MC5 came into existence as a result of the friendship between Wayne Kramer and fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, who’d been pals since the two had been teenagers. At first, the guys each had their own band, but they eventually opted to join forces, and by the time they recorded their debut album – 1969’s Kick Out the Jams, the title track of which remains an all-time classic to this day – lead singer Rob Tyner, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson filled out the MC5 lineup.

However, after only two more albums – 1970’s Back in the USA and 1971’s High Time – MC5 was dropped by their label, and although they stuck together for a bit longer, they broke up after a final performance in Detroit on New Year’s Eve 1972. High Times may have marked the end of MC5, but the Geoffrey Haslam-produced set still finds the band in fine musical form and as accessible as ever with well-crafted cuts like Sister Anne,” “Poison” and “Skunk (Sonically Speaking).”

Dave Marsh wrote in the liner notes to the 1992 reissue of High Times: “Sadly, High Time’s 1971 release represented the end of the line for MC5. Hard drugs had entered the bandmembers’ lives, and within a year they’d split up, drifting off into various other configurations. At least two members wound up in federal prison on drug charges, and they never did reunite before the untimely death of Rob Tyner in mid-summer 1992.”