Detroit Rock City is an oral history of Detroit and its music told by the people who were on the stage, in the clubs, the practice rooms, studios, and in the audience, blasting the music out and soaking it up, in every scene from 1967 to today. From fabled axe men like Ted Nugent, Dick Wagner, and James Williamson jump to Jack White, to pop flashes Suzi Quatro and Andrew W.K., to proto punkers Brother Wayne Kramer and Iggy Pop, Detroit slices the rest of the land with way more than its share of the Rock Pie. Detroit Rock City is the story that has never before been sprung, a frenzied and schooled account of both past and present, calling in the halcyon days of the Grande Ballroom and the Eastown Theater, where national acts who came thru were made to stand and deliver in the face of the always hard hitting local support acts. It moves on to the Michigan Palace, Bookies Club 870, City Club, Gold Dollar, and Magic Stick -- all magical venues in America's top rock city. Detroit Rock City brings these worlds to life all from the guys and dolls who picked up a Strat and jammed it into our collective craniums. From those behind the scenes cats who promoted, cajoled, lost their shirts, and popped the platters to the punters who drove from everywhere, this is the book that gives life to Detroit's legend of loud.

A narrative history of the birth of rock 'n' roll in Detroit

Detroit is famous for its cars and its music. From the 1950s through the 1970s, Motor City fans experienced a golden age of rock and roll. Rock was the defiant voice of the boomer generation. The 1960s and the 1970s were turbulent decades. Blacks and women asserted themselves, breaking down the establishment. Rock music, and the spirit and events that defined it, advanced these interests. The war in Vietnam brought tension and national conflict. Drugs and a sexual revolution, made possible by the introduction of the birth control pill, added to the volatile mix. Woodstock, May Day protests, and the resignation of Pres. Richard Nixon were just a few of the upheavals that made these decades two of the most important in the nation's history. Motor City Rock and Roll: The 1960s and 1970s features 200 images, capturing local musicians who started in Detroit and then traveled the world, as well as world-famous acts who came to the city to perform. Intimate stories of musicians, bands, and other members of the rock community make this history a must for dedicated fans.

Dan’s life story is a collage of sounds, people, and places that evoke tears, laughter, and nostalgia. Written with author Sally Sulfaro, this autobiography contains a music aficionado’s perspectives on the art and the business as well as his thoughts on life, spirituality, and coping. Some perceive Dan as a sage, and he truly is—but those who know him well also realize that he’s no saint. Herein you’ll experience his unvarnished memoirs.

The first memoir by Wayne Kramer, legendary guitarist and cofounder of quintessential Detroit proto-punk legends The MC5 "Voyeuristically dramatic." -THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW In January 1969, before the world heard a note of their music, the MC5 was on the cover of Rolling Stone. Led by legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer, the band was a reflection of the times: exciting, sexy, violent, chaotic, and even out of control. The missing link between free jazz and punk rock, the MC5 toured the country, played alongside music legends, and had a rabid following, their music acting as the soundtrack to the blossoming blue collar youth movement. Kramer wanted to redefine what a rock 'n' roll group was capable of, and though there was power in reaching for that, it was also a recipe for personal and professional disaster. The band recorded three major label albums but, by 1972-it was all over. Kramer's story is (literally) a revolutionary one, but it's also the deeply personal struggle of an addict and an artist, a rebel with a great tale to tell. From the glory days of Detroit to the junk-sick streets of the East Village, from Key West to Nashville and sunny L.A., in and out of prison and on and off of drugs, Kramer's is the classic journeyman narrative, but with a twist: he's here to remind us that revolution is always an option.

"An archaeologically grounded narrative of six legendary Detroit places"--

This book is the second installment of a trilogy that explores the spatial dimensions of music. Music has generated substantial interest among geographers, but other academic disciplines have also developed related spatial perspectives on music. This trilogy brings together multiple approaches, each book investigating a bundle of interrelated themes. New Geographies of Music 2: Music in Urban Tourism, Heritage Policies and Place-making starts by exploring contemporary approaches to the study of popular music, as well as the relations existing between music, tourism, heritage and urban geography. The chapters address a range of issues, including how music shapes the "feel" of touristic towns and urban public spaces, how music scenes have an increasing role in heritage and tourism policies, and how this recognition of music has consequences on artistic practices and urban imaginaries. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between space and music. Séverin Guillard is an Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France and a member of the research unit Habiter le Monde (Inhabiting the World). His research focuses on music, cultural policies and events in French, American, and British cities. Joseph Palis is an Associate Professor and Chairperson at the Department of Geography, University of the Philippines-Diliman. He has been a DJ at WXYC-Chapel Hill since 2006. Ola Johansson is a Professor of Geography at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. Johansson is the author of the book Songs from Sweden (2020, Palgrave Macmillan), and co-author of Sound, Society, and the Geography of Popular Music and World Regional Geography. .

A mix of history and inventive remembrances, Summer on Fire recreates six weeks in the intense summer of 1967. Riots, rock and roll, shootings, marches, and bomb plots shake Detroit, reminding us that today's turmoil is a mirror of that era.