[5][6] The classic lineup consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson.

"[9] 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.

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[11] with original MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson playing on two tracks.

Kramer felt that they needed a manager, which led him to Rob Derminer, a few years older than the others, and deeply involved in Detroit's hipster and left-wing political scenes.

They quickly realized that Derminer's talents could be better used as a lead singer: Though not conventionally attractive and rather paunchy by traditional frontman standards, he nonetheless had a commanding stage presence, and a booming baritone voice that evidenced his abiding love of American soul and gospel music.

In some ways the group was similar to other garage bands of the period, composing soon-to-be historic workouts such as "Black to Comm" during their mid-teens in the basement of the home of Kramer's mother.

The music also reflected Smith and Kramer's increasing interest in free jazz—the guitarists were inspired by the likes of Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and late period John Coltrane, and tried to imitate the ecstatic sounds of the squealing, high-pitched saxophonists they adored.

Kramer and Smith were also deeply inspired by Sonny Sharrock, one of the few electric guitarists working in free jazz, and they eventually developed a unique interlocking style that was like little heard before: Kramer's solos often used a heavy, irregular vibrato, while Smith's rhythms contained an uncommon explosive energy, including patterns that conveyed great excitement, as evidenced in "Black to Comm" and many other songs.

[citation needed] Playing almost nightly any place they could in and around Detroit, MC5 quickly earned a reputation for high-energy live performances and won a sizeable local following, regularly drawing sellout audiences of 1000 or more.

Contemporary rock writer Robert Bixby stated that their sound was like "a catastrophic force of nature the band was barely able to control".

That summer MC5 toured the U.S. East Coast, which generated an enormous response, with the group often overshadowing the more famous acts they opened up for: McLeese writes that when opening for Big Brother and the Holding Company, audiences regularly demanded multiple encores of MC5, and at a memorable series of concerts, Cream—one of the leading hard rock groups of the era—"left the stage vanquished".

[20] This same east coast tour led to the rapturous aforementioned Rolling Stone cover story that praised MC5 with nearly evangelistic zeal, and also to an association with the radical group Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers.

[22][23][24] In their early career, MC5 had a politically provocative stage show: They appeared onstage toting unloaded rifles, and at the climax of a performance, an unseen "sniper" would shoot Tyner.

[29] 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.

"[30] The album caused some controversy due to Sinclair's inflammatory liner notes and the title track's rallying cry of "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!"

Reviews were again mixed, resulting in mediocre sales (it only peaked at #137 in the American charts in March 1970 during a seven-week stay), while the band's tours were not as well-received as before.

The album was poorly promoted, and sales were worse than ever, but High Time was the best-reviewed of the band's original records upon its initial release.

This release saw the band stretch out with longer, more experimental pieces like "Future/Now" and the Sun Ra-influenced "Skunk (Sonicly Speaking)" [sic].

[34] On February 13, 1972, Michael Davis left the band (he was using heroin and was all but forced out by the others), and was replaced by a series of bassists (Steve Moorhouse, Derek Hughes, and Ray Craig).

Sonic's Rendezvous Band released only the "City Slang" single during their initial time as a group, though later recordings were released posthumously, and a reconstituted Rendezvous Band (including original member Scott Morgan, of The Rationals and a newly added Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman) reunited in tribute, years afterward.

During the mid-1980s, Tyner produced a single for Detroit band Vertical Pillows, and occasionally made brief guest appearances during some of their live shows, singing MC5 covers.

Tyner became a successful producer, manager and promoter in Detroit, and released the warmly-reviewed Blood Brothers album in 1990, a year before his death in September 1991.

Dennis Thompson played with various bands, including The New Order, New Race, The Motor City Bad Boys, and The Secrets.

The first public reunion of the band after their recording years as a group was as a four-piece, at a performance celebrating the life of the late Rob Tyner, a concert event at the State Theatre in Detroit on February 22, 1992.

[37] 2003 saw the three surviving members of MC5—Kramer, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson (Smith had died in 1994)—performing as the MC5 at the 100 Club in London[38] with Fred "Sonic" Smith's place temporarily being taken by Nicke Andersson of The Hellacopters, vocals at that time being taken variously by David Vanian of The Damned, Lemmy of Motörhead, Ian Astbury of The Cult, and singer Kate O'Brien, as well as seeing Charles Moore and Buzzy Jones reprise their roles in the brass section from the High Time album.

As with the 100 Club concert, a host of special guests joined them on tour such as Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Nicke Royale of The Hellacopters, Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, Marshall Crenshaw, Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman, Lisa Kekaula of the Bellrays, and others.

In 2005, MC5 stabilized into a new lineup, consisting of Kramer, Thompson, and Davis, with Handsome Dick Manitoba, vocalist of the 1970s New York punk band The Dictators, singing lead, along with Gilby Clarke, formerly of Guns and Roses, playing rhythm guitar.

In May 2018, Kramer announced the MC50 tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kick Out the Jams, with a lineup including himself, plus rock stalwarts Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, Brendan Canty of Fugazi, and Doug Pinnick of King's X, as well as Marcus Durant and Don Was.

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 veteran producer Bob Ezrin would also be released later that year[11] with original MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson playing on two tracks.

[42] In addition to San Francisco Bay area singer-songwriter Brooks, Native American Salas is a former advisor of contemporary music at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Randle is known as the first permanent female member of The Tonight Show Band from 1992 to 2010, and Watson performed 400 shows with Bob Dylan from 1992 over five years of his Never Ending Tour.