School Days: High School

MC5: High School

[purchase]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Detroit's MC5 are one of those bands that a lot of music fans have classified without actually hearing more than a few songs. While many music fans surely know MC5 form the hard and heavy live version of "Kick Out The Jams," fewer have heard the band's failed attempt at commercial success that was the Back In The USA album released in 1970.

If you haven't heard it, you might be surprised by its "retro" sound. Produced by rock-critic-and-future-Springsteen-manager Jon Landau, Back In The USA is one of the few rock albums that both looks back and forward at the same time. While paying homage to the straightforward early rock of the late 1950's (including covers of both Little Richard and Chuck Berry), MC5's sound also predicts the power pop and punk styles that would later come to fruition in the 1970's (e.g., Big Star, The Ramones).

Note: This is the second song I've posted this week featuring the lyric "Sis Boom Bah."

[Read the AMG Review.]

History: The Motor City Is Burning

One of the worst riots in American history began on July 23, 1967, at the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount on the west side of Detroit. At the time I was a one-year-old baby living on the east side of Detroit. Luckily for my family, the riot never made it across town.

Caused by racial tensions, the "disturbance" lasted four days. Before it was over, National Guard tanks were rolling down the city streets, thousands of buildings were burned to the ground, and 43 people lost their lives. Read about it at here.

Detroit has never fully recovered. White flight to the suburbs increased dramatically after the riot. I have a friend whose family sold their house in Detroit for $1.00. We were renting at the time and it wasn't long before my family had moved out too. Metropolitan Detroit is now the most segregated population center in the United States.

There are at least two pop songs about the so-called 12th Street Riot:

Motor City Is Burning was recorded by both Detroit-based bluesman John Lee Hooker and Detroit-based punk-rockers MC5.

John Lee Hooker: The Motor City Is Burning [purchase]
MC5: Motor City Is Burning [purchase]

Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot (who has recorded a number of “history” songs) wrote Black Day in July in which he recounts the story of the riot in journalistic fashion.

Gordon Lightfoot: Black Day In July [purchase]

Black Day In July was released in 1968 and banned from airplay after the Martin Luther King assassination. In this interview, Lightfoot talks about reaction to the song.

A third song that is, at least, indirectly based on the 12th Street Riot is Panic In Detroit, which David Bowie wrote based on his conversations with friend, and Detroit rocker, Iggy Pop. Local legend has it that the song is about the riots, but I’m not 100% sure about that one.

David Bowie: Panic In Detroit [purchase]