"MC5" Premium Unisex T-Shirt

Inducted into the Amp'd Apparel Rock Hall of Fame.

Detroit, 1964. Five kids from Lincoln Park who decided that rock and roll wasn't loud enough, fast enough, or political enough.

The MC5 — Rob Tyner, Wayne Kramer, Fred Smith, Michael Davis, Dennis Thompson — played like the world was ending and they had something to say before it did. In August 1968, the Yippies — Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin's Youth International Party — organized the Festival of Life in Chicago's Grant Park as a counter to the Democratic National Convention. The National Guard was outside. The police were beating demonstrators. Every major act they'd booked canceled. The MC5 showed up and played anyway. They were the only ones.

Their manager was John Sinclair, founder of the White Panther Party, who had shaped the band's radical identity from the beginning. When Sinclair was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1969 for possession of two marijuana joints, it became a national cause. John Lennon wrote a song for him. A benefit concert in Ann Arbor in December 1971 drew 15,000 people, and Sinclair was released within three days.

They recorded Kick Out the Jams live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom on October 30 and 31, 1968 — the Grande was Detroit's Fillmore, run by promoter Russ Gibb, where the MC5 had built their following. The album was released in February 1969 on Elektra. The original opening line — "Kick out the jams, motherf***ers" — created a dispute with the label. The MC5 complied with a clean version, then took out an ad in a Detroit underground paper denouncing Elektra. They were dropped. One of the most ferocious live albums ever committed to tape, out of print almost immediately.

The Stooges got the mythology. The MC5 did the work first.

Punk rock, hard rock, and every band that ever turned it up to eleven owes a debt to five guys from Detroit who refused to play it safe. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has never inducted them. We're fixing that.

This shirt is for the people who know.

Also in the collection: See our full Punk Rock collection.

Premium Quality

• Bella + Canvas 3001 — Premium unisex tee, true to size
• Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton — Exceptionally soft from the first wear
• Classic unisex fit — Relaxed, versatile, works for everyone
• Tear-away label — Clean comfort, all day

Made to Order

For environmental and quality reasons, this tee is made specifically for you after you order. Please allow approximately one week for production. Tracking information will be sent as soon as it ships.