Wayne Kramer — the co-founder and guitarist for the influential Detroit rock band MC5 — died Friday, according to a social media post from his official Instagram account.
He was 75.
“‘PEACE BE WITH YOU’ 🕊️,” reads a joint Instagram post from @waynekramerofficial and @mc5alive, followed by “April 30, 1948 - February 2, 2024.”
According to The Washington Post, the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
Kramer co-founded MC5, short for “Motor City Five,” in 1963 in Lincoln Park along with vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson.
The group’s 1969 debut Kick Out the Jams was recorded live at Detroit’s storied Grande Ballroom, famous for its radical politics — the group was associated with activist John Sinclair’s White Panther Party — and rallying cry to “kick out the jams, motherfuckers!”
The obscenity resulted in the Hudson’s department store banning the album. The band was dropped from its label Elektra, but later signed with Atlantic Records.
The group disbanded in 1972 due in part to struggles with drug addiction.
When Kramer reunited with Davis and Thompson in 2003, they performed under the name DKT-MC5. In 2018, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kick Out the Jams, Kramer assembled a new group and toured under the name MC50.
In 2022, Kramer revived the MC5 name for a new group featuring singer Brad Brooks (Pollo Elastico), drummer Winston Watson (Bob Dylan), guitarist Stevie Salas (David Bowie, Rod Stewart, and Mick Jagger), and bassist Vicki Randle (Mavis Staples).
Kramer told Metro Times in 2022 that he decided to bring back the MC5 banner to speak to the times.
“I think it was time to reignite that spirit of 1968, the spirit of my generation when we were all young people,” Kramer said. “I think we’re at a very dangerous time in our history. And I think if we don’t all organize, come together, and step up, we could lose it all. Democracy could go away. The forces that we’re up against are not joking. This is not playtime. This is serious.”
He added, “Now that I have the advantage of 50 years of skills and experience and wisdom to channel through the message of MC5, it’s my most powerful tool. It’s the most powerful tool I have to make a difference, to try to motivate people to take themselves seriously, to take their responsibilities to each other, to our community seriously.”
Kramer had planned to release a new MC5 album in 2024.
Rolling Stone ranked Kramer among the “100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time.”
He played a guitar emblazoned with the design of an upside-down American flag. A mural of Kramer and his iconic guitar has been painted on the side of the long-abandoned Grande Ballroom.
Kramer also led the U.S. chapter of Jail Guitar Doors, a group that teaches guitar lessons to prison inmates.
He left Detroit many years ago.
“My relationship with Detroit is complex,” Kramer told Metro Times in 2018. “I was born and raised there, and it formed me. But at a certain point I had to leave. It had gotten too dangerous for me. The people I associated with were frankly not good people. I’d just finished serving a prison term, and I didn’t want to go back to prison. I moved to New York where I would be safe.”
Kramer had been living in Los Angeles at the time of his death.
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello cited Kramer as an influence, writing a lengthy tribute in an Instagram post.
“His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music and was the only act to not chicken out and performed for the rioting protestors at the 1968 Dem National Convention,” Morello wrote, adding, “Wayne had a soft heart but was also Detroit tough as nails.”
This article was updated with the cause of death.
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