Vintage Detroit rockers

[msteeln]

Detroit produced as good as anyone for great soul sounds with Motown and hard playing rock bands, circa 60s/70s with legendary names like Mitch Ryder w/Jim Mcarty, the MC5, The Stooges, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, and Ted Nugent worked it as hard as anybody for his status and uniqueness -


Jim Mcarty was Ted's template


MC5 in action


Were you there?!

 

[M29]

SRC Scott Richard Case

Hello msteeln

I was in highschool around this time. They were one of my favs at the time.



Ya can't forget these guys too. The Frost. I saw them at the factory ballroom right down the street from my house in Waterford.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Cool posts! I always thought that MC5 song was by Seattle's "The Presidents of the United States of America" Ha!

 

[msteeln]

Ya can't forget these guys too. The Frost. I saw them at the factory ballroom right down the street from my house in Waterford.

Frost's Dick Wagner of course went on to become a great hired gun for many top acts like Lou reed and Alice Cooper, and producer.
How cool you got to dig the Detroit scene straight up! That was deffinitely one of THE happening areas back in the day. I've heard of some crazy stuff going on at The Factory, and other historic MC venues. I've long had a fascination with places like the incredible beauties enormous 1920/30 corporate money built such as The Michigan Theater/Palace and The Grande Ballroom, now both tragically left in unrepairable ruins. I would have loved to been there. http://www.motorcitymusicarchives.com/grandecal.html

The SRC are virtually forgotten, but... http://www.humvee.net/cgi-bin/teemzsrc/teemz.cgi?board=_master

To continue the thead now that we have some interest, here's a quick overview of one guy's top 10 bands of that area/era



Sixto Rodriguez?! That's new one for me.

Fridjid Pink - this has always been a favorite even tho none of my friends shared my love for it, which just made me pump it on the local poolhall jukebox all the more.\
Here you witness the amazing tone an unplugged guitar can have...



Just a great tune to jam on

Grand Funk Railroad were one of the top 3 piece rockers ever.
Here they are at a well known Cincinnati gig



The Stooges - the same Cinci outdoor show as GFR with Iggy doing his historic 'peanutbutter crowd walk'.
What more can be said of these true innovators whom were finally ensconced in the R&RHoF this year (with ABBA?!)?



Vintage confrontational hard rock at it's best! Too bad it took decades for everybody else to almost catch up.

 

[M29]

The Eastown Theater is another rock house from back in the 60/70's. I remember seeing Ted/Amboy Dukes, Cactus and Mountain there to name a few. Here is some discussion and pics on the Eastown Theater that may be interesting. http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/location.asp?id=574&type=5

This link is mentioned in the above article. Man do those pics bring back memories. http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=4340


We used to go to Pine Knob ski lodge in Clarkston MI, The Paladium in Birmingham. Saw Savoy Brown there. A place called Silver Bell in Lake Orion brought in some great acts. It was not very well known and not very big. I saw acts like Nugent and Fleetwood Mac there. I will never forget seeing Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green. I remember they said it was the first place they played in the states. They probably said that everywhere they went. Man did they ever impress me! I can still see Mick's faces with his elbows going up and down and the guitars just a wailing. Alice Cooper played there as well as the Stooges and others. I might have seen Grand Funk there. Ah the old days...

M

 

[msteeln]

Most awesome comments and links, M! I was hoping for input just like this. It's hard for me to comprehend how Detroit first even became such a cultural hotbed in the depression era and built these extreme shrines of man's creative construction, only to later lose them, essentially throwing them away when they could have been centerpieces to revitalizing the community. If only those walls could speak! Fortunately, we have the memories of some like yourself to tell the rock era tales.

 

[M29]

msteeln:

It's hard for me to comprehend how Detroit first even became such a cultural hotbed

Motor City...Fords Fords and Fords...:smile-us:

 

[msteeln]

Man, that was some kind of different time in our America...

 

[Radioboy950]

E Pluribus Funk!
Great stuff here, man.
Grew up listening to all these cats.
Iggy, the original Ann Arbor punk, still kicks.
I throw on some Grand Funk every now & then.
Earlier today, whilst toiling away at the computer, I was listening the Alice Cooper masterpiece, "Halo of Flies".

Thanks for posting.

 

[M29]

I stopped by and took a couple pictures of the old Factory in (Pontiac Michigan) where we used to go to see concerts. I remember seeing The Frost, Norman Greenbaum and others there back in the 1960/70s.

I remember the floor having those nasty carpet squares and it seems to me like it didn't look any better then then it does now. ;-)
The first pic is a right front quarter shot and the second is a rear shot from the same side.

 

[msteeln]

The Quanset Hut Of Rock

Way cool pix! You can still get the vibe from decades ago.