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Wayne Kramer, co-founder of rock band MC5, dies aged 75

Guitarist helped to give Detroit band their powerful, politically charged sound, and continued their legacy into the 21st century

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 R&B and rock’n’roll. Buoyed by an astonishingly heavy guitar sound from Kramer and Smith, the words “kick out the jams” – hollered by Tyner on the album’s title track – they became synonymous with resistance, and pointed the way towards the punk rock of the 1970s. Tyner and Smith died in the early-mid 1990s, but in 2001 Kramer formed a supergroup to perform MC5 music, including the Cult’s Ian Astbury and Motorhead’s Lemmy.

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