Topix Underground

"...Wayne Kramer, the co-founding guitarist and composer of Detroit’s punk band MC5, whose social activism carried on throughout his lengthy solo career, died on Friday at 75. The news was confirmed on Kramer’s and MC5’s official Instagram with the phrase “Wayne S. Kramer ‘PEACE BE WITH YOU’ April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024. No cause of death was disclosed at this time.

The only thing angrier than Kramer’s left-wing socio-political radicalism was his gruff guitar sound, a powerful feedback-fueled noise with a gutsy swagger that made every track of his – from his famed, first days with MC5 and “Kick Out the Jams” to his searing solo works such as “Adult World” – ring and sting.


Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, long an acolyte of Kramer’s rangy guitar sound, told The Mirror UK, “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. His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music… Wayne came through personal trials of fire with drugs and jail time and emerged a transformed soul who went on to save countless lives through his tireless acts of service. He and his incredible wife Margaret founded @jailguitardoorsusa which founds music programs in prisons as life changing effective rehabilitation. I’ve played with Wayne in prisons and watched him transform lives, he was just unbelievable … The countless lives he’s touch, healed, helped and saved will continue his spirit and legacy. He was like a non-Tom Joad. Whenever and wherever any of us kick out the jams, Brother Wayne will be right there with us.”..."