The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities

by Wayne Kramer

A ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR

Wayne Kramer, legendary guitarist and co-founder of quintessential Detroit proto-punk legends The MC5, tells his story in The Hard Stuff .

'As gripping as it is sobering.'
THE TIMES

'Voyerustically dramatic.'
NEW YORK TIMES

'Eye-opening.'
GUARDIAN

'One of rock's most engaging and readable memoirs.'
ROLLING STONE

'Inspiring and redempetive.'
UNCUT

'An endearing read.'
MOJO

Led by legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer, The MC5 was a reflection of the exciting, sexy, violent, out of control - assuring their time in the spotlight would be short-lived.

Kramer's story is a revolutionary one, but it is also the deeply personal struggle of an addict and an artist. From the glory days of Detroit to the junk-sick streets of the East Village, from Key West to Nashville and sunny Los Angeles, in and out of prison and on and off of drugs, his is the classic journeyman narrative, but with a he's here to remind us that revolution is always an option.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Audiobook, History, Biography Memoir

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2018

Reviews

[Nestor Rychtyckyj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayne Kramer remains a divisive figure in his hometown of Detroit. For all of the accolades he rightly deserves for helping create the MC5 and his long distinguished career in music after the MC5, there are many who dismiss him for various things he has done over the years. Why did he stop the release of the MC5 documentary, why wasn’t he at the MC5 50th anniversary celebration in Lincoln Park, why isn’t he including Dennis Thompson or any other Detroit musicians in the current MC50 tour? These questions and his motives are often discussed passionately throughout the Detroit music community. Wayne hasn’t addressed these issues directly, but now comes his autobiography – “The Hard Stuff” where Brother Wayne definitively tells his own story.

“The Hard Stuff” is 311 pages of Wayne Kramer laying himself open to the world. As with his guitar playing – he holds nothing back. From his birth in Detroit through the history of the MC5, his subsequent prison term and his rehabilitation both personally and professionally, Wayne Kramer stands alone as a rebel who still passionately holds onto his beliefs. The story of the MC5 has been told numerous times and we all know that the band will implode after releasing three under-appreciated albums and inspiring generations of future punk rockers.

The chapters on the MC5 are fascinating and provide as good a look into the band as we will ever see as three of the other four members have passed away. Throughout their existence they were plagued by bad decisions, lack of support from the record companies and their own irresponsible behavior. One telling point that Wayne Kramer points out is that the Mc5 were constantly late for shows and promoters stopped booking them. The political stand of the MC5 didn’t help sell too many records, but Wayne is hurt much more when the radical groups that the MC5 supported turn against the band for co-opting revolutionary change for profit. The death of the MC5 is described without any drama – their time had passed and it was over. Kramer walks off the stage at the Grande and closes that part of his life. He barely mentions his old bandmates anymore in the book until he’s told of the passing of Rob Tyner and Fred “Sonic” Smith and the creation of the DKT/MC5 many years later.

The MC5 is over, but Wayne Kramer continues to slip deeper into drug addition and crime. He is eventually arrested for selling drugs and spends four years in prison. This Wayne Kramer becomes much more open as he details his long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. Punk rock comes along and gives his career a jolt as the MC5 along with the New York Dolls and the Stooges stand as seminal influences on every punk band in the world. The Clash write a song about Wayne Kramer and a benefit single to help raise money for Wayne Kramer is released. Kramer continues to write and perform, but only resurrects his career in the 1990’s with Epitaph Records.

This part of the book really does resonate as Wayne Kramer bares his soul and finds a way (with help from many great people) to finally turn his life around. He finds love, builds a thriving career and even becomes a father. Wayne talks about making good with the people that he hurt; he works to settle the MC5 accounts with various record labels and to ensure that the members and their families are getting paid the royalties. He creates a charity called Jail Guitar Doors (jailguitardoors.org) that helps prison inmates adjust by donating guitars and sponsoring workshops and musical performances at the prisons. Of course, he also brings back Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson with the DKT/MC5 for a tour with many guest musicians to help celebrate the legacy of the MC5. (P.S. it was a great show at the Majestic)!

And yet looking through the comments about the upcoming MC50 show in Detroit – there are still many here who seem to think that Kramer owes the people of Detroit some apology. He doesn’t talk about the MC5 movie in the book and admits that the relationship between him and the late Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson was not the best. Who really knows – the MC50 show is a sellout despite the griping and I for one am thrilled that Wayne Kramer has given us this book as well as so much great music over the years.

Disclaimer: This review was written while listening to the MC5 and “The Hard Stuff” CD.

[Bobby Merryman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the content, just didn’t care for the way the book was written. RIP Wayne

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good memoir, but I felt like certain things were glossed over and too much time spent on his recovery and getting clean. Okay, it's a good thing he did; but it is impossible to talk about it without sounding preachy. Admittedly, he did say he found the Christianity that is inseparable from AA to be off-putting.

There needs to be an impartial biography written by an insider like Ben Edmonds who was working on an MC5 book back in the nineties [Edit: I googled whatever happened to... and I learned that he passed away in 2016. His notes for that book were used as the basis for another book]. In any case, I would have liked more on the Chicago Convention.

One thing is for sure, he had a much harder life than I realized. Much of it due to bad luck, and some to his own bad decisions revolving around felonious activity like burlary and inadvertently selling a kilo of cocaine to an undercover cop. Afterward, he had a brief stint as a carpenter in places like Key West and Nashville until he woke up and thought, "What the hell am I doing? I am a musician?"

So thank god for that. He realized the MC5 were not forgotten and that he had many fans in Europe, while In Amerikka, they are still not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[Bob Schnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another bad boy of rock-n-roll autobiography? Yes, please.

Wayne Kramer was the founding guitarist of the MC5, a politically charged rock outfit who were associated with the White Panthers. Wayne led the charge, helped to get the band to international recognition and then was the co-author of its downfall. A life of debauchery, crime and music followed with few, if any, lessons learned until he wound up in prison. Even then it was a rollercoaster ride to eventual recovery and redemption. Wayne tells his story honestly in "Hard Stuff" and it was a bittersweet book to read, knowing that he passed away just last year (2024).

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hard Stuff is a run-of-the-mil rockstar autobiography: quite interesting when the author discusses the peak of his career (his time in the late sixties and early seventies as a member of the MC5), and quite a bit less interesting outside of that specific period. Since Wayne Kramer had substance abuse issues for much of his life, the second half of the book is largely an addiction recovery memoir, which is quite frankly rather dull.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't. The beginning was okay, when artists go into their childhood, there are parts that can be interesting, but for the most part a lot of it is lack luster. I know they're trying to set the stage for what happens in their adulthood, but that's not what I'm interested in reading. I'm interested in The Hard Stuff, like the title says. That part of the book, was about a third of it, and even then, the hard stuff section wasn't super exciting, it had some interesting parts, but nothing really grabbed me.

After you got past the hard stuff, and the later stages of life, the book tended to do what a lot of these old musicians do, drone on about the part of their life that only true fans care about. I want to read the juicy good stuff, not the part where you tell me about being 50 and drunk, it's tedious and boring. I'm beginning to expect this now from any musician that doesn't know when to call it a day. The legend certain bands and musicians have is based on a time and a place. Once they're past that and reliving it on stage in an older shell of themselves, it's just boring to me, which is that section of the book also.

I felt like this book could have been edited down to half the length and it would have been way more exciting.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayne was kind of a douche.

[Heronimo Gieronymus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it is too perfect for words that Wayne Kramers's memoir has come out just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. I wrote my master's thesis on cinematic representations of the events of August 1968, specifically the unrest that broke out in Chicago during the convention and the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. As Kramer mentions in passing, his group The MC5 were the only band that went to Chicago expressly to perform for the protestors there that summer. 1968 was one of the truly central years of the 20th century and The MC5 represented in more combative and voluble a fashion than any other rock band the youth movement's radical cultural and political cutting edge. The MCR and their manager John Sinclair (head honcho of the White Panther Part) famously stood for "Dope, Guns, and Fucking in the Streets." These were politically engaged hedonists with a radical agenda operating at a time when the future genuinely felt like it could be written by young men and women appalled by the status quo. The MC5 were central to all of this and Wayne Kramer was the prime mover behind the MC5. THE HARD STUFF moves ahead at a steady clip. It doesn't get bogged down in details or belabour its recounting. Kramer gets us through his youth and all the way through the rise and fall of his preeminent band in less than 150 pages. This is not to say that he fails to capture a vision of himself enmeshed in extraordinary historical processes. Not hardly. Perhaps the wildest and most powerful passages about the tumult of the 1960s relate to the Detroit riots of July 1967 (recently the backdrop of Kathryn Bigelow's DETROIT). Kramer imparts with palpable effect how it felt like the world as he knew might be coming to and end. While the THE HARD STUFF is indeed the memoir of a renowned guitar player who more or less lead one of the greatest rock bands of all time, it is also the work of a survivor. The book most likely would not exist at all and certainly would not take the form it takes if Kramer hadn't gotten clean and sober later in life. Towards the end of the book, Kramer sums up its (and his life's) themes: "love, music, prison, service, social justice, and political activism." I myself am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict and I immediately see in that simple word "service" one of the core principal tenets of twelve-step recovery. Though he claims to have some issues with what he calls "orthodox" recovery (clearly meaning twelve-step recovery), that is clearly how Kramer got sober and his book is generously arrayed with its lingo. He speaks earnestly and with wisdom about the infantile ego of the addict and the toxic self-seeking that characterized his life pre-recovery. Kramer puts things simply and could hardly be said to lecture; he may well have a message which will be of tremendous value to readers who are struggling with their own demons (and we addicts if nothing else have a tendency to share the same demons). Kramer was arrested and ended up serving two-and-a-half years in prison in his twenties after attempting to sell a sizeable amount of cocaine to an undercover agent. The first section of THE HARD STUFF focuses on youth and The MC5, the second part on crime and incarceration, and the third on the long road to recovery and genuine belonging. Part of Kramer's life of service dovetails perfectly with political activism and is born of his time behind bars. He and Billy Brag front an organization called Jail Guitar Doors (after a song by The Clash partially about Kramer) devoted to getting inmates to express themselves through music. It might seem reductive to say that THE HARD STUFF is a book about growing up belatedly, but it is indeed in no small part that, and genuinely growing up in this day and age is no small accomplishment. THE HARD STUFF does not go especially deep (speeding right along as it does), and Kramer isn't a whole lot more than a serviceable prose stylist, but it is a book that means a lot to me. My passion for the avant-garde of popular music forms means that I have long lionized The MC5, and my own experience of the trials and tribulations of getting clean and staying sober means that Kramer is not only one of "my people," but a genuine leading light. And who could not love a seventy-year-old rock icon excited at the prospect of teaching his five-year-old adopted son about Aristotle?

[Paul Newsham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was rooting for Wayne in part 1, and (as he intends) spent the rest of it wondering how he could live with himself. Keep on atoning Wayne... it's a good book.

[Sean Kottke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayne relates his life with the same intensity that characterizes the MC5's music: vivid, painful, melodic and exhilarating.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Kramer's lived an interesting life, been in a cool band, had some hard knocks, but he doesn't go into any of it in depth or says all that much about it to make it sound different than your usual rock n roll story of excess, rock bottom, and redemption through rehabilitation.

He seems like a really good guy, and is a fine guitar player (just saw him live with the MC50!), but wasn't blown away by this book all that much.

[John Spiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are more than a casual fan of the MC5, then Wayne Kramer’s autobiography, “The Hard Stuff”, will be a worthwhile read. As a practical matter, he is one of the few people who can tell the full story of the MC5 from beginning to end. (I hold out hope that erstwhile manager John Sinclair will ultimately write his own book.)

As far as rock star autobiographies go, “The Hard Stuff” is competently written and full of interesting stories. Even after the demise of the MC5, Brother Wayne Kramer spent time with jazz legend Red Rodney while both served time in a federal penitentiary, played with Johnny Thunders in Gang War, and was a big supporter of Jail Guitar Doors, an initiative to rehabilitate prisoners using music. That said, I would have preferred less time spent on his pre-Five childhood and more time exploring the peak period MC5 (67-70). I mean, the MC5 played Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. There was surveillance footage taken by the Department of Defense of them playing, for chrissakes. I find it hard to believe there were not some good stories to share. The Stooges were the “baby brother” band to the MC5, and they are mentioned only in passing. The MC5 was the house band for the Grande, but he barely discusses that venue. As a live act, the MC5 took pride in blowing away headlining bands like Cream, but Kramer doesn’t really explore that aspect. Kramer likewise does not discuss the litigation surrounding the documentary “MC5 – a True Testimonial,” which is interesting because he was instrumental in quashing its release. Given that his forthrightness in discussing things like drug addiction and stealing to support his addiction, it seems odd that he chose to ignore this not inconsequential episode.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently on my grand adventures of going to my local second hand bookstore shopping that i try to do as often as I can, I came across Wayne Kramer’s memoir. As an avid Punk rock and MC5 fan, I did not know that this existed and so I was Intrigued to pick it up and read it for myself. 


First Impressions: My first impressions reading Wayne’s Memoir, I was unsure of what to think. Many people were very Critical of the memoir as they felt like Wayne didn’t really talk about Much of what like most documentaries would talk about bands like the history of the bands. They felt like him talking about his life at parts were boring. To me however, the purpose of a memoir, particularly for a musician to talk about their experiences for a band it needs a background on how they got into that band. For Wayne in particular, it happened to be his environment he was in, growing up in Detroit at a town where a city where crime was at it’s peak, everyone was getting arrested for the littlest things. Racism was also very common in the 60′s and this made Wayne Frustrated by that. he couldn’t understand why everyone couldn’t be treated equally. being around this environment as a teen and in your 20′s is what is the particular background for the lyrics behind MC5 and the lifestyle they wanted to show in their music. They wanted to be raw and Original as Possible. 

Favorite parts :

One of my favorite parts of the Memoir without spoiling it for anyone, is how much Wayne didn’t realize how much of a impact his band had on the Punk Movement until He Met Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of The Clash. Wayne had never considered himself a punk legend in his his own mind, as MC5 to him had crashed in and burned due to the fact that they couldn’t keep a steady band together, the band was very political and Labels were afraid to have them. Also the fact that Wayne also had a few drug charges and to his name. I also think the coolest thing about this is that the clash had a song called “Jail Guitar Doors” written about Wayne. 

throughout the years, Wayne talks about the many musicians he has played with for charity concerts some being musicians such as William Duvall, Jerry Cantrell, Tom Morello, Billy Bragg, etc. some of the performances have been playing for inmates. after concerts, he tries to talk with inmates and hearing their stories and telling them about how music can be as a coping mechanism and a source as an outlet for anyone to get them out of anyone out of trouble. 

Overall :

If you want to learn more about the background of Wayne and who he is as a person, this is a good book to read. if you want to learn about the lyrical background of MC5, this isn’t the book. this book is particularly one member’s experience of a good and a bad experience of a band at their high and their lows.

Rating: 8.5/10

[Jane Otte · Rating 3 out of 5]

The draw to this book was to learn more about the legendary MC5 (Motor City 5) a hard core, raw rock/punk band formed in Detroit, during the politically charged sixties. Known for their anti-establishment, explosive, energized shows, Wayne Kramer was their talented, controversial lead guitar player. MC5's career was short lived but remarkable in terms of their musical and social influence. They fronted an anti- establishment organization based on the Black Panthers movement called The White Panthers, fighting against racism.

Wayne's life was as chaotic, impulsive and unorganized as the bands tours. Drug and alcohol addiction, subsequent criminal charges and prison time- all "hard stuff" he faced and survived. Mc5's music career was very short and Wayne's criminal career and addictions were long. Today he is the last man standing; a reformed addict, husband, father and founder of an organization that donates musical instruments to prisoners. He continues to advocate for unjust prison terms for drug crimes and has returned to his music career.

As I read through the pages I never got a true sense that Kramer feels sincere remorse for the people he may have hurt along the way during his drug-fueled desperate days of stealing and dealing. He reminds us that he has ensured band members and estates have received outstanding royalties, but he casually mentions his former band mates deaths with a certain level of distance. He conveys redemption but I am not sure all the bridges burned were rebuilt. Ever the uncompr0mising rebel, and idealist, perhaps he feels he owes no apologies and has finally found the same freedom he expressed in his free form music.

[Dominique King · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looked forward to reading this, and met Kramer when he did a book/reading/signing/performance at a local library near here.
We'd seen him in concert in recent years at the Concert of Colors in Detroit...so I grabbed the chance to see him appear in a more intimate venue...about 50 folks showed up for this on a weekend afternoon.
Kramer was entertaining and performed a few songs after reading from his book.
I don't normally do the book-signing thing, but did go up to say a few words to him to tell him we enjoyed seeing him at the CofC...and he signed the book as I told him about Tim and I going to see him... (this was just months after Tim's passing...and Kramer nicely asked about our experiences at the CofC and Tim's passing. He signed my book for both Tim and I...and had one of the folks working the event make an image of he and I with my cell phone camera).
He struck me as a very nice, caring, humble individual...and he talked a bit about his own challenges in life during his reading...and certainly had his moments of bad behavior in the past, so it was nice to see that his life seems on a lot more even keel these days..
The book was interesting and engaging...and it, like a good Detroit-based book, was all the more interesting because I could visualize many of the places mentioned in it.
Tim was a few years older than me, and I think he would have really enjoyed reading the gook and seeing Kramer this way.
Well worth reading...even if you weren't the biggest MC5 fan, or a little too young during his real hey day during the 60s.
A lot of the things he mentioned then seemed as if could have been written today!

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

The MC5 has been a main source of passion and inspiration in my life for many years. Stories of the band's triumphs and hardships have been well documented at this point, but their story is still widely unknown. I've tried to learn the band's history throughout the years, taking into account the different narratives from surviving members, and others within their circle. Ultimately, I always come back to Wayne Kramer's reflections.

I not only trust Wayne as a reliable narrator for both the MC5 and the tumultuous revolutionary culture of the '60s, I also honor and trust his vulnerability and humility. He strongly confronts the sexual abuse he experienced during his childhood, while coming clean about his descent into addiction and crime as his band was ascending, ultimately becoming one of the most influential rock and roll bands of all time. Sadly, the MC5 never reaped the benefits of their influence.

There is power in Wayne's honesty. Even without the fan investment, there are amazing parables from Wayne's story that anyone from any walk of life can savor. Battling demons. Facing anger and loss. Giving in to despair. Acknowledging one's ego. Learning from mistakes, and ultimately, leaning that kindness and compassion, towards one's self as well as others, always leads to health, recovery, and clearer horizons.

[CHAD FOSTER · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of hard, guitar-driven rock-n-roll, you should know who Wayne Kramer is. You should also know him if you believe in the power of redemption. This autobiography walks us down the long and sometimes dark road that was Wayne Kramer’s life journey.

As a huge fan of punk rock from an early age, I discovered his band, The MC5, many years ago by accident. Someone played “Kick Out the Jams” and “Sister Anne” for me at some point in the 1980s, and I was hooked. The MC5 along with bands like the Stooges (and others) were not punk, but they gave birth to its spirit. But this book is really about how Kramer stepped to the edge of the abyss and and somehow managed to step back. Music took him to that edge. And it was music that helped to bring him back. There isn’t a story out there, real or imagined, that is better than that.

Kramer hasn’t lost his political edge. He rightly criticizes a lot of things, most notably the ineffectual and senseless “War on Drugs.” However, he avoids the first sin of most activists: self-righteousness. This makes his message much more effective and accessible to readers that hold different political perspectives. Overall, Kramer lays it down and leaves it up to you to decide whether or not to pick it up. A great book!

[Steve Rabideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up in Canada across the river from Detroit, I knew of the MC5 from a young age. If you had a passing intrest in Detroit and it's history, ther MC5 were part of the soundtrack for a turning point in the city, the late 60's. Over the years I'd heard slivers of their story. Being dropped from Elektra for insulting Hudsons department store, the incarceration of their manager John Sinclair, and the general mayhem that followed their short career. And they were always name dropped by artists I loved. At the center of that is Wayne Kramer, and his story is as wild as Detroit in it's heyday. While ultimately the format is the same as many rock bio's, stardom followed by tragedy followed by redemption, Wayne's is a little different. The MC5 didn't actually have much success in their first incarnation. And what followed for Wayne is a gritty story of almoat 30 years of survival and growth before getting his life together. It's honestly one of the most fascinating musician bio's I've ever read. I did not want it to end. A must read.

[Michael Fedak · Rating 4 out of 5]

The MC5 could have been huge and Wayne carried that cross straight to jail and the gutter, and somehow did not die in the process. Extremely honest and personal take on his life. Thanks to this book, I've listened to his solo albums and they are equally real. It would be great if there was an audiobook version of this with a soundtrack from the MC5/Wayne's material. His critique of the US criminal justice system is also very correct and timely. I think the biggest takeaway from this was how he dealt with his own demons and sense of entitlement. Like he says many times, he thought he was destined to be a rock star he only needed one more chance. Instead of rockstardom though he got years in prison, multiple drug overdoses and years living in the gutter. He produced essentially nothing from the mid-70s to mid-90s. Although the Gangwar live album released in 2010 sums up his situation very pretty well.

[Rebecca Bush · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been going on a bit of a bender lately catching up on the 60's counter culture, especially anything shedding light on the scene in my home state of Michigan, where I was too young to really grasp what was going on at the time, other than wondering why my next door neighbor's older brother came home all beat up from the '68 Democratic Convention. Wayne Kramer, lead guitarist of the seminal punk band the MC5 delivers the goods with this highly entertaining memoir. Written from the vantage point of 2018, heroin addiction survivor Kramer's memoir unfolds in an almost 12 Step style testimony as he not only brags about his exploits but fesses up to his many crimes and misdeeds along the way. Having recently watching the film, "Detroit" which follows the uprising and burning of Detroit in the summer of '67, I was really interested to read his first hand account of that time.

[Slagle Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty solid autobiography describing the many-faceted life of MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. This memoir is equal parts rock & roll, crime and punishment, struggles and redemption. Going in, I knew I liked and appreciated the MC5’s small but important place in rock history, though I didn’t know a whole lot about the band. I think a different book could have gotten a lot more into the band’s rise and fall but it’s OK with me that this one only treats the band as a segment of Kramer’s life. I did enjoy the musical parts most but appreciated that the author talked about his time in prison, the crimes that put him there and his struggles to kick drug and alcohol habits and be a better person.

[Ryan Fohl · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s more addiction and recovery story then it is rock history. He doesn’t even talk about the Chicago riot! I personally find addiction and recovery stories very repetitive and solipsistic. I appreciate that Wayne’s politics haven’t changed, and he makes some great personal arguments for the right side of history. The MC5 suffered for their politics, and the white panther party was the real deal. I was reminded how different prisons used to be, and that the police have a long long way to go before they deserve any respect.

“Sixteen year old punks on a meth power trip.” -Lester Bangs on the MC5 debut album

“Hope is a great breakfast, but a lousy diner.”


What I learned: “Perm” is short for permanent wave solution. That Afro was natural, the live background vocals were not. Revolutionaries do not wear underpants. Rolling Stone magazine started in late 1967. A ten day meth binge is a sure fire way to avoid the draft. “Back in the USA” was a song Chuck Berry wrote after his release from prison. The new fish prison line up is a Hollywood myth.

[Darin Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally enjoyable though somewhat thin look at the legendary guitarist’s life and struggles with addiction. If you’re looking for a history of the MC5, his influential band from late 60s Detroit this is not the book as only a few chapters are devoted to it, and he doesn’t even mention the 2002 documentary film “the MC5: A True Testimonial” which is widely regarded as one of the best band docs ever but is difficult to see nowadays because he fell out with the producers and sued them. Oh well. Still, an honest and sometimes uncomfortably frank look at his life and eventual success in keeping his demons down.

[jboyg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brother Wayne tells it like it was, like what it is and like what it will be

Wayne Kramer, my personal guitar hero, rock God, a prime member of my favorite band and all around renaissance dude lived a hard scrabble life in the big bad streets of a crumbling city called Detroit. Teen drug dealer, member of the white panther party, and kick out jams leader of the motown’s MC5, a convicted felon in a federal prison, lived the rock n roll life Like few others and lived to tell the tale. This is required reading for any of you who call yourselves rock fans. And it’s a fascinating tale of the times.

[Mark Peterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting insight into the life of a rock n roll survivor. The book covers: Wayne's life growing up in Detroit, the rise of the MC5, his years of crime that led to a jail term, his music career since and his social justice work with 'Jail Guitar Doors'.

What I thought was most interesting is that he talks about his path to learn from the mistakes he made along the way and create positive change from what he learned. I wanted more info about the MC5 and those times but this isn't a MC5 biography. Overall I enjoyed the book as I feel like I got know the author along the way.

[Johnny Hirschfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book EXTREMELY interested in the mystique surrounding the MC5 and the cultural landscape that surrounded them and the motor city. Oddly enough I was disappointed with the broad strokes in those stories, but was overly surprised by how much I loved the post MC5 chapters. In the end it makes sense because that part seems to be what truly has colored in Kramers “hard stuff” life. Some pretty good insights and almost motivational tone... through unfiltered story telling and reflection.
Loved it!

[Clif · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, but not exactly what I was hoping for. Wayne Kramer is a engaging, introspective, intelligent write. However, I was hoping for more details about his MC5 days, which in all honesty probably have been covered to death. Most of the book is about his jail time and his struggles with addition. Into his subsequent recovery. Nice bits on the Gang War days and DTK/MC5 tour. A fun read, but more a inspirational text than I was expecting. Some will love this and possibly need it, which I am sure was his intent. As for me, an interesting story off survival of the human soul.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite his lapses, Wayne Kramer comes across as principled and fair, befitting the philosophy of the MC5. He is critical of himself and the government, but he doesn't badmouth any other individuals. Ultimately, this is a familiar story of youthful promise derailed by excess and, after decades of missteps, redemption. I would have liked more attention paid to the creation of specific albums and songs, but that might be too much to ask when his most famous work is fifty years old. If the MC5 is important to you, you'll want to read this.

[CSCL Staff Picks · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a brief moment in 1968, Kramer and his band the MC5 were supposed to be the next big thing. It never happened. Even though the Kramer and the MC5 are credited with inventing punk and have a cult following all over the world, his life was a struggle with drugs, radical politics, missed opportunities, and even jail time. Will he overcome his demons? I recommend reading this book and finding out.

[Thunderhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pumped when I read that Wayne Kramer had written an autobiography, and I was not disappointed! If you’re looking for a nitty gritty MC5 play by play you won’t find it here as this is Kramer’s story and therefore covers wayyyyy more than just that handful of years (though enough MC5 content to keep fans interested). My boyfriend and I watch the Tartar Field live footage on YouTube regularly cus nothing else can really compare! #mc5forever