Wayne Kramer, MC5's proto-punk rock guitarist and co-founder, dies at 75

Wayne Kramer, the guitarist who co-founded the proto-punk rock band MC5, died Friday at the age of 75. According to a post on his official Instagram, "he passed away peacefully today from pancreatic cancer. He will be remembered for starting a revolution in music, culture, and kindness."

Born Wayne Kambes in Detroit in 1948, Kramer founded MC5 alongside Fred “Sonic” Smith, who later married fellow rocker Patti Smith. MC5 gained a following for its energetic performances and left-wing political platform, which was partially influenced by the group’s manager John Sinclair. Short for “Motor City Five,” the garage band performed for eight hours straight at the infamous protest against the Vietnam War at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

MC5’s live album Kick Out the Jams and studio album Back in the USA were both heavily influential on the blossoming punk subgenre, and the group helped mentor other prominent bands like the Stooges. The group disbanded in 1972 after the completion of its third album High Time, and Kramer recruited different musicians to form a new lineup of MC5 in 1974, singing many of the band’s lead vocals himself.

Kramer was imprisoned in 1975 for drug charges and met Charlie Parker’s trumpeter Red Rodney while incarcerated. The two played in the group Street Sounds together while behind bars. He was released in 1979 and moved to New York City, where he worked with the groups Was (Not Was) and Gang War. In addition to playing studio sessions and performing live with various artists, Kramer took up carpentry and woodworking.

The guitarist relocated to Los Angeles and released four solo albums beginning in 1995, including The Hard Stuff. In the later portion of his career, he collaborated with artists like Rage Against the Machine, Bad Religion, and fellow Detroit rocker Alice Cooper, as well as members of Soundgarden, Vandals, the Melvins, and Motörhead. He founded the indie label MuscleTone Records with his wife and manager Margaret Saadi Kramer in 2001, and helped compose the scores for a handful of movies and TV shows, including Eastbound and Down, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers.

Kramer also toured with a new MC5 lineup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kick Out the Jams in 2018, and released the memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities the same year. He planned for a new MC5 album to be released this spring.

“Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve ever known. He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep wisdom & profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction,” Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello wrote on Instagram. “Wayne was a guardian angel to so many. But mostly Wayne was a great friend, a beautiful comrade, and an older brother who helped me to forgive myself for making mistakes, take chances with my music, and never be afraid to help those in need. The countless lives he’s [touched], healed, helped and saved will continue his spirit and legacy.”

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