Detroit Rock City by Steve Miller Read Free Book Online

The reason I know this is that my bodyguard had taken me to Detroit, dropped me off, and was flying back to New York. Guys in the MC5 were on the same flight with him. Everybody was sitting in first class, and they didn’t know who he was. He just sat there and listened and heard them dissing me and dissing everybody else and talking about how great they were, you know. They were just insecure because they were groomed as the military arm of the fucking communist fucking organization. And there they are going to Popsville.
    John Sinclair: That’s what Ryder always would do. He’d have an opportunity to say something, and then he would say the most outrageous stupid shit to Rolling Stone . He’s really been good at making enemies. But he’s just such a great fucking artist, you know? You gotta work around this dude.
    Dennis Thompson: Communism? No! No! Well, there was this communal paradigm happening across the country. You know, people, especially in ’Frisco, but it was happening in New York, and it was happening, ya know, eventually even in Texas. And people were banding together, living together—people of like minds. And that was fine. But what Sinclair gave was his philosophy. Because our rhetoric was “Screw the establishment. Tear it down. Start over again.” This whole political thing, that was Sinclair’s philosophy. That was not Dennis Thompson’s philosophy. At all. I’m in college, man. I mean, I’m a regular guy. Ya know, I want to find a pretty girl. I want to play great music. And I want a fast car. We’re nineteen years old. Come on. We’re getting this Beatnik philosophy pushed onto us.
    Wayne Kramer ( MC5, Gang War, solo, guitarist, vocalist ): Well, when we started, we were communists. And part of that purity was that sense of equality. There were no class distinctions, and that was pretty incorrect and idealistic. And that became clear as we became aware that some people worked more than others. It’s hard to be honest without sounding egotistical, but the MC5 really was central to anything in Detroit that had to do with music in that time. All the other bands were satellites swirling around this thing with MC5 at the center. Even Seger and Ted Nugent were minor players in this era. We dominated completely because nobody played like us, no one was on me and Fred’s level; we could solo simultaneously. No one was writing songs on the level of Rob Tyner; no lead singer was as dynamic and compelling as Rob.
    Becky Tyner ( wife of MC5 vocalist Rob Tyner ): I was going to Wayne State University, living on Prentice and Second with my friend Donna. We wanted to move to New York, but we were too afraid. So we got an apartment in Detroit. I was working at Hudson’s in the Northland Mall, and I got off the bus coming home. I was walking down the street and was approached by this tall person with a British accent asking where the party was. I said, “Oh, it’s at Neil and Sandy’s”—these were some friends who were actually having a party—“right down stairs in our building.” And we chatted for a minute and I went out with my boyfriend. And later that night I came home and my roommate Donna said, “Well, you know that guy from England that you sent to the party? He’s really not from England. But he seemed nice enough so I invited him to our party next week.” It turned out it was Rob. He came by the next week and just kept coming around. I have no idea what was up with the accent. I mean it’s a good line to pick up a girl, don’t you think? The boyfriend went away. Rob and I were married in 1966.
    Wayne Kramer: You know, youth has certainty. When you’re nineteen years old you’ve got it all figured out. You know what’s coming, how it’s going to play out; you’ve got all the answers. And if you’ve got a few people who agree with you, you’re really certain. And