158. The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams (February 1969)

1. Ramblin' Rose

2. Kick Out the Jams*

3. Come Together*

4. Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa)

5. Borderline

6. Motor City Is Burning*

7. I Want You Right Now

8. Starship

***

I'm really of two minds with this album. On the one hand, this is the birth really of overdriven riff rock of the sort that would lead to punk music in a few years. You can see it as a point of origin for everything from stoned out noise jams to the Saints' debut. Unfortunately, on the other hand the lyrics are moronic and the songs all kind of sound the same. And don't give me that crap about the mystique of the band, and how they were violent revolutionaries or what have you. Violent revolutionaries can eat my shorts. This is a stupid, stupid album of stupid, stupid music, made by a bunch of drug addicts who seemed to think that the best solution to the world's myriad problems was to burn everything down and start again.

Musically, though, this album is pretty great. There's a bigness to the sound that more than compensates for bullshit like stealing the riff from "I Can See for Miles" for "Come Together". There are also moments of technical virtuosity which show that the band were playing dumb more as a stylistic choice than because of technical limitations. And if you want a big, dangerous album of overblown garage rock nonsense then this is definitely the album for you. Personally, I don't think the MC5 do anything here that wasn't done much better later on. Yes, they were first, but they seem kind of quaint in retrospect. And frankly, their politics are a bunch of confused, hedonistic bullshit. If you want the same experience, only done really well, I suggest checking out Raw Power by the Stooges or the Saints' debut. 

I could probably write a bunch about the socio-political stance of the band or their impact on future musicians but honestly I will just say this - they opened the door for a lot of great shit, but they themselves were a bunch of pretentious idiots. "I Want You Right Now" features grotesque sucking noises that are less sexy than troubling. And "Starship" is eight minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Also make sure if you're listening on Spotify to choose the Japanese release of the album - the other version doesn't have the rude bits included.