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"I have neither money, nor resources, nor hopes. I am the happiest man in the world. A year, six months ago, I thought I was an artist. Now I don't think it anymore, I am one. All that was literature has fallen away from me. There are no more books to write, thank God.
And what is this then? This is not a book. It's a pamphlet, slander, defamation. But it's not a book in the usual sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a spit in the face of Art, a kick to Divinity, to Man, to Destiny, to Time, to Love, to Beauty... to whatever you like. I will sing for you, perhaps a bit out of tune, but I will sing. I will sing while you die, I will dance on your filthy corpse...
To sing, you first have to open your mouth. You need a pair of lungs, and some knowledge of music. You don't need an accordion, or a guitar. What matters is wanting to sing.
And so this is song.
I sing"
Beautiful. More than that, fantastic, I would say. Some of you may have recognized these extraordinary words. It's the beginning of "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller.
The question I want to start with is: does a rock work exist that has the same violent and passionate potential as Miller's text? Is there a prolonged insult, a spit in the face of Love and Beauty made with rock music? Has anyone, playing rock, ever danced on our filthy corpses?
Each of you will have your own answer. Punk, heavy metal, grunge bands will be mentioned. They will all surely be respectable answers. I am curious, come forward.
My answer is yes, and for me, something like that was done by MC5 in 1969 with the album "Kick Out The Jam". Anyone who has listened to it even once will surely have been more than struck by how "ahead" these artists were. It's really hard to believe that this concert took place at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in 1969 and not ten years later.
Nevertheless, there’s nothing to be done. That incredible concert, with its explosive violence making the Sex Pistols or the Damned of 1977 seem dull, took place in distant 1969 and, besides projecting MC5 into the rock star firmament, constituted a formidable platform for the ideas of their manager, mentor, and inspirer, the leader of the revolutionary socialist and anti-racist movement of the White Panthers John Sinclair.
But it is not "Kick Out The Jam" that I want to talk about here. After all, it is a work that has received all its due recognition. The best critics have certainly not underestimated this work, and many claim it is the greatest live album in rock history. I privately share this opinion.
The story I want to tell here is about the next MC5 album, recorded in 1970 for the Atlantic label and titled "Back in the USA," and how the American System, so violently attacked by MC5’s debut album, managed to silence and definitively extinguish the voice of this revolutionary band.
The following is told in broad strokes, a story that reeks of compromise to get by. I respect you, and so I will warn you when it’s time to hold your nose.
So let's go back to that distant 1969, following the release of the album "Kick Out The Jam". That scream from singer Rob Tyner that started the concert:
"And right now... right now... right now it's time to... kick out the jams, motherfuckers!!!!!!"
was quite shocking, given the era. Thus, the public didn’t immediately grasp the potential of the work, which would be re-evaluated only several years later (no different from what happened to the New York Velvet Underground). However, the “spit in the face of Love and Beauty” had indeed launched, but not so much in front of the audience as at the country’s Powerful ones, politicians, financiers, generals, Freemasons, entrepreneurs, in short, those who hold the real power in every country in the world.
So, in a room on the 79th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper, shadows in dark suits sitting around a table began to ponder how to silence these dangerous artists.
It's hard not to believe that the events that followed weren’t premeditated and didn’t follow a precise strategy. Really hard.
First, they silenced John Sinclair. For the possession of a few grams of weed (precisely two joints) he got TEN years TEN in prison. The sentence was so absurd and unjust that it sparked general protest in America. Many rock stars, with John Lennon at the forefront, started a campaign to raise awareness about the injustice suffered by this intellectual. However, in the meantime, they threw him in jail.
Then they turned their attention to MC5, who were Sinclair’s megaphone. Their label, none other than the multinational Elektra, did something strange and suspicious: under the pretense of the drug arrest of the group’s manager, they terminated the contract with MC5. A decision absurd and all the more suspicious if one closely follows what happened subsequently.
Simultaneously with Elektra’s dismissal, another record multinational, Atlantic, came forward offering MC5 a contract under the same conditions as the previous one.
ALMOST the same conditions. Just a couple of additional clauses, nothing major: MC5 had to drop their old manager, who was in jail preparing an appeal against that absurd sentence, and accept for the future a producer chosen by the record company. The person in question was Jon Landau.
Jon Landau was an excellent professional (in subsequent years he would work extensively with Bruce Springsteen), but with ideas extremely different from Sinclair’s: preferably no protests, no spits in anyone's face, but from now on, healthy and clean rock'n'roll. That nice old-fashioned rock'n'roll, Chuck Berry, that kind of thing.
Jon Landau was reasoning like this: you want to protest? I don't agree, but if you really insist, do it quietly. Lower your voices, calm down, and clean up. Then, if you want to express yourselves against the Vietnam war or against the System’s hypocrisy, (I don’t agree, I repeat), well, go ahead, but gently, with generic and harmless words. And enough with those sulfurous and interminable solos. Enough with this ridiculous… what do you call it? Ah, psychedelia. From now on, pieces of 3 or 4 minutes and no more. And also enough with mentally ill people like Sun Ra or folks like that. Little Richard or Chuck Berry. Clean faces from now on.
What did MC5 do? Did they tell Atlantic, Landau, and company to go to hell? Did they form a small independent label to resume the fight? Did they join John Lennon for Sinclair’s release?
That would have been wonderful. But no. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way. And now, hold your nose.
They accepted Atlantic’s proposal. They dropped Sinclair while he was locked in jail and preparing the appeal to that absurd sentence. They signed with Atlantic and accepted Landau’s anti-revolutionary and reactionary ideas.
This explains why at the concert organized in 1971 by Lennon and company for Sinclair’s release, dozens of musicians and writers participated (just to name a few, Yoko Ono, David Peel, Stevie Wonder, Phil Ochs, Bob Seger, Archie Shepp, Roswell Rudd, poets Allen Ginsberg and Ed Sanders) but MC5 were not allowed to take the stage. If they had done so, they would have been booed off.
Here is the context in which "Back in the USA" was born. I won't say anything about this album because there is nothing to say except that it doesn’t seem to be the same band that played "Kick Out The Jam" the previous year and that it is a completely insignificant album. But what "protopunk"? This is mere light water!
I conclude with the epilogue of the story: in 1972 Sinclair won the appeal, obtaining a Supreme Court ruling that has become a landmark in American jurisprudence, recognizing his civil rights. He was released after little more than a year of incarceration and now lives in Amsterdam, where he continues to spit in the face of power through a radio show.
MC5 were heavily punished by their audience. "Back in the USA" was an utter flop and so was the next album, to the point that by 1972 the band had to disband due to bankruptcy.
In a room on the 79th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper, one shadow in a suit and tie said to another, "congratulations, good job. You will go far!".
What remains is "Kick Out The Jam". Fortunately, the System could not make all the vinyls of that masterpiece disappear.
MC5, who in 1969, but only that year, danced on our filthy corpses...
P.S.
The story of the ten years of jail given to an annoying poet for the possession of two joints, a story that scandalized all of America in 1971, is recounted by the web magazine “Ondarock” (by Francesco Nunziata) like this (hold your nose again):
"Irreducible and ultra-politicized, MC5 are a cancer from which America has never been able to free itself. After the album’s release, the band couldn’t enjoy its moment of glory, since Sinclair was arrested for a shady drug affair."
Then, as if not content, they even manage to qualify "Back in the USA" as "the definitive proto-punk album".
The definitive album! Not peanuts.
I doubt they deigned to listen to it. Kudos to "Ondarock". Truly excellent journalism!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Tonight (02:29)
First Verse
Sittin’ In The Classroom
Feel Your Heart Goin’ Boom
You Start To Get The Feelin’
And Your Head Begins To Reelin’
And Ya Can’t Hear What The Teachers Say
Because The News Is Going Down
About The Rock And Roll Dance In Town
And You Know I Just Gotta Hear That Band Play
Chorus
Tonight X 6, Oh Tonight
Second Verse
Well, Tuesday Got The Letter
The Army Thinks I Better
Get Myself Down There Right Away
It’s Not That I’m Lazy
I’m Just Too Crazy
To Be Goin’ Doin’ Things That Way
Because The Kids Will Be In Town
And The Jams Will Be Going Down
I Wanna Do Things The Natural Way
Repeat Chorus
Bridge
Every Day You Can Hear ‘em Say
Ya Gotta Get Down In The Usa……tonight
Ok Kids………….It’s Rockin’ Time
Guitar Solo
Repeat Bridge
Third Verse
Sun Starts Goin’ Down
I Call My Girl Up On The Phone
I Said I’ll Pick You Up At Eight
At Last We’ll Be Alone
I Hop In My Machine
You Know I Gotta Make The Scene
Dancin’ Through The Crowd
Say The People Goin’ Wild
When The Bands Really Rockin’
Theres Just No Stoppin’
My Girl Begins To Twirl
The Room Begins To Whirl
It’s Outta This World
It’s Outta This World
Repeat Chorus
Hey Now Everybody I Gotta Get Movin’
I Gotta Muscle Me Up Some Action
Well I’ll See You All Later
Well Bye Bye
03 Teenage Lust (02:36)
Back in Lincoln Park where I was mostly raised
Hanging around town where I got totally crazed
Surrounded by bitches who wouldn't give it in
Who thought that getting down was an unnatural sin
I'd whisper "Baby baby help me, you really must,
I need a healthy outlet
For my teenage lust"
So I moved into the city to improve my chances
I chased them at the bars and I grabbed them at the dances
They'd huggy snuggle kissy but they'd never go all the way
They'd cringe like in terror when they hear me say
"Baby baby help, you really really must
I need a healthy outlet
For my teenage lust!"
Yes I do now baby, my teenage won't make
Away much longer
I really need release
It means so much to me
How can a young Midwestern boy
Live in such misery?
Then one day I had the perfect plan
I shake my ass and scream "Get a rock'n'roll band!"
From now on there'll be no compromising
Rock'n'roll music is the best advertising
"Baby I can help, you know I got the guts
I'll be the healthy outlet
For your teenage lust!"
Come on darling come on baby
This teenage lust is driving me crazy
I gotta have it baby, I can't do without
When I got the feeling I got to work it out
I ain't got no time, for messing around
So come on bitch you've got to get down
Come on darling come on baby
This teenage lust is driving me crazy
05 Looking at You (03:03)
When it happened
something snapped inside
made me want to hide
all alone on my own
all alone on my own
I stood up on the stand
with my eyes shut tight
didn´t want to see anbody
feeling happy
having a good time, now hey
doing alright doing alright,
doing alright doing alright
Looked hard into the dancing crowd
felt like screaming out loud
I saw you standing in there
I saw your long
saw your long hair
opened up my eyes, baby
you made me
realize all I want to do
all I want to do now, girl
is look at you looking at you baby,
look at you, looking at you baby
yeah, yeah, hey
Looked hard into the dancing crowd
I felt like screaming out loud
all I wanna do all I wanna do
all I want to do
is look at you looking at you, baby
look at you, looking at you baby
looking at you looking
at you looking at you, baby
you baby you baby you baby, yeah
06 High School (02:42)
(Woh, come on)
The kids want a little action
The kids want a little fun
The kids all have to get their kicks
Before the evening's done
'Cause they're goin' to
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) sis, boom, bah
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better let them have their way
They only wanna shake it up, baby
Dance to the rockin' bands
They only want a little excitement
They like to get a little outta hand
'Cause they're goin' to
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) sis, boom, bah
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better let them have their way
/ INSTRUMENTAL /
The kids know what the deal is
They're getting farther out everyday
We're gonna be takin' over
You better get out of the way
'Cause we're goin' to
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) sis, boom, bah
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better get out of the way
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) sis, boom, bah
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better get out of the way
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) cha, cha, cha
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better get out of the way
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) cha, cha, cha
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better get out of the way
(High school) rah, rah, rah
(High school) sis, boom, bah
(High school) hey, hey, hey
You better get out of the way
07 Call Me Animal (02:06)
First Verse
I Take A Laser Beam And I Use It Like A Stone Axe Baby
I Take The Present, Past, And Future Mama, And Blast
It Out My Thorax -Hey, Hey, Hey…
Chorus
Call Me Animal, That's My Name
Call Me Animal, I'm Not Ashamed
Call Me Animal, This Is Your Hour
Call Me Animal, You've Got The Power
Second Verse
I Use The Juju Of My Ancestors
To Drive This Piece Of Meat
I Scream The Music Of The Pleistocene
Just Because It's Got A Good Beat, Hey, Hey
Chorus
Call Me Animal, That's My Name
Call Me Animal, I'm Not Ashamed
Call Me Animal, This Is Your Hour
Call Me Animal, You've Got The Power
Animal, Animal, Animal, Animal
Chorus
Call Me Animal, That's My Name
Call Me Animal. I'm Not Insane
Call Me Animal, This Is Your Hour
Call Me Animal, You Got The Power
Animal, Animal, Animal, Animal…..( Repeat To Fade )
08 The American Ruse (02:31)
They told you in school about freedom
But when you try to be free they never let ya
They said "it's easy , nothing to it"
And now the army's out to get ya
Sixty nine America in terminal stasis
The air's so thick it's like drowning in molasses
I'm sick and tired of paying these dues
And i'm finally getting hip to the American ruse
I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven't got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation
Sixty nine America in terminal stasis
The air's so thick it's like drowning in molasses
I'm sick and tired of paying these dues
And i'm sick to my guts of the American ruse
Phony stars, oh no! crummy cars, oh no!
Cheap guitars, oh no! Joe's primitive bar... nah!
Rock'em back, Sonic !
The way they pull you over it's suspicious
Yeah, for something that just ain't your fault
If you complain they're gonna get vicious
Kick in the teeth and charge you with assault
Yeah, but i can see the chickens coming home to roost
Young people everywhere are gonna cook their goose
Lots of kids are working to get rid of these blues
cause everybody's sick of the American ruse
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
09 Shakin' Street (02:21)
Little Orphan Annie and Sweet Sue too / They've been coming around / Gives 'em somethin' to do / Their mamas all warned 'em not to come to town / It got into their blood / Now they gonna get down / Shakin' street it's got that beat / shakin' street where all the kids meet / Shakin' street it's got that sound / Shakin' street say you gotta get down / Streetlight Sammy decided to make the trip / All the way from New Jersey / On his girlfriend's tip / He pulled into town and met Skinny Leg Pete / Said come here, boy I heard about the streets / I heard about the place where all the kids go / Now, I'm about to flip / I just gotta know about / Well the kids on shakin' street never give in / 'Cause all of their lives they've been livin' in sin / You know that they're bad / You know that they're mad / They take for the takin' / They shake for the shakin' / Shakin' Shakin' Shakin' / The folks keep complaining they find it so shockin' / All the kids wanna do is just keep on rockin' / They ain't got no time to think about stoppin' / They gotta get down and do a little stompin' / Now Sally Baker wants to shake her shaker / And Bobby C. says he's gonna take her to / Shakin' street . . .
10 The Human Being Lawnmower (02:24)
CAN YOU HEAR ME?
HOPE YOU CAN
LISTEN HERE CLOSELY YOU'LL UNDERSTAND
THERE'S AN ANCIENT RACE OF KILLER APES
THEY USED A THIGH BONE
MILLIMETER BY MILLIMETER
MILLIMETER BY MILLIMETER
SIX TIMES HOT AS THE SUN
DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYONE
DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYONE
SORRY, SORRY . . . YEAH
THEY'LL TRY AND FORCE YOU TO HELP THEM
DO WHAT THEY DO WHAT THEY DO
SO THEY'LL HUNT AND THEY'LL HOUND YOU
CHASE AND SURROUND YOU
TILL YOUR STANDING BEFORE
THE HUMAN BEING LAWNMOWER
CHOP, CHOP, CHOPââ
11 Back in the USA (02:26)
Well, oh well, I feel so good today
We just touched ground on an international runway
Jet propelled back home from overseas to the USA
New York, Los Angeles, oh how I yearned for you
Detroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge
Let alone just to be back in Chuck Berry's old Saint Lou (Let me hear it once more!)
/ INSTRUMENTAL /
Did I miss the skyscrapers, did I miss the long freeway
From the coast of California to the shores of the Delaware Bay ?
Well, you can bet your life I did 'til I got back in the USA
(Come on, boy!)
/ INSTRUMENTAL /
Lookin' hard for a drive-in, searchin' for a corner cafe
Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill, night and day
Yes, and a jukebox jumpin' with 'Welcome back in the USA'
I'm so glad I'm livin' in the USA
I'm so glad I'm livin' in the USA
Anything you want, they got it right here in the USA
I'm so glad I'm livin' in the USA
I'm so glad I'm livin' in the USA
Anything you want, they got it right here in the USA
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Other reviews
By andre86
The album is much more 'mellow' than their debut, mixing blues rock, garage rock, rock, and proto-punk.
American Ruse lashes out against the hypocritical idea of freedom taught in the United States.
