Ramblin' Rose: The Music of Wayne Kramer and His Influence & Show # 1025

Wayne Kramer was co-founder and guitarist in The MC5. Formed in 1963 in Lincoln Park, Michigan, with the MC5 Kramer’s explosive guitar playing was part of a dual guitar attack with Fred “Sonic” Smith, musically one of the early proto punk bands, MC5 pulled influences from early Motown, R&B with early rock and roll sounds of artists such as Chuck Berry and also had an interest in free jazz. Alongside the high-energy performances they were also politically charged lyrically, speaking to the counterculture and underground music scenes at the time. Releasing three albums, their first album was the live album Kick Out The Jams, which was recorded over two nights in October (30th & 31st) of 1968 at the legendary Grande Ballroom in Detroit. It also featured the title classic and highly influential title track "Kick Out the Jams." Their first album was decided to be a live album due to the band’s lack of studio experience at the time. All of their efforts were put into performing live at the time, so the idea to capture the band’s live energy on record made the most sense. Kick Out the Jams, featured songs such as “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Rocket Reducer No. 62,” “The Motor City is Burning,” among others such as MC5’s take on Sun Ra’s “Starship,” which ends the album in a mixture of free jazz, rock and roll and chaos. The album was also surrounded in controversy, due to the use of the words “Kick out the jams motherfucker!” which was uttered by vocalist Rob Tyner on the recording. The linear notes by manager John Sinclair also featured profanity, which nowadays probably wouldn’t bother anyone, but back in 1969 it caused a Detroit department store to stop selling any Elektra album. They were dropped from the label shortly after.

The MC5 bounced back quickly, recording Back in the USA with future Bruce Springsteen producer Jon Landau at GM Studios in Detroit on Atlantic Records. Released in 1970, many felt Back in the USA failed to capture MC5 properly in the studio at the time, but lyrically and musically it is quite a strong album. With songs such as “Tonight,” “Call Me Animal,” “The American Ruse,” “Human Being Lawnmower,” the albums lyrics built upon the five’s political and social themes. Musically, the lean garage sounding tracks pre-dated punk and power pop musical movements that would happen within the next decade. One more album would follow in 1971, High Time before the band’s split. Produced by The MC5 and Atlantic Records engineer Geoffrey Haslam, High Time is definitely the best studio-sounding recording to be released by The MC5. Although lyrically it pulls back on the political themes a bit, musically the band is unstoppable on this record, with a strong rhythm section and dual guitar attack switching focus from track to track, this was also the first album of theirs to feature individual song writing credits. Featuring now classics such as “Sister Anne,” “Miss X, “ “Future/Now,” ”Over and Over,” and “(Skunk) Sonically Speaking,” MC5 cut loose showing the dynamics and versatility of their sound in addition to their evolution as musicians at that point in time, while never losing what made them so great in the first place. But, due to a variety of factors, such as poor album sales, heavy drug use, internal tensions and being bankrupt, the band split in 1972.

Following his time with The MC5, Kramer continued with music, however, in 1975 he was busted for dealing drugs and spent four years in prison. But, something was happening in the underground, the music of bands such as The MC5 and The Stooges were informing underground bands in the UK and all over. Kramer joined the funk rock group Was (Not Was) in 1979 and played in the New York underground music scenes throughout the 80s. He formed Gang War with guitarist Johnny Thunders also in 79. The band did not last long though, they did record some demos in the same year, as well as playing live shows for about a year, but they fizzled out shortly after that. In the 90s he began releasing solo music, signing to Epitaph Records. Despite putting out several albums and singles (including his excellent version of “The Harder They Come”), Kramer’s breakthrough solo effort came with 1995’s The Hard Stuff on Epitaph Records. Several followed, Kramer also worked as a producer and worked with other bands as well as doing some soundtrack work.

Wayne Kramer seemed to always be working on something. He even released a free jazz album titled Lexington with the Lexington Arts Ensemble. The music was put together for a PBS documentary The Narcotics Farm, about the Federal Narcotics Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. This free jazz album was inspired in part also by Kramer’s time in prison where he played in a prison band called Street Sounds with jazz trumpeter Red Rodney. Rodney is a jazz legend who played with the Charlie Parker Quintet, the two studied music together while incarcerated with Rodney giving Kramer music lessons. Also when the Lexington album was released in 2014, it charted at #6 on the Billboard Top Jazz Charts. The MC5 reformed in different incarnations several times (in 2001 and again in 2018).

In 2009, Kramer, along with his wife Margaret Saddi Kramer and British musician Billy Bragg, started Jail Guitar Doors, an organization that brought instruments to prison inmates in hopes of rehabilitating inmates through the transformative power of music. The non-profit organization was named after a song of the same name by The Clash, which references Kramer’s incarceration. Kramer published his memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities in 2018 and was set to release a new MC5 album, featuring surviving MC5 member Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, alongside several other musicians prior to his passing in February 2024. Kramer and his music influenced generations of musicians and helped to lay the groundwork for what would become known as punk rock.

Ramblin' Rose Playlist (Originally Aired On February 10th, 2024):

1.  The MC5 - Ramblin’ Rose (Kick Out the Jams - Elektra - 1969)
2.  The MC5 - Human Being Lawnmower (Back in the USA - Atlantic - 1970)
3.  The MC5 - Miss X (High Time - 1971 - Atlantic)
4.  The MC5 - I Can Only Give You Everything (The Big Bang!: Best of The MC5 - Rhino Records - 2000)
5.  Wayne Kramer & The Pink Fairies - If You’re Going to the City (Cocaine Blues - Total Energy - 2000)
6.  Gang War - Crime of the Century (Demo) (Crime of the Century - Sonic Records - 1996)
7.  Gang War - Hey Thanks (Live) (Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer's Gang War! - Jungle Records/Skydog Records - 2020)
8.  The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams (Single Version) (Kick Out the Jams - Single - - Elektra - 1969)
9.  The MC5 - Tonight (Babes in Arms - ROIR - 1983)
10. The MC5 - Poison (High Time - 1971 - Atlantic)
11. The MC5 - Look What You’ve Done Done ('66 Breakout - Total Energy - 1999)

12. The MC5 - The Motor City is Burning (Thunder Express - Skydog International - 1992)
13. Wayne Kramer - Get Some (Ramblin' Rose - Single - - Stiffwick - 1978)
14. Wayne Kramer - The Harder They Come (The Harder They Come - Radar Records - 1979)
15. Wayne Kramer - Street Warfare (Negative Girls - Single - Pure and Easy Records - 1983)
16. Wayne Kramer - Junkie Romance (The Hard Stuff - Epitaph Records - 1995)
17. The MC5 - I Just Don’t Know (The Big Bang!: Best of The MC5 - Rhino Records - 2000)
18. The MC5 - Looking At You (Back in the USA - Atlantic - 1970)
19. The MC5 - Thunder Express (The Big Bang!: Best of The MC5 - Rhino Records - 2000)
20. The MC5 - Gold (Babes in Arms - ROIR - 1983)
21. The MC5 - Starship (Kick Out the Jams - Elektra - 1969)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the February 10 file to download/stream the episode.

Coming Up on Revolution Rock in February 2024 & Shows # 1023, 1022, 1021

It’s February and that means theme month has arrived for Revolution Rock. Every episode that airs in February will be devoted to a specific theme. Dave and Adam have some cool programming lined up ranging from our annual Black History Month program to our Revolution Surf episode. Revolution Rock can be streamed and downloaded from cjam.ca (and also after it airs on this website). Revolution Rock became a syndicated program back in 2020 and can now be heard on several different campus/community radio stations across Canada in addition to CJAM FM.

King of Soul: The Music of Sam Cooke and other Soul and R&B Selections
February 3rd, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Who was the real Sam Cooke? It is one of the many mysteries left after the artist’s premature death in 1964. Like any person, he was many things, so many that these facets often appear to be in contradiction. He was a schmaltzy crooner and a throat-rending RnB showman, a gospel-singing spiritualist and a licentious lothario, a shrewd businessperson and an influential Civil Rights activist. Sixty years after his murder, the pieces of this puzzle remain. Will we ever know who exactly this golden-voiced “King of Soul” was?

Live at the Harlem Square Club was originally recorded in 1963, the Sam Cooke of Live at the Harlem Square Club is not the pop balladeer of “You Send Me” and “Wonderful World,” nor is it the contemplative singer from Night Beat (released in 1963). This Sam Cooke is energy incarnate, hard-hitting and raw. Standards like “Cupid” and “Having a Party” receive new life, as Cooke howls through his back catalog. Fiery passion and intensity replaces the slickness of the studio recordings. Perhaps this performance was too intense, as executives at Cooke’s label decided releasing the boisterous performance would jeopardize their star’s pop persona. The label canned this release in favour of the schmaltzy Sam Cooke Live at the Copa, but thankfully, the record saw a proper release in 1985 and has since been rightfully recognized as one of the greatest live rock/pop recordings ever released.

On this episode we will be celebrating Black History Month by featuring a selection from Cooke’s discography, including several tracks from the Live at the Harlem Square Club in addition to music from other R&B and soul artists.

Ramblin' Rose: The Music of Wayne Kramer and His Influence
February 10th, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Wayne Kramer was co-founder and guitarist in The MC5. Formed in 1963 in Lincoln Park, Michigan, with the MC5 Kramer’s explosive guitar playing was part of a dual guitar attack with Fred “Sonic” Smith, musically one of the early proto punk bands, MC5 pulled influences from early Motown, R&B with early rock and roll sounds of artists such as Chuck Berry and also had an interest in free jazz. Alongside the high-energy performances they were also politically charged lyrically, speaking to the counterculture and underground music scenes at the time. Releasing three albums, their first album was the live album Kick Out The Jams, which was recorded over two nights at the legendary Grande Ballroom in Detroit. It also featured the title classic and highly influential title track. After two more albums (Back in the USA and High Time), the band split in 1972.

Following his time with MC5, Kramer continued with music, however, in 1975 he was busted for dealing drugs and spent four years in prison. But, something was happening in the underground, the music of bands such as The MC5 and The Stooges were informing underground bands in the UK and all over. Following his time in jail he started Jail Guitar Doors, an organization that brought instruments to prison inmates in hopes of rehabilitating inmates through the transformative power of music. The non-profit organization was named after a song of the same name by The Clash, which references Kramer’s incarceration. In the 90s he began releasing solo music, signing to Epitaph Records. The MC5 reformed in different incarnations several times (in 2001 and again in 2018). Kramer published his memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities in 2018 and was set to release a new MC5 album, featuring surviving MC5 member Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, alongside several other musicians. Kramer and his music influenced generations of musicians and helped to lay the groundwork for what would become known as punk rock.

On this episode, Revolution Rock will devote an entire episode to the music of Wayne Kramer and his influence.

Systems Edge: A Dion Lunadon Radio Special
February 17th, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

High-energy rock and roll music is something that has been present in everything that Dion Lunadon has been involved with. Starting out in New Zealand and performing with bands such as The Snitches, Nothing At All, The Rainy Days, he would form The D4 with fellow vocalist/guitarist Jimmy Christmas in the late 90s, along with drummer Rich Mixture and bassist English Jake. The band began to strike a chord as the early 2000s garage rock revival began to take off alongside bands such as The Hives, The Strokes and The White Stripes. The D4’s first release was the album 6Twenty. Released in 2001 and named after a guitar amplifier, the album featured six singles several of which charted in the UK. After touring the US and different parts of the world (in addition to being featured on US late night TV shows such as David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel) and two full-length albums, The D4 called it quits in 2006. Dion would go on to perform briefly with a new band after relocating to the US called The True Lovers in 2010 pulling in more soul and blues influences, following that he joined as bassist in the noise rock band A Place To Bury Strangers. In 2017, Dion released his first self-titled solo album, featuring intense and uncompromising rock and roll sounds. Leaving APTBS around 2020, Dion switched focus to his solo work releasing Beyond Everything in 2022 on In The Red Records and touring with a new live band. A third full-length followed also on In The Red in late 2023/2024 called Systems Edge.

On this episode we will dig deep into Dion Lunadon’s discography, playing selections from his solo work, The D4, Nothing At All and other bands he has been involved with in addition to an interview with Dion Lunadon. 

Revolution Surf 2024
February 24th, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Every February, Revolution Rock does theme month based episodes, but it all began with an annual surf rock episode in the early halcyon days of the program. The tradition continues this year at the end of February. The influence of surf music is everywhere. You can find it in movies, TV shows and it pops up in other genres as well. The crack of the reverb and twang is hard to miss, but there have also been several bands that you might not expect to have done surf songs. For example, Johnny Thunders covered The Chantays classic “Pipeline” on So Alone in 1978 (it was also a staple of his live set), The Replacements did “Buck Hill” on 1983’s Hootenanny, even members of Devo formed a band called The Wipeouters and released their own unique take on the surf genre titled P’ Twaaangg!!! in 2001.

On this episode of Revolution Surf, we will feature several surf songs by bands you might not expect to have done a surf song, in addition to a selection of new and old international surf bands. This program will also feature friend of the show and graphic designer/illustrator extrrodinaire Greg Maxwell (also known as The Ugly Vision).

Check out the most recent episodes/playlists of Revolution Rock below:

Show 1023 (Originally Aired January 27th, 2024)(Positive People, Brian Eno, Big Star, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, The Verlaines, Devo):

1.  Window Lamp - Screen Zombie 
2.  Private Lives - Get Loose 
3.  Positive People - Siren 
4.  Positive People - Another Self 
5.  Merin - A Place That Time Forgot 
6.  Packs - AmyW 
7.  Corridor - Mourir Demain
8.  Paul Jacobs - Expensive 
9.  Outta Controller - Gimme Nothin’ 
10. Hot Garbage - Mystery
11. Brian Eno - Baby’s On Fire 
12. Brian Eno - Blank Frank
13. Big Star - Mod Lang
14. Big Star - September Gurls
15. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Demo)
16. Bob Dylan - The Ballad of Hollis Brown 
17. Muddy Waters - My Home is in the Delta 
18. Muddy Waters - You Can’t Lose What You Never Had 
19. Weed - Puncture 
20. Cameronoise - Hillbilly Heroin 
21. The Sweet Kill - Forbidden 
22. Devo - Ton O’ Luv 
23. Victor Dimisch Band - It’s Cold Outside
24. The Verlaines - New Kind of Hero 
25. The Terminals - Batwing 
26. The Expendables - Head for the Hills

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 27 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1022 (Originally Aired On January 20th, 2024)(Shangri-Las, Packs, Ty Segall, Ducks Ltd.):

1.  The Shangri-Las - Dressed in Black
2.  The Shangri-Las - Dum Dum Ditty
3.  Packs - Missy
4.  Packs - HFCS
5.  Dana Gavanski - How to Feel Uncomfortable
6.  Sleater-Kinney - Untidy Creature
7.  Shadow Show - Aunt Maizy
8.  It’s All Meat - Feel It
9.  Ducks Ltd. - Train Full of Gasoline
10. Ty Segall - Egg Man
11. Sprints Shaking - Their Hands
12. Sprints - Adore Adore Adore
13. Spectres - AM Gold
14. Pissed Jeans - Moving On
15. Look Blue Go Purple - Safety in Crossword
16. The Great Unwashed - Born in the Wrong Time
17. The Axemen - Rocks in My Heart
18. The Fall - Room to Live
19. The Exploding Budgies - Hank Marvin
20. Fever Feel - Running Through An Open Door
21. Breeze - Disposable
22. Folly Group - Strange Neighbour
23. The Bug Club - Four Sisters
24. Rick White - Big Mess
25. Rick White - My Cage
26. Klark Kent - Thrills (Demo)
27. Women - Untogether

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 20 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1021 (Originally Aired On January 13th, 2024) (Shadow Show, Dog Day, Joni Mitchell, Two Dollar Bill, Gram Parsons):

1.  Shadow Show - Mystic Spiral
2.  Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Field of Ruins
3.  Dog Day - Suffer Surfer
4.  Dog Day - Wasn’t It Nice
5.  Angel Face - You’re No Angel
6.  Imploders - What Do You Want?
7.  Psychic Void - Something Sweet
8.  Neil Young & the Santa Monica Flyers ft. Joni Mitchell - Raised On Robbery
9.  Joni Mitchell - People’s Parties
10. Gram Parsons - Return of the Grevious Angel
11. Two Dollar Bill & His Bad Pennies - Newfoundland Bullet (Live)
12. Bob Dylan - Can’t Wait (Version 2)
13. The DoubleHappys - Needles & Plastic
14. The Sneaky Feelings - Someone Else’s Eyes
15. Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - Jabberwocky
16. The Bats - Had to be You
17. The Gordons - I Just Can’t Stop
18. Tall Dwarfs - Shade for Today
19. Mo Troper - Citgo Sign
20. Diners - So What
21. Wetface - Man in Love
22. Aversions - New Whip
23. Ghost Woman - Highly Unlikely
24. Bog Moss - Dayglow Tree
25. Bloodshot Bill - You Gotta

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 13 file to download/stream the episode.