Rockers Pay Tribute To MC5's WAYNE KRAMER Following His Death

Slash (GUNS N' ROSES), Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES), Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE), William DuVall (ALICE IN CHAINS), Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper are among the musicians who have reacted on social media to the passing of Wayne Kramer, co-founder, guitarist, and singer of the influential Detroit rock band MC5.

Kramer's passing was announced on Friday (February 2) in a post shared to Instagram. A simple black-and-white photo of the rocker was posted with the caption: "Wayne S. Kramer 'PEACE BE WITH YOU' April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024."

Kramer died at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, according to Jason Heath, a close friend and executive director of Kramer's nonprofit Jail Guitar Doors. Heath said the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

MC5's sonic thunder continues to reverberate a half-century after they first stormed the rock world with 1969's "Kick Out The Jams", the galvanizing live document that introduced a major voice of late '60s counterculture and proved incomparably influential on metal, punk, stoner rock and almost every other form of loud, boundary pushing music that would follow. The original MC5 lineup recorded two more albums before imploding: 1970's "Back In The USA", produced by rock critic (and future Bruce Springsteen manager) Jon Landau, and their 1971 creative zenith, "High Time". The last days of 1972 also marked the final performance of the original MC5 lineup, thereby ending a turbulent existence marked by their anti-establishment political stance, mainstream radio banishment, FBI harassment, and lots of uncompromising, unequaled rock and roll fury.

Kramer is preceded in death by his MC5 bandmates Rob Tyner, Fred Smith and Michael Davis. Drummer Dennis Thompson is the sole surviving member of the original band.

In 2018, Kramer released his memoir "The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5, And My Life Of Impossibilities", which won him a Michigan's Notable Book Award.

Kramer was a well-respected and prolific film ("Talladega Nights", HBO's "Hacking Democracy") and television (HBO's "East Bound And Down") composer. He was recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time".

In recent years, Kramer toured as the MC50 with SOUNDGARDEN's Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron, FAITH NO MORE bassist Billy Gould and ZEN GUERILLA singer Marcus Durant. Four years ago, Kramer announced the formation of WE ARE ALL MC5, a touring "reanimation" of the pioneering band.