The Big Bang

Reared on the streets of Detroit, surrounded by bloated capitalist extravagance, and probably just hoping to get laid, the Motor City Five—better known simply as the MC5—elected to fuse lust, rebellion and politics into a high-energy, aggressive stance that won them both the snobby disapproval of the hippy-trippy West Coast bands and the detached praise of the "methed-up," harder-edged N.Y. scene during the late ‘60s. Whether the band paved the way for such diverse "offspring" as The Ramones, The Blue Oyster Cult and Sonic Youth you can judge for yourself with this new collection of the band’s best cuts: from the apocalypse-in-a-garage sounds of "Looking at You" and the live hysteria of "Kick Out the Jams" to the later controlled-chaos-in-the-studio compositions of the late Fred "Sonic" Smith, there’s much to suggest the band sired a multitude of musical progeny. Plus, this Rhino compilation features great liner notes by guitarist Wayne Kramer.