Farewell, Wayne Kramer: Rock n roll revolutionary [Video]

Rock ‘n roll revolutionary Wayne Kramer, best known for fronting the proto-punk group MC5 (Motor City Five), has passed away from pancreatic cancer, aged 75.

He helped set the template for punk rock and wasn’t just a musician. He was an experience, combining radical politics seamlessly with the kind of music that rips stadiums apart and incites riots.  

Kramer famously said of his bandmates:

“They wanted to be bigger than the Beatles but I wanted them to be bigger than Chairman Mao.”

A complex personality who was as angry as he was articulate, Kramer was born Wayne Stanley Kambes on 30 April 1948 in Detroit, Michigan — known as the Motor City in the United States because of its plethora of automobile factories and plants.

Following his parents’ divorce, Kramer’s mother remarried and Kramer was raised by an abusive stepfather. As a teenager, he turned to music to escape from the situation and befriended fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith. He also changed …