Watch MC5 destroy Wayne State University for 10 minutes in 1970!

R.I.P., Dennis Thompson.

This is the worst week for definitive rock ’n’ roll musicians. I still have yet to eulogize The Father of Twang Duane Eddy, aside from a paragraph at the bottom of last week’s Poison Ivy appreciation. Then a man whose music and recordings of other artists (because he preferred to be considered a recording engineer, not a producer) arguably defined ‘80s/’90s punk/alt/noise, Steve Albini, unexpectedly passed away a few days ago. While I met him once and watched him produce Cheap Trick back in the ‘90s, and interviewed him twice, I don’t feel like I can do the man justice. Instead, let me direct you to this lengthy Guardian piece, written while he was still alive, where he owned up to the “Edgelord shit” he practiced in his heyday and indicated he should not be let off the hook. Let me also steer you towards this beautiful Facebook portrait from Thurston Moore.

I do know a thing or two about the MC5, however. And their drum dynamo Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson kicked out his last jam yesterday at age 75. I want to take the weekend to properly write about Dennis, whom I interviewed a few times over the years. In the meantime, enjoy this extraordinary footage of the MC5 tearing the shit out of an outdoor stage at Wayne State University in 1970. This is some of the most extraordinary live rock ‘n’ roll you will ever witness, and Machine Gun’s percussive excellence is a major reason why. See you next week.

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