American poet, performer, and former MC5 manager John Sinclair has died.
News of his passing was confirmed on social media by those close to the counter-cultural figure; he was 82 years of age. John Sinclair died of heart failure at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
A key part of the underground in the Mid West, John Sinclair was passionately devoted to free jazz, writing extensively on the subject for Down Beat at a time when many of those musicians were being ignored by the mainstream jazz fraternity. Helping to advance American poetics, his own post-Beat stylings saw him take part at the seminal Berkley Poetry Readings in 1965.
Helping to set up the Detroit underground newspaper Fifth Estate, he also contributed to the formation of Detroit Artists Workshop Press.
In terms of rock culture, John Sinclair will forever be tethered to the MC5. Drawn into the orbit of the band in 1966, he is credited with pulling their potent brew of garage rock and free jazz together with revolutionary politics and the spirit of the counter culture.
Recorded at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom over two nights, debut album ‘Kick Out The Jams’ was initially dismissed but has gone on to become one of the key markers in punk’s (r)evolution – a true one off, a seminal brew of radical politics, outrageous riffs, and stunning vocals.
Credited with “guidance” on the sleeve, John Sinclair also penned the rabble-rousing sleeve notes for ‘Kick Out The Jams’.
Exiting The MC5 in 1969, John Sinclair was then given a 10 year sentence for possession of marijuana by the American state. His case became a cause celebre, with John Lennon even writing a song called ‘John Sinclair’ in protest – by the time it was released, however, Sinclair was back on the streets, although he faced ongoing legal difficulties for a decade.
Latterly finding a home in Amsterdam, John Sinclair wrote and performed widely, blending together blues, rock, and his own free-flowing meditations on freedom in the modern age.
