We remember Wayne Kramer, the guitarist of the late '60s proto-punk band MC5. The revolutionary band's idols were the Black Panther party, Malcolm X and John Coltrane. Kramer died last week at 75. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2002. Also we listen back to our 1988 interview with actor Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies. He died at 76. Justin Chang reviews the French film The Taste of Things. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
On the Ted radio hour, linguist Ann Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.
I sometimes get into arguments with people where they will say to me, but it can't be singular.
And I will say, but it is the history behind words causing a lot of debate.
That's on the Ted radio hour from NPR.
This is fresh air.
I'm David B.
And Cooley.
Take out the jail.
That's the Detroit based band the MC five, one of the most radical of all the rock bands from the late sixties.
The band's founder, singer and one of its guitarists, Wayne Kramer, died last week at the age of 75.
The group MC five, which stood for Motor City five, was loud and often dissonant.
Some lyrics had expletives you couldn't play on the radio.
And the band's politics were far to the left.
In their early days, they were managed by John Sinclair, head of the White Panther Party, who used to preach revolution at the MC five concerts.
They played at many demonstrations and were the only band to play at the protest outside the infamous Chicago democratic convention in 1968.
The MC five broke up in 1972 and now is considered a forerunner of punk rock.
Wayne Kramer struggled with drinking and drugs and was arrested on drug charges and sent to prison for two years.
We're going to listen to Terry's 2002 interview with Wayne Kramer.
At the time, he had released a solo album called Adult World.
Let's go back to the beginning, more or less, of your story.