MC5

The band's music is widely recognized as influential, and their 1969 song "Kick Out the Jams" has been covered by many artists.
"Crystallizing the counterculture movement at its most volatile and threatening", according to AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, MC5's leftist political ties and anti-establishment lyrics and music positioned them as pioneers of the punk movement in the United States. Their loud, energetic style of back-to-basics rock and roll included elements of garage rock, hard rock, blues rock, and psychedelic rock. Guitarist Tom Morello described MC5 as having "basically invented punk rock."
MC5 had a promising beginning that earned them a January 1969 cover appearance on Rolling Stone and a story written by Eric Ehrmann before their debut live album was released. They developed a reputation for energetic and polemical live performances, one of which was recorded as their 1969 debut album Kick Out the Jams. The band released the studio albums Back in the USA and High Time before disbanding in 1972.
Vocalist Tyner died of a heart attack in late 1991 at the age of 46 and was followed by Fred Smith, who also died of a heart attack, in 1994 at the age of 46. The remaining three members reformed in 2003 with the Dictators' singer Handsome Dick Manitoba as its new vocalist, and this reformed lineup occasionally performed live over the next nine years until Davis died of liver failure in 2012 at the age of 68.
In 2022, Kramer announced that a tour under the banner of We Are All MC5 would take place that spring, and that a new MC5 studio album with producer Bob Ezrin would also be released later that year with original MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson playing on two tracks. In 2023, Kramer announced that the album would be released in the spring of 2024. Kramer died February 2, 2024, leaving Thompson as the only surviving original member of the band. In 2024, the MC5 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category. On May 9, 2024, Thompson died at the age of 75. Heavy Lifting, their final album, was released on October 18, 2024.