock MK1. |
| 1:11.7 | I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Hey Jude by the Beatles. |
| 1:17.2 | And why would I play you that specific slice of take a sad song and make it better, |
| 1:22.8 | cheese could I afford it? |
| 1:25.1 | Because that was the number one song in America on October 30th, 1968. |
| 1:31.6 | And that was the day the MC5 began recording their live debut album, |
| 1:37.1 | forever changing the meaning of the word revolution within the context of rock and roll. |
| 1:42.8 | On this episode, riots, revolution, rock and roll. On this episode, |
| 1:44.8 | riots, revolution, |
| 1:46.7 | rock and roll, dope, |
| 1:48.5 | fucking in the streets, |
| 1:50.0 | and the MC5. |
... |
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