The MC5

I can’t begin to tell the story of the MC5 unless I first talk about the 60’s in general as they can only be understood in the context of the history of that era.  I know, I have spent a lot of time in this blog describing the 60’s and correcting misconceptions but this time I’m not going to be describing hippies, free love or flower children.  There will be no British Invasion or communes.  I’m going to take you on a tour through the seedier side of the 60’s and into the face of rebellion.  The MC5 are deeply connected with things like Abbie Hoffman, the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago, the White Panther Movement, the Chicago Seven and violence on stage at Woodstock.  You see, the MC5 was the most far left and militant band, bordering on anarchy, to come out of the 1960’s.

…And they made some of the most dynamic and amazing music of the era.

They were founded in 1964 in Detroit, Michigan, by Rob Tyner (vocals), Fred Smith (guitar), Wayne Kramer (guitar and shown in the foreground of the above picture), Michael Davis (bass) and Dennis Thompson (drums).  By 1965, they were playing regular gigs in Detroit and entered the studio to record their first single, I Can Only Give You Everything (1966).  (I will play this single on Wednesday.)  The name, “MC5” was shorthand for “Motor City 5,” which they were never really called.

The Black Panther Party

I must now turn attention to our first 60’s history lesson and cover a topic seldom discussed today. Most people have heard of the Black Panthers and with all of the shootouts and violence, their opinions are probably not very high about this group.  To a large degree, this may be deserved but most people forget about the spirit in which they were founded.  The early 60’s saw a lot of police brutality and violence aimed at black people and many saw this problem needing to be addressed.  Originally, the Black Panthers were set up to be more of a neighborhood watch or patrol but instead of looking for crime, they would step in and act as witnesses to racially oriented police brutality and possibly stepping in to defend the victim.  Along with this “neighborhood watch” function there were health clinics, free breakfast for children programs and other community projects.

The police, understandably, saw the Panthers as a threat and confrontation between the two factions became inevitable. FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, referred to them as, "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country."  But things started out innocent enough and it was in those early days that the Panthers recruited a white man, John Sinclair, to take action on their behalf.

In 1966 John Sinclair, a Michigan resident, actually approached them and asked what he could do to help their cause.  The result was that Sinclair founded a sister organization called the “White Panthers.”  This group would consist of white people helping their black brothers and sisters in ending police brutality and bringing awareness of the injustices suffered by black people in this country.

The Black Panthers logo on the left and the White Panthers on the right, note that one is the reverse of the other.

Now that Sinclair had the organization, he needed people to fill its ranks.  He needed to make white people not only aware of the plight of their black brethren, but of the movement they could join to fight for racial equality.  In order to get the word out, he started a new enterprise called “Trans-Love Energies.”  This organization could be used to address the social needs of the time in a broader sense, like ending the war in Vietnam, saving the Earth, living as brothers and sisters and of course, ending racial inequities.  The counter culture was heavily centered on music and John Sinclair knew that he would need to utilize music to get his message to young people everywhere.  Since he already had a magazine, the Fifth Estate, to use the printed word, he needed to have his own rock band to help tailor this message through music.

At this time, the MC5 were looking for a new manager. They had already released their first single when they came across Sinclair.  The MC5 now had a manager and Sinclair now had a rock band with which he could influence the youth.  In 1968, they released their second single, Borderline b/w Looking at You, through Trans-Love Energies.  That summer, they went on tour, opening for bands like Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin) and Cream (Eric Clapton).  There was just one problem; instead of warming up the crowd for the headliners, the Five were upstaging them.  The crowds often demanded multiple encores, cutting into the main acts time on stage.

At one particular concert, where they opened for Cream, they burned an American flag on stage and then put up their own pot leaf flag that had the word “KREEP” emblazoned in red letters across it.  The crowd was whipped up into a fervor, one that Clapton and Cream could not overcome.  Eric Clapton was not happy.  Despite only two locally distributed singles, these performances earned them the cover of a January 1969 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine.  (See below.)  John Sinclair had his voice to reach the youth of America.

Click to enlarge

It was on tour in 1968 that they met a group in New York City that called themselves, “Up Against the Wall Motherfucker,” or just the “Motherfuckers” for short.  This group grew out of anti-Vietnam groups in the area.  They embraced much of the counterculture but in an extremely militant fashion.  Abbie Hoffman said they were “the middle-class nightmare... an anti-media media phenomenon simply because their name could not be printed.”  Their name was taken from a poem, Black People, by Amiri Baraka, from the line, “The magic words are: Up against the wall, mother fucker, this is a stick up!” They were associated with many anarchistic activities of the time, including bringing the fences down at Woodstock, making it a free concert.  The MC5 were now involved with the Motherfuckers, along with the White Panthers.

The Democratic National Convention

Up to this point, I brought you to the first week of January 1969.  I need to back up the clock a bit to continue the story and go back to the summer of 1968, before they had become famous.

1968 was a Presidential Election year and the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago.  Soon after the location was announced, various counterculture and radical groups began making plans to stage protests.  It was a ripe target because democratic President, Lyndon Johnson had escalated the war in Vietnam from 23,000 troops when he took office to over 500,000 by the time the convention would take place in August.  Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies, the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and the Women Strike for Peace movement were but a few of the groups planning protests at the convention. There was a music festival scheduled in Lincoln Park to protest the war and John Sinclair knew where he needed to take his new-found band, the MC5, to perform.

The city was not blind to the fact that radical groups planned protests in their city during the convention.  Many cities had already broken out in riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the previous April and tensions only grew after the assassination of Democratic Presidential Candidate, Robert Kennedy weeks earlier.  In the weeks leading up to the convention, Mayor Richard Daley had been publicly declaring over and over again that he would maintain law and order in the City of Chicago during the event.  The Police Department went on overtime shifts and the Illinois National Guard was called out to assure order was maintained.  Finally, while the city could not deny permits for peaceful protests outright, it did drag its feet and created obstacles so that most permits were not processed before the event, making most protests in the city that week, illegal.

The unrest had already begun by Friday, August 23^rd, when a number of protesters were arrested.  It continued on Saturday with more arrests and the violence began.  The police would physically clear protesters from areas and protesters began throwing stones at police while chanting “Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”  The “Festival of Life” music festival was scheduled to start at 4:00 PM on Sunday.  When the time arrived, the only band to have made it to the Park was the MC5 and they took to the stage.  There have been reports that have the MC5 were on stage for up to ten hours or more.  They simply are not true.  The Five played for less than an hour.

The plan was to have many bands play for a crowd of about 100,000 youth but they didn’t have the permits.  Therefore, there were no porta-potties and the concession stand was operating at full capacity feeding the 3000 that actually showed up.  Furthermore, there was nothing set up in the way of electrical service and all of the equipment was powered by an extension cord that was ran from that concession stand.  After less than an hour, the concession stand was no longer willing to supply the power and unplugged the cord.  It was Abbie Hoffman who started the false rumor that the city and/or police had shut down the festival.  The rioting broke out in earnest this time and the police again began clubbing and arresting protesters until the park was cleared.

Only two other musicians are known to have made the trip to Chicago. Country Joe McDonald was present at the festival but did not perform and Phil Ochs was among those arrested and jailed the day before.  The MC5 was the only band to play the protest at the Democratic National Convention in 1968.  John Sinclair and the MC5 managed to avoid being arrested but many did not, including what has become a famous group, the Chicago Seven.

This group was put on trial to make an example and hopefully show the youth of America what happens when you protest.  They actually started out as the Chicago Eight but Black Panther leader, Bobby Seale, quickly had his charges separated from the rest.  The remaining seven, including Abbie Hoffman, would stand trial in late 1969 on federal charges of conspiracy and inciting a riot.  The country watched on and soon there was a national movement and protesters everywhere carried signs and wore tee shirts that said “free the Chicago Seven.”  Four of the Seven were found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison in 1970.  Those verdicts were overturned on appeal in 1972.

A Farside cartoon inspired by the Chicago 7, click to enlarge

Kick Out the Jams Motherfuckers… er… um… Brothers and Sisters

The Five had released a couple of singles with small record companies but they soon had a contract with one of the big boys, Elektra Records.  The executives at Elektra had heard their singles, recorded in a studio, along with having heard them live.  They made a bold decision to do the unheard of.  The debut album by the MC5, Kick Out the Jams, would be a live album!  They conveyed such energy when they were in front of an audience and they would feed off of it.  It was that energy that had them upstaging the likes of Eric Clapton and Janis Joplin.  The album was a huge success, climbing to #30 on the Billboard Top 200 in the spring of 1969 and is currently ranked #294 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Kick Out the Jams, 1969

Like anything else with the MC5, this album was controversial.

The title track, Kick Out the Jams, opened with the following words: “And right now... right now... right now it's time to... kick out the jams, motherfuckers!”  The song would then start up.  Back in the 1960’s this was not acceptable.  Two years earlier, Elektra had edited the word “higher” out of a Doors’ song, Break on Through, because it could be construed as a drug reference. Elektra wanted it out but the band and Sinclair stuck to their guns and the recording was released as is.

Without the bands knowledge, Elektra did edit out the offending words for the release of a single that they hoped would get airplay and help support the full album. They had doctored it with a recording of Tyner saying, “Kick out the jams brothers and sisters,” instead. The Five were not pleased with this.

(I’ll play both versions on Wednesday. I’ll open with the doctored, clean version and close with the original, uncensored version.)

After the album’s release, it quickly became something of a hot potato.  Stores began to refuse to carry it because of both the vulgar and reactionary content.  Elektra Records, again without the bands permission, removed John Sinclair’s extensive liner notes that were extremely militant and anarchistic.  It then created two forms of the album; one with the doctored, clean version of Kick Out the Jams, described above, and another with the original, uncensored verbiage. Once again, the Five weren’t happy.

This didn’t end the controversy. The “explicit version” would often be confined to remaining behind the counter and only sold to adults. If you found the album in the regular bins, it was probably the clean version. Furthermore, a large department store chain in Michigan, Hudson’s, refused to carry the album all together.  The band responded by taking out a full page ad in the Fifth Estate Magazine that had the MC5 name at the top and showed pictures of the band. Below the picture, in large letters, it said, “FUCK HUDSON’S!” The band, without asking Elektra first, turned the table and put a large Elektra Records logo next to the offending words. Hudson’s countered by refusing to carry any records on the Elektra label, including those by Tom Paxton, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Phil Ochs and the Doors, just to name a few.  It was now Elektra’s turn to not be pleased. (See the ad below.)

The "Fuck Hudson's ad, click to enlarge

Busted!

This whole time that John Sinclair was managing the MC5, he was out on bail and awaiting trial on drug charges in Michigan.  He had been arrested in 1967 for having just two joints (marijuana cigarettes). In July, 1969, he went to trial and was found guilty of these charges.  That same month, the judge sentence him to ten years in prison for just possessing the two joints.  Sinclair had been out on bail for over two years and it was customary to allow the convicted to remain out on bail pending his appeal. The judge denied bail pending appeal and John Sinclair was taken straight into prison to serve his ten years.  It became obvious that the whole thing was twisted to silence Sinclair.

After the Hudson’s incident, Elektra Records dropped the Five both as punishment for what they had done and to hopefully regain the potentially lost sales they were facing. This was immediately followed by John Sinclair being locked in prison for ten years. The MC5 was dealt a devastating one-two punch and lost both their manager and their record contract at the same time, as they were charting on Billboard.

The following month was the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival.  The event needs no introduction from me and John Sinclair, despite sitting in prison in Michigan, managed to have his presence felt.  Abbie Hoffman was present at Woodstock and between sets, took to a microphone on stage and began a diatribe on the plight of John Sinclair.  Later that evening, while the Who were performing, Hoffman came onstage and snatched the microphone away from a shocked Roger Daltry. He continued his rant by saying, “I think this is a pile of shit while John Sinclair rots in prison…” He was interrupted by Pete Townsend who yelled, “Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!” Townsend then charged Hoffman, hitting him with his guitar over the head as Hoffman fell into the pit in front of the stage.  A few weeks after the incident, Hoffman would begin his own trial as one of the Chicago Seven.  You will hear both incidents this August when we recreate Woodstock at AWT.  (I’ll play the longer first diatribe on Wednesday too.)

Epilogue

The MC5 soon signed on with Atlantic Records, which had just been breaking into the Rock music scene with band like Led Zeppelin.  The Five would release only two more albums, Back in the USA in 1970 and High Time in 1971.  Their producer at Atlantic, Jon Landau, tried to restrain them and mold them into something they weren’t and who could blame him considering their recent history?  Also, they were now in the studio to make their next record and not in front of an audience.  The magic was gone and sales were miserable.

The band fell apart but did manage to get together for their Farewell Concert at the same venue where Kick Out the James was recorded. That concert took place on New Year’s Eve, 1972.

 John Sinclair’s plight attracted a lot of attention.  In December 1971, the “John Sinclair Freedom Rally” took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Many musical acts came to perform including Bob Seger, Stevie Wonder and Phil Ochs. The event was headlined by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. John had just written a song called “John Sinclair,” and one of its lyrics, “They gave him ten for two; what else can the bastards do,” became a rallying cry.  A few days after the rally, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Sinclair’s immediate release after having served well over two years in prison.  They had found a number of improprieties in his trial.  John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band would record John Sinclair and release it on their 1972 album, Some Time in New York City.   (I’ll play this John Lennon song on Wednesday.)

The Black Panthers rapidly declined through the 1970’s amid violence, infighting and controversy.  The White Panthers did not fare much better and by the mid 1970’s they were no longer an entity.  The White Panther logo (shown up above) had been incorporated into the MC5 logo and found its way onto tee shirts, posters and other items.  It has become the last bastion of remembrance of the White Panthers. The Five’s logo, shown at the bottom of the page, incorporated much of what made up their controversial existence. There was a pot leaf in the middle, so reminiscent of John Sinclair’s situation. Written across the bottom is “Motherfuckers,” which is both a tribute to the organization in New York and to their rallying cry on Kick out the Jams. Finally, there is prominently displayed, the White Panther.

As we entered the 21^st century, nostalgia for the past dictated a few cleaned up versions of the shirt be produced for sale. One of these appeared on Jennifer Aniston on a 2003 episode of Friends. (See picture below.) One has to wonder how many people realized the significance of the white panther that remained on the logo displayed on Aniston’s chest. (The pot leaf and “motherfuckers” were removed.)

Jen Aniston wears an MC5 shirt on Friends

The MC5 was like a skyrocket. They went up and bursted to our collective “oo’s” and “ah’s” and quickly burned out, leaving with us nothing more than a memory we enjoy recalling.  That fleeting moment forever changed Rock & Roll.  Punk Rock would come into being and become a force to be reckoned with by the middle to late 70’s. Many of those acts would point back to the MC5 as one of their major influences.  If I was asked to describe the Five in one word, it would be “meteoric.”

Fun Facts…

Fun Fact #1: The organization founded by Sinclair, Trans-Love Energies, still exists today though it has a different role. It is now a medical marijuana compassion center in Detroit. It helps patients who need marijuana for medical purposes in Michigan, where it is still illegal.

Fun Fact #2: Jefferson Airplane took the lyrics to their song, We Can Be Together, from a leaflet put out by Up Against the Wall Motherfucker and published under the title, the Outlaw Page.

Fun Fact #3: My favorite MC5 song is off of their failed second album, Back in the USA. It is Shakin’ Street.  The version I will play is not the final released version but a longer version.  The first 12 seconds were cut in the final mix.

Fun Fact #4: Blue Oyster Cult would sometimes open their concerts with a version of Kick Out the Jams, using the "Brothers and Sisters" opening.

Conclusion

If you frequent AWT, you have probably seen the picture at the top of the page here at the club. I used it when I made the landmark giver for the concert platform. Why did I use that picture?  It is one of my favorite musical images from the 60’s.  Though it is a still photograph, it conveys an energy and intensity that just can’t be put into words.  It is a good image to draw someone to a concert.  That energy and intensity captured there is what made the MC5 so special and it only came out when they performed live.  There was just so much of it that even pictures and their debut live album were able to capture it.  That picture is also a poster on the wall of my beach house on Park Place.

In 1969, much of what I have written here could not be published because of the language I have used. I have pulled no punches and described the Five using language they would have used to describe themselves.  I felt anything less would lessen your experience of the Five.  Anyway, we now live in a world where you can use “motherfucker” on a song recording or even on this blog.  Maybe we have the MC5 partially to thank for that.

So, I want all you motherfuckers out there to join me this coming Wednesday, May 30, from 7-9 PM as we kick out the jams at a Woman’s Touch.  If you do, I can promise you one thing… You will never be the same again.

Programing Note: My show is from 7-9 PM SL time but I’m only going to play about one hour and fifteen minutes of MC5 and related stuff like the Abbie Hoffman rant and the John Lennon Song.

The MC5 logo

Stairway to Heaven

Yesterday was the Fairy Ball at AWT and I remarked how appropriate it was to end that show with Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.  This song is something of an anthem to my generation so I suppose that I should have expected a bit of a disconnect, especially among the younger attendees.  They seemed to be surprised by the fairy connection.  Last year I posted here about Led Zeppelin in general as one of my “Sojourns” and I linked that post last night but I felt that it might be of interest if I could fully explore the song, Stairway to Heaven.

The song was written in 1970 and Jimmy Page wrote the music on one of their now famous excursions to Bron-Yr-Aur, a manor house in the Welsh mountains where they’d go to compose.  Vocalist, Robert Plant, on hearing the music, improvised the lyrics and most of them were written and set during that session.  Plant had been reading a book, the Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis Spence (1949).

Spence’s book was a scholarly study of the magical and folk beliefs in Celtic Britain.  The book looks at many facets of this subject, including the Druids, Arthurian legend, magic and of course, fairies.  In fact, the entire subject matter touches upon the Fae in some manner or another.  Even in the segments on Arthurian legend, we look at the related fairy influence including Avalon and Morgan Le Fey. Plant has admitted that the lyrics were inspired by his reading of Spence’s book.

I think what I’m going to do is quote the song lyrics below and highlight in bold certain lines.  I’ll then address those lines and what they might mean.

Stairway to Heaven (1971), by Led Zeppelin

“There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed

With a word she can get what she came for.

Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

“There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure

'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.

In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,

Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

“Ooh, it makes me wonder,

Ooh, it makes me wonder.

“There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,

And my spirit is crying for leaving.

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,

And the voices of those who stand looking.

“Ooh, it makes me wonder,

Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

“And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,

Then the piper will lead us to reason.

And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,

And the forests will echo with laughter.

“If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,

It's just a spring clean for the May queen.

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run

There's still time to change the road you're on.

And it makes me wonder.

“Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,

The piper's calling you to join him,

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know

Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

“And as we wind on down the road

Our shadows taller than our soul.

There walks a lady we all know

Who shines white light and wants to show

How everything still turns to gold.

And if you listen very hard

The tune will come to you at last.

When all are one and one is all

To be a rock and not to roll.

“And she's buying a stairway to heaven.”

Discussion of the Lyrics

In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings.

One doesn’t find fairies in human civilization.  They are relegated to the forests and wilderness. This line firmly places the song’s subject in the forest.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,

And my spirit is crying for leaving.

There is a feeling we get when looking at a beautiful sunset.  It is compounded many times when that sunset is viewed out in the wilderness.  If any feeling we universally experience can be called on to prove that magic exists, it is this feeling. It burns deep in our chests and our souls.

Our ancestors watched the sun set and it seemed to parallel the experience of death and dying.  The sun would go to the west and die.  When King Arthur fell at the Battle of Camlann (537 A.D.), he was mortally wounded but did not die on the battlefield.  He was taken, still alive, by the fairies over the sea to the west, to their island of Avalon. There he was healed and now sleeps. The once and future King sleeps and awaits the call when he will be awoken, when Britain once again needs him.

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees

Smoke rings do not occur naturally and only happen when someone smoking creates one.  They often seem magical in and of themselves. This line has always brought to me visions of some gnome at the base of a tree, smoking a pipe and blowing smoke rings, floating among the trees in the forest. I’m also reminded of Bilbo and Gandalf enjoying a good smoke together and blowing smoke rings.

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,

Then the piper will lead us to reason.

There is an old phrase, “he who pays the piper calls the tune.”  It goes back to the Middle Ages and even the Dark Ages when pipers were used to provide music for dancing in the Hall.  The Lord or King in that hall would pay the piper; therefore they got to pick the tunes he played.  Pipes are ethereal and have a magical quality to them. One only has to think of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.  By making reference in this way, it is hard not to relate these lines to legends. There is a lesson here. If we all come together to give input in a matter, we will come up with a reasonable solution.

And the forests will echo with laughter

Often in tales of fairies, they are heard but never seen. The forests echoing with the sounds of laughter just comes right out and invokes images of fairies hiding deep within.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,

It's just a spring clean for the May queen.

A “hedgerow” often refers to the line of shrubs and greenery that lines the side of the road.  This line makes you think of a “bustle” or rustling within these shrubs as you walk past.  It’s nothing to worry about, it is just the fairies at work, putting things in order (a spring clean) for the May Queen.

The May Queen is an interesting bit of folklore that has evolved from the concept of the fairy folk. Some would say that the Fairy Queen and May Queen are one in the same.  Sir James Frazer in his iconic book, the Golden Bough, links her with the worship of the tree spirits.

The piper's calling you to join him,

We are back to the piper.  He now calls you to join the dance and you fall under the spell of his pipe.  Could this be in the Fairy Circle, deep in the forest?

There walks a lady we all know

Who shines white light and wants to show

We are now forced to deal with the “Lady,” who has been mentioned and alluded to throughout.  Was she just a lady?  Was she the Queen of the Fairies or was she something more?  We now learn that she “shines white light.”  Who else can this be but the goddess, Arianrhod?   She is the personification of the night sky and the full moon, whose light is often described as silver or white.  Arianrhod has many connections to the fairies and many would argue that the Goddess is the Lady referred to throughout the song.  I should also mention that the Welsh goddess, Rhiannon, would also fit as she is also a Celtic Moon Goddess.  The Goddess motif also relates directly to Heaven.

I have been listening to this song since it was first released in 1971 and it remains one of my favorites.  I’ve also read the Lewis Spence book referenced above.  These interpretations are my own but you will find that I am not alone in my views. But maybe it is best not to forget what Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page, said about it in 2003:

“The wonderful thing about "Stairway" is the fact that just about everybody has got their own individual interpretation to it, and actually what it meant to them at their point of life. And that's what's so great about it. Over the passage of years, you know, people come to me with all manner of stories about, you know, what it meant to them at certain points of their lives. About how it's got them through some really tragic circumstances ... Because it's an extremely positive song, it's such a positive energy, and, you know, people have got married to [the song].”

The song is in and of itself timeless.

What About the Devil?

Jimmy had always had an interest in the occult and was a big fan of ceremonial magic, especial the works of Aleister Crowley.  In 1970 Jimmy bought Crowley’s old manor on Loch Ness, Boleskine House.  This created speculation that he was dabbling in the Black Arts, including that he had sold his soul in a pact with the Devil for Led Zeppelin’s success.

There was supposedly further proof of this in that if you played Stairway to Heaven backwards, the line, “There’s still time to change the road you’re on,” becomes, “Here’s to my sweet Satan.”  When this sort of thing is usually done, it is done by recording something forward and then overdubbing it into the recording backwards.  It is called “backwards masking” and many bands did this.  I don’t think this was a product of that process and it is just coincidence it says anything backwards.  I’m sure if I played enough records backwards, I could find the line, “Donald Trump is smoking dope in my hovercraft.”  Where do people find the time?

Enter Disney

The original master tape of Stairway to Heaven was remixed by Disney’s Sunset Sound Studios in 2014.  Nothing has been added or taken away, but 21^st century technology has been used to allow you to hear the song in a new light.  You hear nuances that you never knew were there.  I recall hearing songs on AM radio and then being amazed when I finally heard those same songs from a record played on a high fidelity stereo.  The difference was night and day, yet it was the same recording.  This new version has done it again.  It’s like the recordings I’ve been hearing all these decades were the AM radio version and this new Disney version is what I should have been hearing all of these years. 

I will play this version to end my show this Wednesday, 2-4 PM at AWT.  I normally stream at 128Kbs but on Wednesday, I will up my rate to 192 Kbs, the highest the server will allow to assure you the highest sound quality.  I recommend headphones and turning it up for this grand finale!

In the 1970’s, Stairway to Heaven became a very popular slow dance number at high school dances across the country.  This may have contributed to its popularity with a generation as it became “THE” dance of the night at eight minutes long in school gyms everywhere. For me, it became special because it was filled with beautiful pagan imagery that sang to my soul.

The Middle of the Road

The most famous band you’ve never heard of (if you live in the United States)…

It was the summer of 1979 and I remember I was on the air filling in on a lazy Saturday afternoon at the radio station.  After the station ID tape finished playing and I flipped the switch on the board to turn on my microphone.  The red light over my head shined brightly, indicating that my voice would be going out to our listeners.

“You are listening to [call sign] FM and this is [Sue Mowadeng].  I’m opening up the request line at 555-7273.  If there is something you want to hear, give me a call.”

I had already flipped the switch starting the turntable and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick kicked in as I stopped talking with, “I want you to want me!”

It didn’t take long for the light on the phone to flash.  The ringer had been disabled on the extension in the control booth for obvious reasons.  I answered it and on the other end was a woman with what I thought might be a Spanish accent.  She told me that she loved our station and the music that we played but she hadn’t heard one of her favorite songs since she had moved there.  She wanted me to play Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by the Middle of the Road.  I had never heard of this song or this artist but I was confident that if it was a fan’s favorite that we had in back in the music room.  I promised to play the cut.

While Cheap Trick played, I quickly checked the music room and found no sign of anything by the Middle of the Road.  DJ’s normally live for these opportunities to brighten someone’s day.  We feel the pain when we can’t fill a request and must disappoint someone.  Furthermore, I didn’t know who she was so I couldn’t call her back, and there were guidelines on how we were to conduct ourselves on the air and we were never to apologize for glitches, not having a song, etc.  I felt badly for the poor woman out there somewhere listening and waiting for me to play her song.  I broke in a few songs later and said something similar to this…

“Here at [call sign] FM, we play all facets of rock and roll, from oldies to classics, to the latest releases and your favorites, so there is no middle of the road here, you get it all.”

I hoped that the listener caught on to my cryptic phrasing.  So, who were these guys?

I asked my relief and he had never heard of them.  None of my fellow DJ’s knew who the Middle of the Road was.  I told the story to our Music Director and he was intrigued.  He went through all of his sources and found one album on the RCA label, the Best of the Middle of the Road, but it was not currently distributed in the United States.  At least I knew they existed and I wasn’t the brunt of some practical joke but I was now very intrigued.

Remember, back at this time there was no internet and one couldn’t just Google “Middle of the Road” and find their songs on YouTube.  Months later, talking to friend from Latin America, I got more of the story.  Apparently they were really big all over the world except in the United States.  My friend described them as “international sensations.”  They were like ABBA before there was ABBA.  The fact that I had never heard of them, made them forbidden fruit and I wanted them even more. 

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 It was maybe a year later that I located a copy of the Best of the Middle of the Road and ordered it from West Germany.  I remember unwrapping it when it came and putting the record on my turntable.  I put the needle down on the first song on the first side and finally heard the request of that listener from that day a year before, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.  I finally understood what my friend meant by, “ABBA before there was ABBA.”

Fact: Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by the Middle of the Road remains one the top 30 all-time selling singles in the world, selling over 10 million physical copies.

This is proof that four very talented young Scottish musicians could be famous all over the world, yet remain unknown in the United States of America.

This puts them on a list with the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Ke$ha, Celine Dione, the Macarena and Whitney Houston, just to name a few.  “Chirpy” comes in just after Hound Dog by Elvis Presley and comes in just ahead of I’m a Believer by the Monkees.  Who are they?

Let me tell you the story…

The band we know as the “Middle of the Road” or MOTR came together under the name of “Part Four” in 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland.  There were brothers, Ian McCredie (guitar) and Eric McCredie (bass), along with Ken Andrew (drums).  Rounding out this quartet was female vocalist, Sally Carr, whose amazingly unique voice gave the classic lineup of MOTR their unique sound.  (Actually, they played for a short while as “Part Three” before Sally joined.)

In early 1970, they took up an offer to play in South America under the name, “Los Caracas.”  After South America, they found their way to Italy and changed their name to “Middle of the Road.”  Italy was only meant to be a stop over and they were working there in clubs, trying to save enough money to get back to the UK and establish themselves on home soil.

Los Caracas 1970

 While playing clubs in Italy, freshly back from South America, this Scottish group was discovered by an RCA Italia executive who happened upon their show.  He invited them to Rome to record some demos.  They made quite a smash among the people at RCA Italia and soon found themselves backing such names as Sophia Loren.  Their producer, Giacomo Tosti, was looking for material the group could record and he came across a Brit, Lally Stott.  Lally had a song that Tosti thought had potential and he had a new Scottish group that he thought would be just right for the task.

Anyone by Sophia Loren with MOTR backing her

 When MOTR heard the song, they thought it sounded like a kiddie song and they had no interest in it, fearing it would hurt their career…  all except Sally Carr who thought the song was cute and that they should do it.  Finally, the guys relented, provided there was plenty of Bourbon in the recording studio when they did it.  There was and soon they had a finished recording of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.  After hearing their record, they were sure that they would never be able to show their faces in public again as serious musicians, especially in their native UK.

They need not have worried and were never relegated to doing children’s parties.  If you have been reading so far, you know how successful Chirpy became.  They rocketed up the pop charts worldwide and followed up with other hits like Soley Soley, Sacramento (A Wonderful Town) and Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum, which was not a kid’s song but one about a feud between two clans, MacGregor and MacDougal, in their native Scotland.

MOTR showing some of their Gold Records

 Despite becoming international superstars, they remained unknown in the States.  I have not figured out exactly why this is but they did have a chance in 1972 until it was taken from them.  They were one of the featured musical performers at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.  Anyone alive back then recalls how those Olympic Games were marred when Palestinian terrorists took eleven members of the Israeli Olympic Team hostage.   The two day standoff in the Olympic Village ended with all eleven hostages being killed and several of the terrorists.  The coverage of those events diminished other highlights in the media, like Soviet gymnast, Olga Korbut’s amazing performance or American swimmer, Mark Spitz’s unprecedented seven Olympic gold medals, in which he also broke seven world records.  The terrorist tragedy completely eclipsed the musical acts, like MOTR.

Sally left the band in 1977.  Her mother had died and she could no longer stand performing live, especially having to sing their signature song, Chirpy. She had trouble with the lines, “where's your momma gone,” or “Woke up this morning and my momma was gone.”  MOTR continued to record and do concerts with a new female vocalist and fellow Scot, Lorraine Felberg.

Sally went on to marry sports announcer, Chuck Young, in 1978 and they had one child, Keith, in 1980.  They were getting pregnant at about the time I was taking the request at the station for the group I had never heard of.  She and her husband separated in 1984 (they never divorced) and Sally became a single mom to her son, Keith.  It wasn’t until he was eleven years old in 1991 that she would return to singing.

In January 2001, Keith was killed in a motorcycle accident and Sally found herself alone.  Eventually, she would find herself singing and performing again.  Though she was not part of MOTR, she was in demand as a solo act, performing her old songs.  She now found strength and comfort in songs like Chirpy where they once caused her anguish.

In 2012, Sally Carr collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage and almost died.  Her recovery has been plagued with setbacks but she has returned to singing and performing.  Ian McCredie & his son Stuart, along with drummer Stephan Ebn and female vocalist Lorna Osborne, continue on as the Middle of the Road today.  Their touring schedule for 2018 can be found on their website.

Last June, three of the original four members of MOTR (Eric McCredie was replaced by Ian’s son, Stuart McCredie) took to the stage for a reunion in Germany.  It was recorded in this amateur video shown below.  Sally’s vocals start out a bit rusty but definitely improve towards the end and she starts to sound like the Sally we all remember.  The cerebral hemorrhage could not keep her down.

Fun Facts…

Fun Fact #1: Sally Carr once turned down an offer from Playboy Magazine to appear nude in their publication.

Fun Fact #2: Sally Carr once dated Brian Connolly, lead singer for Sweet.

Fun Fact #3: In 1974, Neil Henderson left the Bay City Rollers to join MOTR as a fifth member for some time.  He supposedly did not like the direction BCR was going, wearing matching plaid jumpers on stage, etc. and was looking for a change.

In Closing…

Normally, for a post like this, since it is not a sojourn or memorial, I would play maybe five songs by the group.  In the discussion at the Club that led to this, there seemed to be an overwhelming desire to have a full two hours of MOTR.  Please join me on Monday, February 12, from 7-9 PM SL time at a Woman’s Touch as we remember this amazing group that most of us have never heard of.

MOTR Today

Collage Solution (2017... Hail and Farewell)

Here is the solution for the previous post's game.

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1. Fats Domino (1928-2017)

2. Glen Campbell (1936-2017)

3. David Cassidy (1950-2017), The Partridge Family

4. Jim Nabors (1930-2017)

5. Walter Becker (1950-2017), Steely Dan

6. Chester Bennington (1976-2017), Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots

7. Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

8. Cuba Gooding Sr. (1944-2017), The Main Ingredient

9. Chris Cornell (1964-2017), Soundgarden

10. J. Geils (1946-2017)

11. Della Reese (1931-2017)

12. Greg Allman (1947-2017), The Allman Brothers Band

13. Rosie Hamlin (1945-2017)

14. Tom Petty (1950-2017)