Motor City Is Burning: A Michigan Anthology 1965-1975 – Various Artists (Grapefruit Records)
Proof positive, if it was actually needed, that a Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll existed in one of the 50 states of the USA other than Califonria and that it encompassed much more than just the Stooges and the MC5.
In Australia, of course, we have a skewed view of the so-called “Detroit Scene” (a name that almost no Americans of my acquaintance use, by the way.) We learned from the teachings of Radio Birdman leader and expat Michiganite Deniz Tek who landed here to study medicine in 1974, spreading the word about those bands in evangelistic fashion.
Of course Birdman were always much more than those two trace elements - they were just the ones on the high-energy scale that caught the imagination of most. If you’ve ever engaged the Kona Coffee Farmer in conversation for more than five minutes you’ll know his passion for the Stones and his knowledge of local acts like the SRC and the first band he saw live, Ann Arbor heroes The Rationals.
As this three-CD collection on British label Grapefruit (a spin-off of Cherry Red) reveals, there were several distinct periods to the Michigan Rocks story. It took its initial lead from the British Invasion with a crop of imitators, and was cross-pollinated by the rise of Motown and funk. It swallowed handfuls of acid to jump onto the psychedelic carpet ride and then tailed off as media attention declined and other things (like harder drugs and industrial decline) kicked in. Along the way, the music evolved into something distinctive in its own right.
As the late Wayne Kramer spells out in a pull-quote in the extensive liners, there was a sense of community and every second muso wanted to be in The Funk Brothers.
Popular music is - or more correctly, was – a product of its environment and The Great Lakes State was a racial melting pot with the car industry a magnet for cheap labour from all over the continent. Black, White, Hispanic, Polish and just about any other nationality you can name shared zip codes relatively peacefully in the 1960s, and that was reflected in the music.
So was social disruption, generational change and unrest by the time the decade turned. Presumably you knew that already. What “Motor City Is Burning” reveals is that the revolutionary MC5 and the confrontationally artful Stooges were only the tip of that particular spear and there were many more arrows in the musical quiver.
The title isn't the most original (the late John Sinclair got their first with his two-volume collection in the '90s) but this is an even more broadly representative and diverse collection from a remarkable decade. Rock and roll almost always sparks best when it wears a blue collar. Michigan benefitted from the rise of the ballroom touring band circuit – it’s in in the middle of the country and big acts that were criss-crossing the country almost always stopped off in Detroit.
Parochialism is a big thing and if the big boys played the Grande Ballroom or the Eastown Theatre, they had to bring their A game. Kick out the jams or get off the stage. A bit like the Australian pub rock scene a few years later.
You’re not going to get a band-by-band dissertation on this compilation. If you want a tracklist, befriend Google. Make do with a few general impressions. The selections (as usual) won’t suit everybody. Compiler David Wells has purposely avoided the obvious in favour of the interesting, for the most part. Yes, as a returned Motor City home boy, Alice Cooper is represented by “Halo of Flies”. Conversely, material from Bob Seger, Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder and early Ted Nugent wasn’t cleared for inclusion.
Disc One kicks off with Question Mark and The Mysterians, Mexican Michiganites who unconsciously set a benchmark when they stripped rock and roll back to its base. Teen dance bands who leapt out of garages to play weekends at places like The Hideout and future Grande impresario Russ Gibb’s Pink Pussycat are represented by The Woolies, The Pedestrians and The Hearsemen. No Pleasure Seekers, though.
Half the fun is discovering or re-visiting some of the obscurities. Better known acts like The Rationals, Terry Knight and The Pack, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels and The Frost (an early home for future Alice Cooper and Lou Reed axeman Dick Wagner) are represented.
Disc Two is maybe the best of the trio, with extended work-outs by Frigid Pink (“Pain In My Heart”), Grand Funk Railroad (“Inside Looking Out” – before they blanded-out) and Bump (the Who-like “Spider’s Eyes”) highlights. Brownsville Station’s “Road Runner” shows they weren’t just smoking in the boys’ room. Other covers by Savage Grace ("All Along The Watchtower") and Ruth Copeland ("Gimme Sherlter") are formidable.
The Stooges’ “1969” is almost too obvious an inclusion and any liners referencing “Teenage Lust” by the MC5 are committing the sin of omission by not dumping on Jon Landau’s fanbase-destroying production (“deliriously contagious three chord rock and roll nuggets”, indeed.)
Disc Three moves into funk and soul territory and beyond, with Diana Ross & The Supremes, Smoky Robinson & The Miracles, The Temptations and Rodriguez name-checked. If you’ve never heard the original “Motor City Is Burning” by John Lee Hooker that was appropriated by the Five, here’s your chance. 
