Kick Out The Jams (Live)

You know a band is awesome when they debut with a live release.

ovo bi mi se po opisu trebalo sviđati, ali ne sviđa mi se nimalo. jednostavno loše zvuči, ne znam kako da drugačije opišem. još mi se nakon dvije minuta posljednje "pjesme" pripišalo pa sam kratko odahnuo od slušanja da bih se vratio i slušao posljednjih šest minuta izdrkavanja, što je ostavilo još gorči okus u ustima nakon svega. bljuc

No me gustó mucho

4*

Likes: Chaotic parts of the jams remind me of later noise jams by bands like Nirvana; high energy Dislikes: they don’t quite sell me on the idea that the chaos is intentional, and not just a result of everyone being high and fucking their parts up; not particularly interesting to me Overall, similar to my review of Arthur by The Kinks. I know what this band is supposed to mean in the broader context of rock, but I don’t feel like I get it.

Lots of fun! Proto-punk is great! Good live sound, even with bad sound quality, great high-energy show.

Quite a gamble to start your discography off with a live album. This one is really iconic and influential, sounds like Punk music a decade before Punk. It feels like a bit of an unfocused mess though. The 60's extended Psychadelia fueled jams are in full effect here. Sometimes you're just listening to a wall of noise and feedback and guitar crunches. Still cool, but I prefer their tighter studio work.

Didn't enjoy

Four stars motherf#%ker!

War jetzt nicht so gut, aber punk muss halt manchmal auch ein bisschen scheiße sein...

Album #100 MC5: Kick Out The Jams Kind of a lacklustre album for my hundredth, seeing how I have never heard of it. After listening to it, it definitely is ahead of its time and is probably one of the earliest instances of a true ‘punk’ album; however, I don’t really think this one has held up that much. You can’t deny its energy, and it’s not terrible or anything, but I’m not the biggest fan of the more raw punk sound, so this sound isn’t even something that I loved when it was fully fledged (for the most part, there are a lot of great punk bands). It’s cool that it’s a live album, and it definitely would have been a fun show to attend while tripping balls in the 60s; but sitting in my bedroom in the 2020s, I’m not fully enthralled by it. That being said, it is a super interesting album, and one which actually warrants an inclusion on a list like this so I’m happy to have heard it. Best Songs: Kick Out The Jam, Ramblin’ Rose, Motor City Is Burning Worst Song: Borderline Score out of 10: 5.5

Love it. No Notes.

Not for me

This album is... nice. Better than what I thought it would be considering how it started, but I had many expectations, and it's not near what I thought. I am going to be fair, and I'm not going to judge this album by my the way it corresponds to my expectations. It's pretty good. Actually, but it's not much of an enjoyable album, and there are things that don't work so well. It's a live recording, a very good one, but maybe the magic of the music in here would have sparked in the concert itself because, in audio, it's not that much. It's an album with good songs, some interesting parts, but not much more. It's not very enjoyable (at times it is, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't make me feel enthusiastic about it at all), but it's quite nice. The songs are good. There so much energy. Well, I've liked it, to be honest, but it hasn't impressed me much.

meh , not rlly a big fan of this album. i liked the first song

Energetic but uninspiring

New to me. A pale imitation of The Who

Stated well and felt fresh for its time. Unfortunately fresh turned to odd in the second half.

These guys must have been amazing live when the passion and protest would be visceral. Sadly, the rudimentary rock, shouty delivery and sexually explicit lyrics don't have the same impact when sipping a cup of tea at home on a sunny spring morning. 2*

This shit is raw as fuck! Great live album, incredibly influential to punk music too

Alright so my version of the album is specifically titled "Kick Out The Jams [Live] [Japan Remastered]", i don't know if it's a different version of the Live album chosen because I'm using YT Music and not Shittify Right off the bat I can say that the cover of "Kick Out The Jams" by The Presidents Of The United States Of America is way better. Ending off with "Starship" was certainly, um.. an interesting experience! Overall, the concert recordings were pretty fun to listen to. Very impressive for its time of 1969. My favourite track is "I Want You Right Now" but the slurping and smacking their lips at the middle part f*cking killed me dude

#887. I know a lot of people consider this to be one of the greatest live albums ever. But, like... why though? 2/5: meh

Guardians of the galaxy vibes, ni helemaal mn ding

I bet going to this show was a blast. I'm not connecting to it. Some splashes that grabbed my attention, but not enough of them. The history and how controversial this release was surprised me. It feels middle of the road.

I feel like I need to understand the cultural history of this album to appreciate it properly. I don't. I'd rather just be able to appreciate the music to be fair, which is ok.

I get that this is the origin of punk, but I feel like it just doesn't hold up as well as other albums from the time

Unknown to me but enjoyable

A really high energy live album. I normally hate live albums, but this one felt like you could pick up the crowd feeding off the band, and the band feeding off the crowd. They get very unglued about halfway through, like the speed wore off and they were running of whatever hallucinogenic mix they had cooking in their systems. I couldn't finish the last track. My Rating: 4/5

Listening to this album is like driving a 1984 Dodge Caravan: I appreciate its place in history, but I don’t really want to drive it.

Blue eyed rock and soul

Incredible energy and power. Protest music that's still down to earth.

I get that it is an iconic album heralding punk etc, but it's also a bit of a mess. MC5 - fine; this album - not so much.

Probably one of those 'you had to be there' records

Pretty good, but not super remarkable

94. liked it

Day795 - we could all kick out a the jams a little more

Quite liked it overall, a good sound

An enjoyable listen with some highlights, but overall average.

It was fine I guess?

I wanted to hate this and almost liked it a tiny bit.

Pocos discos en live me gustan como suena y este no es uno de ellos

"Kick Out The Jams" is an interesting record for me, despite owning it for years, it rarely finds its way onto my playlist. I’ve never quite understood the massive acclaim; musically, it’s solid but hardly ground breaking. While I’ve never been one to over-analyse lyrics, I don’t find much to grab onto there either. I love a great live album, but this wouldn't break into my top twenty. It’s high-energy, certainly, but the vocals are messy and none of the tracks stir a real emotional response. Sonically, it’s a raw recording - which is fine - but it fails to truly excite me. "Motor City Is Burning" is the standout track. It is somewhat ironic that on an album hailed as the 'birth of punk,' the most cohesive and satisfying moment is a sprawling, traditional six-minute blues. The track works because it forces the band to rein in the messiness and actually lean into a groove. In fact, the near absence of groove elsewhere is likely why I rate this album lower than its reputation suggests. Then there is "Starship" a complete mess of a track and the album's low point. I admire the chutzpah of releasing a live album as a debut, but beyond that, it remains a good but far from essential listen. Three stars. Side one 1 "Ramblin' Rose" (3/5) 2 "Kick Out the Jams" (3/5) 3 "Come Together" (3/5) 4 "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)" (3/5) Side two 5 "Borderline" (3/5) 6 "Motor City Is Burning" (4/5) 7 "I Want You Right Now" (3/5) 8 "Starship" (1/5) Total - 23 Average - 2.88 267/1001 143/267 albums reviewed were new to me

Definitely harder/heavier than I like, but also pretty boring.

Eh.

Nope, couldn't finish. Not a fan of live albums and this was just noise.

Rock and rollll

Not for me

syrerock.

Holy hell this is incredible! I’ve heard this before but it’s been a long while so it’s really hitting great now especially during this project to help cut through all the crap on this list. You can really feel the energy of the show on this recording and you can hear everything well so props to the engineer who recorded this. This recording does back up the theory you always hear about this and Blue Cheer being the beginning of heavy metal. We are so lucky that this moment in time was captured. Wish I was alive and at that show! So damn powerful and heavy!

More power to those that love this. Clearly revolutionary for the time, and I was surprised to see how much cultural impact it actually had when it came out. I like to think that I'd take this over Jefferson Airplane in 1969 if given the choice. But in 2026, it's really just a history lesson and not a whole lot else.

Is it sloppy? Yes. Is the singing and musicianship good? No. But that’s the point. The messages would not be the same played by Julliard students. Much respect for inspiring a lot of musicians and albums I love.

Lite 4, cool proto punk

Is rock n roll! Decent album, relatively heavy by the standards of the day when it released. Not going to be entering my regular listening, but any enjoyable experience nonetheless

Album #1,061 I heard this once before, I think, and I thought it was alright. This time, I thought it was a little better than alright. Energetic, loud rock that peters out at the end with some psychedelic stuff I didn't care much for. Other than that, great. It really reminded me off KISS' live stuff. The singing style just had to have inspired Gene Simmons.

It’s possible that this concert had some historical or cultural importance. Wish I could’ve been there. MC5 has really fun music. But it is hard to get a good recording of a live performance. I’m giving this two stars because some of it managed to sound like music.

A few initial listens today and I found this effort a little on the mediocre side. Average hard rock, an early project so definitely a pioneer, I only feel the punk in the philosophical energy. It felt raw and annoying, so I went and educated myself. This effort is a pleasure to read about. The negative aspects of the record suddenly make sense and turn a bit endearing. This is a legitimate amateur performance, and it's their debut album, and it's a live recording executed over 2 nights. What? Without the context it's not as impressive and that sets the general rating, but there's some added decimals in there purely because this IS a must listen. This is an early moment in a big sound, and it's an honest look at it. No sugar coating, no smoke or mirrors. It has a lot of imperfections but that didn't matter and they knew it. 3.2/5

Menudo arranque! Son cañeros, para reescuchar

3.5

4/5

Full of energy

A live punk album from a band I've never heard of before. It's about what you would expect. Some of the guitar distortion and tone is cool as hell but this is the music that my grandpa was describing when he said he didn't listen to rock and roll because "it's just noise". That describes this album perfectly. Just loud for the sake of being loud. No message, no structure, no clarity. Just in your face noise and aggression just to stick it to the man. Needless to say, MC5 never made it big in mainstream culture. After reading some peer reviews - apparently it's supposed to sound like this and some people love it. This album just goes to show that just because something is important doesn't mean it's good. It's just objectively bad music. 2/10

Album 1062 of 1089 Kick Out The Jams (Live) - MC5 (1969) Rating : 3 / 5 I’m generally not big on live albums. There are a few exceptions, but most of the time I prefer a well-crafted studio effort. This one lands somewhere in the middle for me. It doesn’t come across as a slick, polished live production. At times it almost feels like someone in the crowd happened to hit “record” and just captured the chaos as it unfolded. That’s not necessarily a knock as it actually adds to the rawness. You can feel the energy in the room. It sounds immediate, loud, and unapologetic. The band is clearly firing on all cylinders. It’s more of a full-on jam session than a carefully structured performance, and that works to its advantage. The spirit is there. The attitude is there. You can easily imagine how electric it must have felt to be in that audience. As an album, it’s decent. As a moment in time, it’s probably much stronger. I enjoyed the listen, but I’m not sure it will stick with me long term. Still, for the energy alone, it’s worth the spin.

3.5⭐️/5 02.25.2026

I probably listened to this at some point previously, although I don't imagine I properly appreciated it. It's a live recording from 1969, so it sounds like shit, but this album fucking ROCKS. Obviously, "Kick Out the Jams" has a certain raw energy that made it such a famous statement of early punk, but most of the rest of this album has a similar smash-the-fucking-drumkit, start-a-bonfire energy. I imagine they got tired playing for eight damn hours at the DNC. What I wouldn't pay to hear that. Other highlights beyond "Kick Out the Jams" include "Ramblin' Rose" "Motor City is Burning" and especially "Rocket Reducer No. 62 - Talk". These dudes were real ones.

It's good

Maybe they have energy, maybe they're raw and proto-punk, but not for me. Starship hurt my ears.

Not bad for a live punk album

I don't know these guys, but this was a fun, high energy, rocking way to say hello to the world.

Can they play well or write complex songs? No. But, really, who gives a shit? There are far more important things happening on this record than songwriting and musicianship. I've listened to dozens of albums during this project with incredible songwriting and musicianship, and none of them made me want to grab this world and shake it till all the evil currently wreaking havoc fell out like loose change and breath mints. Oh, that there were a dozen bands just like them at our current moment in history (and not just trying to monetize themselves on various platforms). MC5 rocks and they rock with intention.

Before The Stooges even released their debut album, these guys put out their first album where they play garage rock so intensely and raw that they practically invent punk rock. Recorded live, this album sounds like a great time. The recording quality isn't the best and the band aren't exactly virtuosos on their instruments (the high pitch vocals on the first track make this abundantly clear early on). What they lack in ability, they make up for in sheer energy and drive. The second side is definitely the weaker side of the album, with a lot of extended jams that don't justify their length. This album is at its best when they are pushing out no-filler rockers like the title track. I'll always admire this album for its influence, even if it may not be something I'll come back to in full a lot.

Very fun live performance

This was a great surprise.

If there is one word to describe it, it would be ‘rough’. The music is rough, the recording quality isn’t great either (though I realise it is an older record, but still) and therefore it is a very rough listen. 2/5

A revelation. Ferocity personified. And not nearly as abrasive as I had been led to believe. Full of hooks and insane,Tasmanian Devil-level energy. It's easy to see how this was so influential. Genuinely ahead of its time. The dual-guitar attack sounds unlike anything from the era and the singer is homely- one of the best things a frontman can be. And is there a bigger flex than releasing a live album as your debut? To anyone who thought playing rock and roll was about being aloof and keeping feeling at arms length, this album is fierce rejoinder. I wish someone had played it for me in middle school!

Rating: 5.5/10

I didn't mind it, but I kinda prefer the weird Kick Out The Jams from Kenny Everett's World's Worst Record Show.

It's iike if Jimi Hendrix was in a proto-punk band, pretty good stuff.

Talk about an album that sounds like it looks on the album cover. I had never heard of MC5 before this but boy I wish I had. Listening to this, I felt like I was in a boiler room the entire time. It sounds like a bunch of guys with varying levels of an idea of what they're doing on stage having the best time of their life. Having said that, none of these guys know how to end a concert. Highlights: Kick Out The Jams, Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)

Very interesting live album, kinda wish I was there

Another one I've never heard of, the energy of this is crazy,, I was digging the music as well.

This is some pioneering work. Punk waaay before punk.

Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: I want You Right Now, Starship I can definitely hear and understand how MC5 could be considered a forerunner of punk rock, given this live album. The music is all fuzzed out and unwieldy. It's not clean or buttoned up. The vocals are shout-y and aggressive and politically motivated. I have come to realize that most punk music doesn't rank too highly as a genre I enjoy, but this is early enough that you still have some jammy, psychedelic rock influences in the music, which I do like. I am surprised I've never heard of MC5 before, but I guess I can't be that surprised about that kind of thing anymore - there's simply so much on the List that I haven't heard. That's the whole point though, right!?

Literally just garage band noise

This was bad and then it became unlistenable

This was interesting as a time capsule of a certain type of sensibility in the late 60’s. But the band and tunes are just OK. I added the title track to my Generator playlist.

I guess I don’t really get this when I was younger. Now I feel like I do get it but I still don’t like it. Actually, I kinda got into it as it went on.

Raw as hell and louder than bombs! I wish I’d seen this show but I was five months old. Oh well. MC5 sound like the first American punks and surely inspired hundreds of bands. I’d say we rarely get that energy anymore, but it just sounds different now.

I'm not familiar with MC5 at all, I only know of the name. I quite enjoyed this album, it's a cool fusion of bluesy rock with some punk vibes.

Over halfway in, and I can't stop thinking about listening to something else. The first glimpse of songwriting and musicianship I have gotten on this album is Motor City is Burning. Otherwise, and I quote every parent ever, "That's not music. That's just noise." This wasn't offensive to listen to, but it sure made me want it to be over so I could listen to something else ⭐⭐

I am a big fan of Kick Out The Jams but the rest of the album is only adequate.

The riffs are pretty good. I don't much like the live recording. I don't much like the vocals, particularly the falsetto vocals on the first song. At times it doesn't even sound in tune. Seems like an influential album, but it's not really hitting for me. I feel like this could get a kid hyped in the '70s but I'd prefer something a little more polished. "Starship" is a mess of a closer for me.

Unbelievably average

Maybe the first live album where the e thought I wish I’d been there

Sort of exhausting but hey at least it’s fun.

Hell yeah🤘🏼

🫢

Klassisk rock. Godt liveopptak. Men litt synd at introen er kulere enn musikken.

turn off that racket! *shaking fist*

Not a fan. A lot of noise and this band never really did it for me.

tis punk, tis old punk probably would have been good to see them live instead of the live album but im like 64 years late

543/1001 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

The music watch catchy and chaotic. I can see how this band was key in the punk movement. It won't have this on repeat, but it was good

Not for me

Just your run-of-the-mill (live) 60s/70s rock album. Nothing special.

Sounds like it maybe would have been a fun concert to have attended but not a good listen by any means. I was surprised to see this came out in the 60s, it seems very ahead of its time, but still wouldn’t listen under any circumstances

It’s a spirited performance, and combines carefree tomfoolery with a few decent musical ideas. Emphasis on “few”. While the singing is generally fine (with rock screams mirroring those of Jim Morrison from the same time period), the melodies are far from ideal. Guitar riffs are pretty much always blaring, roaring into you at slightly different types depending on which ear you are. And they don’t sound great. The best the guitars sound is in the Heartbreaker-esque solo in Rocket Reducer No. 62 - Talk, which unfortunately is an intensely unapproachable song for other reasons. (Speaking of tracks from Led Zeppelin II, every song seems to be in the same key, which I think is also the key in The Lemon Song. And because the guitar-playing is a lot like Page’s, I keep sensing bits of lemon in my MC5. I guess I’m not complaining.) The guitar sound in Motor City Is Burning also stands out: it’s gritty, distorted, but not too much so. And the groove is really strong. Swung blues is hard to get wrong. I feel the second singer isn’t adding very much to a lot of the tracks. (In fact, at times he adds so little that I wonder if the lead vocalist is singing over a pre-recorded vocal track.) There are zero vocal harmonisations, unless you count falsetto “woo”s that happen to hit a decent harmony with the main melody. So what exactly were MC5 thinking here? Did they have a friend that really wanted to tag along to the gig but couldn’t play any instruments? (Have I just described every member of MC5? Impossible to know, really.) Come Together is a fun track, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the other Come Together released in 1969. (In fact, I found myself craving some chill electronic blues around this point in the album. But MC5 are far from “chill”. Unfortunately for them.) Borderline is a track with lots of potential, but it squanders it with a disorienting percussion part that makes it impossible near-impossible for the music to settle into a groove. Because of that, I don’t see myself returning to it. (The audience seemed to love it, though, so what do I know?) I’m torn on I Want You Right Now. On the one hand, it kind of rips (in a good way). On the other hand, it’s five and a half minutes of two chords and includes a terrible middle section (in a bad way). Overall, not approved – but only barely. The middle section of Starship is at least more interesting – kind of like early Floyd (Astronomy Domine, or Interstellar Overdrive, or A Saucerful of Secrets). I dig it. It’s a major change from the rest of the album, incorporating some major psychedelia and space-rock into an otherwise hard-rock sound. The second half is horrendously atonal, though – and because that part takes up a cool 4 minutes of the 39-minute record, it singlehandedly lowers my rating from 3 to 2 stars. 2/5 Key tracks: Kick Out the Jams, Motor City Is Burning

Not a band I've every listened to before, although I know the name and a little of the background of what was going on in Detroit at this sort of time. It was OK without ever really grabbing me, Of its time I guess, but not so badly of its time as to be horrible to listen to.

Blind album and artist. Interesting and a super cool listen, but i just wish there was some remastered to clean up the live recording a bit, but cool part of music history for sure.

Damn right! This is one I've owned for many years. Brother Wayne don't mess around. Attitude, anger, righteousness and drugs. Don't listen to it as much as I used to but when the itch hits this is just the right scratch.

Maybe it's my jaded metalhead ass talking, but this doesn't feel anywhere near as energetic as everyone says it is. The album is just OK, for the most part. They can't really write songs anywhere near as well as the Stooges to which they are often compared, and the singer isn't very good at all. The guitar tones and drumming are good, but they can't really save this album. Many hold it up as a formative punk record, and I can kind of see it, but it's kind of lacking in terms of good songs compared to many other formative punk records. I especially hated the falsetto on "Ramblin' Rose". It is ultimately an example of an album that was highly influential but failed to age well in the face of more extreme and raucous music in decades to come.

Classic live punk/rock album. Pretty good, interesting hype man at the beginning.

first listen noisy and not very good quality

Never heard of MC5 before. It's discovery week for me! The intro to this album, the first part of Rambling Rose is incredible. I have heard a cover of Kick out the Jams by Spider bait before, good to hear the original kicks just as much ass! Come Together has some insane guitar riffs! Motor City is Burning is another great jam I love the little wail at the start of Starship too that sounds like a hovering spacecraft, that's very inventive. Take note Thin Lizzy, this is what a live album SHOULD be!

Just doesn't feel like the birth of punk, especially when im listening to the 12 bar blues

ok

that was pretty good! I didn't like Starship that much but I loved their energy and that really early punk sound, definitely 4 stars here

Ramblin' rose - 3 Kick out the jams - 4 Come together - 3 Rocket reducer no. 62 - 3 Borderline - 3 Motor city is burning - 4 I want you right now - 3 Starship - 1

Kind of an insane album for a debut and I like their recorded stuff better overall. There's no denying that this is super influential, particularly to NYC punk like the New York Dolls. The songs for me are not super fantastic, but I was definitely invested.

Toe tapper, Bust a move

SO I've lived in Detroit which means I've heard this album a lot lol

First track has a bit of 50’s rock and roll then becomes pretty angry, straight into kick out the jams and from then on (apart from the odd track) it’s just in your face, loud, aggressive and just what you expect from the reputation it has. Absolute banger! Hard to believe it’s 1969

Inte så engagerande trots kaoset

Inspiration för bra saker som kommit senare, men det här var lite för stökigt och lite för live.

Njae jag vet inte.

Not for me but I liked the energy

Detroit’s iggy and the stooges

Album 13/1001. Listened 1/30/2026. It's ok, probably a little too stoner rock for me, but could listen to it in the background.

I do appriciate the influences that this album had and created. Its cool to see the start of punk and when they leaned into psych and blues I was totally there for it. Other than that, I just don't love the punk sound. 7/10

Ok. Sounded like a good gig if you were there. Hard to place any significance on it now. But glad I listened.

Too heavy

Proto-Punk indeed. ★★★

Ugh I guess I just don't love american rock idk. it was cool but it didn't really speak to me i guess

Not really for me :///

они раздают энергию и вывозят ее. Похоже на ввайб Metal Family 1. Ramblin' Rose 7/10 крутые, качает 2. Kick Out The Jams 8/10 звучит как классика, максимально альтернативный рок в лучшем его образе 3. Come Together 6/10 много рифов, просто в транс уходят, под настроение 4. Rocket Reducer No.62 - Talk 5.5/10 5. Borderline 5/10 сестра поет и попадает в мелодику и ритм, я в наушниках и а*уе 6. Motor City is Burning 6/10 больше нравится по динамике и развитию, но к 6й практически идентичной другим песне, уже приелось 7. I Want You Right Now 4/10 я уже на 3ей перестала хотеть это слушать, проблемы с агрессией у них на лицо, из меня уже желчь выходит( 8. Starship 8.1/10 ОО что-то прикольное, круче всего, что есть в альбоме не люблю, когда песни - набор звуков, которые предназначены только для того, чтобы подрыгаться, как слушатель жалуюсь, что нет продыху от жесточайшей электрогитары. Итог: если бы не 1001альбом, я бы ни за что не послушала MC5

Nothing much I liked here. Not terrible

Meh.

6/10

I'm usually not one for Live records but this was a blast. No notes!

Ramblin' Rose 3.7 Kick Out the Jams 4.2 Come Together 3.5 Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa) 3.7 Borderline 3.5 Motor City Is Burning 3.6 I Want You Right Now 3.6 Starship 3.7 Score: 3.6875

Any band with a Fred 'Sonic' Smith in is a massive 5/5.

3,5/5 + High Energy, high intensity and overall electrifying performances + Rocket Reducer No. 62 is crazy good + It truly is something special - sometimes it sounds very amateurish, sometimes it doesn't work at all - for a live album, it lacks that atmosphere

A raucous, energetic live album. Heavy for its time! This is the only MC5 album I’ve heard, so it was familiar territory. I wouldn’t say it has become a favourite over the years though, just doesn’t seem to stick with me. Ultimately, I think that’s down to the songs. Not shit though.

Good band but this sounds bad.

It’s a sloppy mess and that is the point. Raw, energetic, basic. Yeah he doesn’t seem to be able to hit any particular note. Sloppy is a nice term for the instrumentation. But It rocks and again that’s the point. Music can be a technical expression of human accomplishment that we can marvel at, but it can also be this raw expression of fun, fury and noise. Someone somewhere at sometime was going to make this mess of an album, record that pure activity and essence of all of us that have rocked out in the proverbial garage at some point, however shit we were. 4 Star.

punk rock. classic shit. over-done today, so a bit meh.

I'm not normally a fan of live albums, but this one really turns me out. "Kick Out the Jams" has always been a favorite, but "Rocket Reducer No. 62 - Talk" is definitely up the list for me. This album has an interesting energy to it. You really feel like a part of the crowd. It's a great listen.

hmmm wel een paar leuke liedjes ma die roept gwn veel te veel, also jeff buckley zn versie van kick out the jams is 100 keer beter🤐

super veel instrumenten vond ik wel een vibe

1 Wth is dit zelfs. Spontane combustie van mijn oren veroorzaakt.

Good rock and roll. Maybe got a bit screechy at times and still not a huge fan of the live album format in general, but overall pretty fun and high energy.

7/10

This was so fun, and absolutely remarkable for the time they did it. And it’s their debut album too? Omg

Best Track - "Kick Out The Jams"

not my thing

Meh, but can understand others liking it.

Not really a fan of live albums on the list in the first place, and this really did not give me a good first impression of this band. I found it very shouty and noisy. Not really my thing at all. Motor City Burning was okay because it had some guitar work in the middle that I liked, but for the most part this was very forgettable and I wont be revisiting ever again. 2.5 stars

Meh

Really, 2026? My first day of work for the year is even more dreadful because I have to listen to an album with one good song on it? Come on, now, that's just unfair. Favorite Track: "Kick Out The Jams".

Prob 3.5? I don't especially love live albums and they're not what I generally listen to, but better than expected

2.6 I really liked the title track, others were ok, the album was like the epitome of just rock (no modifier). I hated the final song which was just shitty guitar? Overall ok

Merci, j'ai maintenant une sacrée migraine

Archetypal live rock album, influencial on this genre.

3.5 rounded down to 3. A clearly very good live act which would have been diminished slightly in a studio album. The whole revolution thing with the emcee was a bit annoying though, but what are you going to do with it being the 60s!

ok

3 stars just because "Kick Out The Jams Motherfuckers"

Not my fav

I get that it’s influential but if I wanted to listen to this type of music I would just listen to the stooges

Little Bit Boring...

Wow! really interesting recording. Starts with the classic intro question - Are you going to be part of the problem or are you going to be a part of the solution? This MC5 live album clearly pays its dues to rock and roll history, but also points the way towards a punk and new wave sound that would emerge in future years taking inspiration from this band

This might be one of the worthy live albums. Kick out the jams is one of the all time great riffs

Pretty good!

A fine album with good energy but never really goes anywhere than where it starts. A little one-note for my taste, but still a punchy leftist romp that isn't bad at all. Top tracks: Ramblin' Rose, Kick Out the Jams, I Want You Right Now

Clearly influential, no substance to it at all... yeah its definitely a punk record

Fabulous album. A lot of live albums I feel can be quite gratuitous in their capturing of the stage experience, five-hour drum solos being a particular bete noir, but this is pretty much is succinct in its garage rock ferocity. Love the Space Rock song at the end.

Such a kick ass live performance. You can feel and hear the energy and urgency and what blows me away is imagining how explosive this must have sounded like at the time. There are nods and love for what came before but a propulsion forward that kicks open the doors for what’s to come.

I’d give it a 2.5 if I could, I know this album was influential but my god it is so mid with no context

Listened before: No Giving it as many stars as chords these dudes can play. 3/5 Fav: Motor City is Burning

Boring bullshit

Cool post-punky live album but it's really nothing impressive, some good stuff here though

don’t care

I am one thousand percent sure that this influenced some of my favorite artists. But that's not enough to make it a repeat listen.

Just because you're are the first group to do something doesn't make it good. Like the first person to bite into a raw egg. The shell cracks & the goo of the whites & the yolk hit inside your mouth. Crunchy, gooey yummyness, huh! The recording does them no favors as it sounds like dog shit. Motor City is Burning seems like the only competent song, mostly cuz it's a simple blues number. I get it, it's raw & loud & angry but it's just not good. I imagine this is what Kiss sounded like to those pearl-clutching parents who gave them them their reputation. 1

I really like the raw energy of this one. IDK the original songs but these live versions sound like they're bringing it.

Not terrible - but not great.

Rocket Reducer No. 62 - Talk is pretty awesome if not stupid and hilarious. I’M IN A BAND AND I LOVE IT… OOOOO YEA. Classic Yea band

Absolute trash

Embarrassed to say I don’t know these guys beyond the Jeff Buckley cover so was happy to get a primer. They still sound current in a lot of ways and the influence they had is clearly apparent.

I want my guitar to sound like this

Fun listen but don’t feel the need to return

Kinda bad before realizing it was 1969. Actually pretty innovative for the time, proto punk or something

An awesome band paving the way for future awesome bands

Feels like one of the seminal records of punk, right alongside the work of Iggy and The Stooges, but there's still a lot of bluesy grit and some slightly unhinged, experimental moments in there too. It's raw, loud, with a real political fire behind it. Also, I was halfway through when I realised that Fred “Sonic” Smith is in MC5, someone I know of through another punk legend, his partner and namesake, Patti Smith. 3.5 stars

Another case of wrong assumptions. Somehow I thought MC5 was like an 80's hiphop band. This album was awesome. It was raw and fresh. I would have absolutely loved going to this show and seeing them live. Incredible energy.

Does this sound good to me on any level? Absolutely not. I think it may have been a fun show to be at and rebel against the establishment. That was 55 years ago and for me it’s more of a reminder of a failed generation who could have changed things but only made everything worse. These are just my thoughts listening and whether that’s true or not, who knows.

Nah, not really worth it.

Energetic, raucous and fun. I'm not sure it quite rises to the level of revolutionary.

The energy on this is wild. Theatrical, overblown, live energy goes hard. This is such a mess in terms of people not being particularly good at their instruments and the singer all over but it has insane charm and just rips. You can hear them making mistakes but that literally does not matter

A quite wild ride here. It's not always actually super enjoyable, but it's got such a lot of energy. As usual with live albums, it mostly made me wish I was seeing it live. Even so, a really interesting and evocative listen.

6.8. Clean. Fun. Nothing. Crazy. Would put it on.

Not bad and doesn’t deserve as much hate in the popular comments. Definitely would have been a fun ass show for the audience.

Liked a couple of tracks

Not a classic but good in its day

Noise

I can't even think of a live album that should be on here. Title song is fun

Not a bad album, just not sure that it has a lot of personality in and of itself compared to some of the other punk progenitors. I mean I like punk, but this just didn't move me hugely. 3/5

Poor man’s stooges

Yikes

тоже на любителя...

The music had promise, sadly the vocals and lyrics were awful.

i love how noisy this is. that closer is batshit crazy.

Yikes

This kicks so much ass on so many levels. Fred Smith and Wayne Kramer are both fucking unreal guitarists, capable of blasting out both simple riffs/power chords and incendiary solos, and sounding absolutely incredible either way. Dennis Thompson and Michael Davis are such a powerful rhythm section; Thompson’s drumming in particular reaches Moon-like status at certain points. Rob Tyner has the perfect voice for this project, and he delivers the political messages of these songs with all the urgency they deserve. In terms of musical prowess and adventurousness, as well as pure visceral expression, they’re right up there with The Stooges and Velvet Underground as the most important groups of this genre and time period. I think this completely rules in almost every single way. 4.5/5

A tour de force of protopunk garage rock.

Rock, fine enough

Not a big fan of live albums, but I've added MC5 to my list of bands needing some additional listening.

2.3 1x

a joyous eruption of fiery, inspirational rock and roll

The singer can’t sing, the musicians can’t play their instruments, but this goes hard as hell. Kick out the jams, motherfucker!

I could imagine listening to this again.

Turns out I am not a punk fan

Enjoyed this one. Very old school punk, and liked it was a live album. Favorite Song(s): Ramblin Rose, Kick Out The Jams

Mäßiges Album aus früher Rockgeschichte. Es ist weder gut, noch stilprägend.

This was fine but nothing standout.

very cool, wish I had seen this one live

I’m not much of a hard rock fan. This sounds fairly similar to all of their contemporaries. Unfortunately not my thing. 2/5

Мне плохо. Слишком волосатый рок, даже щербинка между зубов не спасает, а она дает +100 к таланту

This is wild. Super raw and explosive rock which sounds like it kicks the doors in and lets the flood of future punk bands flow in. Huge energy that feels way ahead of its time.

Supposedly MC5 is this great hard rock band. At least based on this record I disagree.

This was a very weird album, where they were making a lot of noises and the vocals were mainly screaming. Overall, not that great, but it was manageable in the background for a bit.

Bliss. The drive, the energy, the excitement!

Don't like live albums, don't like punk

This wasn’t bad - punk-tinged hard rock - but I think being a live recording hurt it. I had a hard time focusing on the music, and the muddy recording made it feel like there was a layer of separation between the listener and music. The last 5 minutes were pretty weird (not in a particularly good way). 3

Influential album that I think is a bit overrated. The few good tracks can get lost in the noise and mediocre ones.

I think the live, raw, dirty rock is my favorite music sound from the 1960s.

Shame to give this the same rating as other worse albums, but it’s just not my jam, literally. I think those first three tracks are pretty cool like proto-punk though

Sounds like one of those songs in Rock Band that you just assume is by one of the developers shitty garage bands. “Come together” is probably the horniest song we’ve had on this list yet.

Hey, an american punk band from the 60s. They sound good. Nice

I generally dislike live albums, and an aggressive punk band recorded live in 1969 sounds like a crime against hearing, but this actually works out. MC5 are raw enough in general to sound like shit all the time so it doesn't detract from their style to record them live. Really that's what this album is, loud, raw, and in your face. The only slow point is in the last song, Starship, and the rest of it is fast and loud. "Kick Out The Jams" (the song) I knew from Rage Against The Machine covering it, but the rest was new. It's nothing really exemplary, but I guess they were part of the real beginnings of punk and they could've put this out 5 years later and still sounded revolutionary. I do wish they played a little better but that's not what this is about. It's good fun.

Ugh, after a long hiatus I'm met with a live album. At least it was good. The recording sounds great and the music is palatable.

I had to stop listening, it's not pleasant to listen to, nor does it seem particularly Punk, it just seems bad and kinda boring.

Messy production and messy playing makes a hard listen. I'm assuming that it must've sounded better in the room. Starship was interesting.

Yes. Yes!

Pretty good actually. Surprisingly good protopunk

Good

I kinda feel like releasing a live album instead of getting it right in the studio is a bit cheap. But, as their contemporaries the Stooges were finding out, that could be a frustrating process.

Quite noisy, but the start was not so bad, but they lost me half way. Not really a fan of this kind of live albums

Not convinced a live album is the way to be introduced to a band I know in passing. I knew the song Kick Out The Jams and that’s it. I know they’re wildly influential. Maybe you had to be there. This live album is not it. 2/5 because this still beats the only record I’ve given a 1/5.

Good energy and a historical curiosity but the songs are a bit weak.

Pretty interesting proto punk album. It’s definitely a lot heavier and louder than most stuff coming out in the late 60s, and you can hear how it helped shape the punk sound that followed.

I like a live album. Cool and crazy that this one is also a debut! This band is a mess for sure, but I’m gathering that’s the point, and it’s part of their charm?

i liked the album, but can't say it was "special". I can give a solid 3 but I think I'll comeback to this someday.

This was kind of banga on a friday morning

Nop

Banger

Maso

Initially, it was funny, but then became boring. They sound like they’re joking.

„Kick Out the Jams“ wurde im Oktober 1968 live im Grande Ballroom in Detroit aufgenommen und 1969 veröffentlicht. Die US-amerikanische Band MC5 um Sänger Rob Tyner, die Gitarristen Wayne Kramer und Fred „Sonic“ Smith, Bassist Michael Davis und Schlagzeuger Dennis Thompson verbindet hier Einflüsse aus Garage-Rock, Hard Rock und frühem Proto-Punk. Bekannte Titel wie „Kick Out the Jams“, „Ramblin’ Rose“ und „Motor City Is Burning“ zeigen den rohen, direkten Stil der Gruppe. Die Live-Aufnahmen wirken ungestützt und energiegeladen, was den Auftrittscharakter betont und den Sound authentisch, aber ungeschliffen erscheinen lässt. Persönlich empfinde ich das Album als eindrucksvolles Zeitdokument einer Übergangsphase zwischen Rock und Punk, in der Haltung wichtiger war als technische Präzision.

I never really cared for this album. It all kind of sounds the same. It's fine to come back to when listening to lists like this but I never really seek it out. I actually liked their album Back in the USA quite a bit more.

Live at Leeds from allegro.

Good rock'n'roll live!

I can answer most of the complaints about the album’s sloppiness with “that’s punk rock, baby.”

Electric intro speech. Not much else besides a cacophony

Live album.

Mosrites

4.5

Lots of energy but that’s the only thing I find good about this album.

Hated that it was live 😭😭

I would henceforth consider the jams to have been successfully kicked out.

The energy on this is crazy but it’s also badly recorded and badly played and the songs and sort of ok. But I like energy

it kinda sucks ass but I guess had some energy to it Will I listen to again: 1%

Brothers and sisters, are you ready for the revolution? The unrelenting energy and raw power of Detroit rock? It's messy, it's polemic, it's imperfect, but it's powerful, primal, and will kick you on your ass. This live album marks perhaps the origins of punk, and is a staple of the hard rock counterculture rooted in blues and psychedelia. On the surface the message is political, which dates it to distinctly late 60s and early 70s messaging, but its guitars, its force of sound, is about ten years ahead of its time, and still as loud and in your face today as in 1969. The message is not deep. This is not the hippie movement of peace and flowers. This is a war for change, a screaming plea for people to rise up together against the oppressors, a message relevant to Vietnam, to Reaganism, to 9/11-era warmongering, to Trump fascism. It's at once a sad reminder that 65 years later the revolution still has not come, but also an anthem for progress yet to be made.

Good album

I didn't get it....

Relatively more listenable

There’s something there. I just can’t find it

Better than I thought for 60's, good precursor to punk, but eh, moving on

Loud, distorted, pre-punk psychedelic rock. All about the noise. Way ahead of its time. That time is 5 seconds to decide your reason to be on the planet, to be part of the solution.

Yeah, good

another ugly, boring, meandering live album of shit i wouldn't want to listen to the studio version of. sorry for being so salty but please be serious 1001 albums. this? her? NO!!!

this album answers the question that everyone's been dying to know: what if the stooges were even worse?

This did nothing for me. His voice is not great. The instruments started well but then sounded sloppy.

Ah yes the best genre out there, punk.

Normally I'm not a big live albums guy (which is what I usually say right before ripping into whatever live album I've just finished with) but this was great. Love the energy and passion on every track. This must have been a fantastic show to see live. Sure the last two songs kinda drop off but I can forgive that because the rest of it is so good.

why is this revered as the forerunner to punk? late 60's garage band at best

Ew.

rockslop

Huh doesn't have the famous intro shout. But really all the talk of revolution and hard rocking imply the "motherfuckers!" anyways. Such a hilarious thesis statement to start Ramblin' Rose with that falsetto, really sets the tone.

Didn't see too much of the appeal with this. Songs and performances weren't particular engrossing. Fair play for making that kind of noise in the 60s in America though.

60s rock - harder than most for their time, not grabbing me though

This is a classic for sure. Detroit energy to the max. Just not a fan of the sound quality

Awful noise

Bad live album, not a great recording. Proto punk ok but so what. I’ve heard black metal recorded cleaner than this and that genre aims for it sounding like it was recorded in a tin can.

This was pretty fun. Seems somewhat ahead of its time. I liked the raucous energy.

Not my jam.

Pretty Raw but its brick wall breaking

Today was not a good day for this type of noise. Live recordings sound bad and the music was cheep at best

I've never heard of MC5 before today, but this type of rock music is almost always going to be something I enjoy more live and in person than as a rough recording. I didn't completely hate this album, but I think I finally understand where the cliché of Silents yelling at their Boomer children to "turn down that noise" came from – it's so hard to pick out any of the actual musicality here between the blaring instruments and harsh vocals. Highlights: Ramblin' Rose, Motor City Is Burning

Dated and corny, not my rhing

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