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MC5's Kramer comes home to Detroit

Wayne Kramer is one of the most innovative guys in music. As lead guitarist of Detroit's legendary MC5, and now in his solo project, Kramer has consistently pushed the boundaries of music.

Released earlier this week, Kramer's second solo record, "Dangerous Madness," combines imperative socio-political issues with hard hitting rock'n'roll.

"I feel like I've been redeemed," Kramer said in a phone interview on Tuesday. "I've come from the highs of the MC5, to the depths of depravity and between, and been able to come back and do this work, and ride through the neighborhood screaming the fundamentalists are coming."

Tackling issues of street violence, safe sex, the deserted streets of Detroit and numerous other pressing issues of the world today, "Dangerous Madness" continues Kramer's tradition of social protest through music. With songs reminiscent of the MC5's political activism in the late '60s and early '70s, Kramer is one of the few products of that era who still has his mind set on changing the world.

"Today, the situation is so out of control, I feel like somebody's got to say something about what's going on, and that might as well be me," Kramer said. "I've got a political history. I come from a political time and a political band, and this stuff really needed to be addressed. The situation in America is really going to hell in a hand basket.

"The bad guys, these Phil Gramms, Newt Gingriches and Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan are basically running unopposed," he continued. "There was a time when there was a counter culture that stood up against big business and big government that said we're not going to go along with the program. Today, these guys are running rampant and these guys are evil. They're scary guys, and they scare the shit out of me."

Since he grew up and began his career in music in Detroit, Kramer said the Motor City has had an enormous influence on him and his music.

"Detroit's a great metaphor for what's happening in the entire nation," he said. "When I was growing up in Detroit, it was a Norman Rockwell and Converse sneaker wearing, all-American place. Everybody worked, everybody could go shopping, everybody felt good about themselves and their community. It was really like a harmonious time.

"But once the endless greed of the petroleum, auto and rubber interests sucked all the money there was to be made, and sucked a couple generations of workers dry, there's nothing left. It's kind of what happened to the whole country."

It was those desperate things that the MC5 began writing about in the '60s. Kramer claims that his was the first band to begin taking on politics in their music.

"Politically, we were like the big bang. Before the MC5, people really didn't take an active roll in anything political," Kramer said. "If you were an entertainer, you were steered away from being controversial or talking about the war or drugs or fucking or anything that was real."

Musically, the MC5 pioneered the musical boundaries of raw rock'n'roll that would later be called punk rock.

"Musically, there was a scene that developed in Detroit that was very strong and individualistic," Kramer said. "I think it had to do with it being a factory town and a blue collar approach that they work hard, and they want their bands to work hard. The whole idea of `Kick out the jams, or get off the stage.' It was this idea of high energy. If you say rock'n'roll, it's the roll part. It's rock, that's the hard part, but it's rolling."

After growing up and living in Detroit, the MC5 ran into problems living in the city. Because of problems with the Detroit police, the band set up camp in Ann Arbor, renting a house on Hill Street.