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Wayne Kramer, Co-Founder of Revolutionary Rock Band the MC5, Dead at 75

The MC5 were known for their raw, uncompromising music, which they envisioned as the soundtrack for the uprising to come.

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 at age 75. From the late 1960s to early 1970s, no band was closer to the revolutionary spirit of the time than the MC5, which featured Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith on guitars, Rob Tyner on vocals, Michael Davis on bass and Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson on drums. Jail Guitar Doors, which provides inmates with musical instruments, is named for a Clash song that refers to his struggles: “Let me tell you ’bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine.”

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