Back In The USA

Next up from 1970, it's Back In The USA by the MC5



I'm not the biggest MC5 fan, but this record is great! Despite their reputation as anarchist revolutionaries or whatever, Back In The USA is a straight-up rock-n-roll record, from the starting cover of "Tutti Frutti" to the ending cover of Chuck Berry's title track.

It's ending sequence from "The American Ruse" (a refutation of American foreign policy circa-1970, Vietnam, etc,) to "Back In The USA" (a celebration of America from the coast of California to the shores of Delaware Bay) seems like they're saying "our USA may be really eff'd up now, but it's still the greatest country in the world!" Words that ring true even forty years later!

Here's "Shakin Street", where all the kids meet.



I've loved this album since I heard "High School" on the soundtrack to Rock N' Roll High School. That movie was mostly known for the Ramones, but it also exposed 80s high school kids on to the MC5 and the Velvet Underground. "Rock & Roll" + "High School" get it?