0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains very strong language.
0:00:04 > 0:00:09In 1967, the Motor City was burning. The biggest riot in American history erupted in Detroit.
0:00:09 > 0:00:10# Calling out... #
0:00:10 > 0:00:17The riot wasn't the only revolution going on. The '60s saw Detroit create wave after wave of music,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20that would capture the sound of a nation in upheaval.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21# ..For dancing... #
0:00:21 > 0:00:26In the early '60s, an aspirational record label would transcend Detroit's inner city,
0:00:26 > 0:00:31to take black music to a national audience.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Once Motown became a major, major player,
0:00:33 > 0:00:39the music industry, well, that also put Detroit more on the map.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41People in the town were just so proud.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44If they'd go to California or New York, they'd say, "Where you from?"
0:00:44 > 0:00:48"I'm from Motown." They wouldn't say Detroit, they'd say Motown.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50And in the late '60s, a bunch of surburban kids
0:00:50 > 0:00:55would descend into the inner city, to create revolutionary rock
0:00:55 > 0:00:58that expressed the rage of young, white America.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02We wanted to rewrite society.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05We wanted to build it from the ground up.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Just tear everything down and start over.
0:01:07 > 0:01:14On the one hand we were serious political revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the government,
0:01:14 > 0:01:16on the other hand we were on acid!
0:01:16 > 0:01:22Kick out the jams, motherfucker. They were, like, the ones we all got branded by.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Detroit, in the '60s, was a city on fire.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32In the recording industry, there is a hot town.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36And when one good thing happens,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38then, whoosh!
0:01:38 > 0:01:41They will swoop in from the coasts.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48In the '60s, Detroit had its moment.
0:01:48 > 0:01:49# ..So messed up
0:01:49 > 0:01:51# I want you here... #
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Detroit, Michigan.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05A Midwestern blue collar city.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Known as the Motor City since the '20s,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Detroit is the hard-working home of the American car industry.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20# Well, my mother loved me... #
0:02:23 > 0:02:27In the economically-prosperous '50s, four out of five cars in the world
0:02:27 > 0:02:29were made in the USA.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Detroit became the city where they built the American Dream.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39# She had to stay out all night long... #
0:02:41 > 0:02:48This was the manufacturing centre of America and, thus, the world.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50And if you wanted it built, we built it in Detroit.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52# ..in the town, people
0:02:55 > 0:02:56# I was walking down Hazel Street... #
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Detroit, as a city, was a great city.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Er, it was a booming city.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06You had a lot of people who migrated.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09# I 'cided I'd drop in there that night
0:03:10 > 0:03:11# When I got there... #
0:03:12 > 0:03:17There were lots of factories there that had attracted
0:03:17 > 0:03:19many black families from the south.
0:03:20 > 0:03:21# They was really havin' a ball... #
0:03:21 > 0:03:23Fuelled by migrant job seekers,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26the city's population swelled to a record two million.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31One of whom would become Detroit's first musical star.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35ANNOUNCER: From Mississippi, it's that famous boom-boom boy,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37John Lee Hooker.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Chicago was the home from home for southern blues men,
0:03:40 > 0:03:45but John Lee Hooker bypassed the Windy City, in favour of its less glamourous neighbour.
0:03:45 > 0:03:46# Boom boom boom boom
0:03:48 > 0:03:49# I'm gonna shoot you right down
0:03:51 > 0:03:53# Right offa your feet
0:03:54 > 0:03:56# Take yer home with me
0:03:57 > 0:03:59# Put yer in my house
0:04:01 > 0:04:02# Boom boom boom boom... #
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Hooker came to Detroit in 1948 looking for a job
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and found one at the Ford Motor Company.
0:04:10 > 0:04:11# When you're talkin' to me
0:04:13 > 0:04:15# That baby talk... #
0:04:15 > 0:04:20He passed through Detroit like so many working folk,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25working their way up Highway 61, the famous highway Dylan memorialised,
0:04:25 > 0:04:30which was basically the artery from the south up to the Midwest
0:04:30 > 0:04:35and I think Hooker represents this kind of migratory spirit.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37# Wa-a-a-a-a-a, babe... #
0:04:37 > 0:04:41The southern disposessed, looking for a new life.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43# Yes, ma'am... #
0:04:43 > 0:04:48John Lee did for the blues, what nobody else was doing at the time.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51He brought it out and with his style of music,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54it was not traditional blues that he was playing,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57it was different and it made everybody listen.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01It just turned the blues scene around, in the city of Detroit.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Blues is such a three-chord thing.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11His only had one!
0:05:11 > 0:05:12HE LAUGHS
0:05:12 > 0:05:15It was like the drone. It was all rhythm.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18You know, start the thump going.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23John Lee Hooker's primitive style would become a benchmark for Detroit rock 'n' rollers.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27But the next factory worker to put his stamp on music
0:05:27 > 0:05:30would transform American pop.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Berry Gordy Jr worked briefly for the same car manufacturer as John Lee Hooker.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40He took inspiration from his time on the line to set up a record label
0:05:40 > 0:05:43with its sights on young America.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51# The best things in life are free
0:05:51 > 0:05:54# But you can give them to the birds and bees
0:05:54 > 0:05:55# I need mo-o-o-ney
0:05:55 > 0:05:57- # I need mo-o-o-ney - That's what I want... #
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The idea for an assembly line, starting with a frame
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and ending up a brand-new shining car, was just fascinating to me.
0:06:05 > 0:06:06# That's what I want
0:06:06 > 0:06:07# That's what I want. #
0:06:07 > 0:06:10So, when I started my operation, that's what I wanted.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15A kid to come in off the street one door, an unknown person, and out another door a star.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18# Whoa-yeah
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Is there a letter In your bag for me?
0:06:18 > 0:06:23# Please, please, Mr Po-o-ostman
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Cos it's been a mighty long time
0:06:23 > 0:06:27# Whoa-yeah
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Since I've heard From this boyfriend of mine
0:06:28 > 0:06:31# There must be some word today... #
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Working out of his inner city home, Gordy named Motown after Detroit.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40Like a production line, Motown sought to create pop records
0:06:40 > 0:06:42that had a uniform sound.
0:06:42 > 0:06:43# ..A letter for me
0:06:44 > 0:06:47# I was standing here waiting Mr Postman... #
0:06:47 > 0:06:51There was something about the first three or four records
0:06:51 > 0:06:52that came out of Motown.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55You didn't tie 'em together right away, but after a while -
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Please, Mr Postman, My Guy.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05Shop around and you realise, "Oh, there's something about these records."
0:07:05 > 0:07:08You could tell, "Oh, these records are from the same place."
0:07:09 > 0:07:15Gordy built Motown by exercising complete artistic control.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18The acts had no say, as The Supremes,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22a girl group from Detroit's Brewster project, would find out.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26When Where Did Our Love Go? was brought to us...
0:07:27 > 0:07:32..we said, "That doesn't seem like it's gonna be a hit,
0:07:32 > 0:07:33"and we need a hit."
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Give a little better feeling on those guitar fingers.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Also, the piano could add a little more...
0:07:38 > 0:07:43We got them to do it. Although they were shattered - they hated it.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46This didn't sound like a hit. You know, it was just hand clapping.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52"Baby, Baby..." It was so simple.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54# ...Baby don't leave me
0:07:54 > 0:07:57# Oh, please don't leave me
0:07:58 > 0:08:00# All by myself... #
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Diana's attitude...
0:08:02 > 0:08:05you know, pissed off attitude about...
0:08:05 > 0:08:08She was definitely letting you know she didn't like this song!
0:08:08 > 0:08:12# Ooh, deep inside me... #
0:08:12 > 0:08:14But it was just what the song needed.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15# ..hurts so bad
0:08:16 > 0:08:19# You came into my heart now... #
0:08:19 > 0:08:22That was the first, Where Did Our Love Go?
0:08:22 > 0:08:2613 number one songs that we alone, we wrote them.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Consecutive, one after the other. Bam, bam, bam...
0:08:32 > 0:08:35# Nowhere to run to, baby... #
0:08:36 > 0:08:40In-house song writers, Holland, Dozier, Holland were the engine that drove Motown.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44They could even turn company secretary Martha Reeves
0:08:44 > 0:08:49into a pop star at Ford, where Berry Gordy had worked.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51He took us to the Ford Motor Company.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54And no-one knew we were coming. The workers were saying,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56"Get those women out, we're working!"
0:08:56 > 0:09:01But the cars were being made and I don't think anyone else will ever have that privilege.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02# ..I go
0:09:02 > 0:09:04# Your face I see
0:09:04 > 0:09:06# Every step I take
0:09:06 > 0:09:07# You take... #
0:09:07 > 0:09:10These guys were actually welding the fenders on
0:09:10 > 0:09:12and putting the screws in the different places
0:09:12 > 0:09:17and we were getting on and off of this car and we watched it go from start to finish
0:09:17 > 0:09:19singing Nowhere To Run.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24We got spray-painted! We almost got tripped by cords, wires and things.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26# ..I know you're no good for me... #
0:09:26 > 0:09:30It was a Mustang. And it was a wonderful experience.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31#...Be, no
0:09:31 > 0:09:34# Each night as I sleep... #
0:09:34 > 0:09:37I think that for Detroiters,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Motown was like the car industry, you know.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It became a brand that people loved.
0:09:45 > 0:09:52And once Motown became a major, major player in the music industry,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55that also put Detroit more on the map.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58People in the town were just so proud, you know,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00about having this place here in town.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02"Yeah, I'm from Motown." You know.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06They go to California or New York they say, "Where're you from?"
0:10:06 > 0:10:10They'd say, "I'm from Motown." They wouldn't say Detroit, they'd say Motown.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14# I got sunshine
0:10:14 > 0:10:17# On a cloudy day... #
0:10:19 > 0:10:23By 1965, Motown had become as its motto boasted,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25the sound of young America.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Detroit dominated the mainstream US charts.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33# I guess you... #
0:10:33 > 0:10:36But Gordy's manufactured pop was not the sound of young, black Detroit.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38# ..feel this way
0:10:39 > 0:10:42# My girl
0:10:40 > 0:10:42My girl
0:10:41 > 0:10:42My girl... #
0:10:42 > 0:10:45The campaign for civil rights had started in earnest in America
0:10:45 > 0:10:50and Detroit had seen the largest march in history in 1963,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54when Martin Luther King led the great march to freedom.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58# I've got a sweeter song
0:11:00 > 0:11:01# Than the birds in the trees... #
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Black people were beginning to demand more,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08but conditions in Detroit's inner city hardly met their expectations.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10# ...You say
0:11:10 > 0:11:11# What
0:11:11 > 0:11:11# What can
0:11:11 > 0:11:12# What can make
0:11:12 > 0:11:12# What can make me
0:11:12 > 0:11:13# What can make me feel
0:11:13 > 0:11:14# What can make me feel this
0:11:14 > 0:11:14# What can make me feel this way?
0:11:15 > 0:11:18# My girl
0:11:16 > 0:11:18My girl
0:11:17 > 0:11:18My girl... #
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Overcrowding, unemployment and an aggressive all-white police force
0:11:23 > 0:11:27had combined to create a ghetto, that left some inhabitants seething.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31REPORTER: Do you hate white people?
0:11:31 > 0:11:32Do I hate 'em? Yeah, I hate 'em.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Do you hate white people?
0:11:34 > 0:11:35Tried to kill one of 'em.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36You did try?
0:11:36 > 0:11:39- I say, I would.- You would try and kill one?- That's right.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Would you fight white people, would you try and kill white people?
0:11:43 > 0:11:44Mm-hmm. All day long.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47All of us was caught up in the Motown sound.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50I mean, all of us was in love with The Temptations and The Supremes
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and The Marvelettes and Smokey Robinson and all that.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54We all loved that.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59They didn't necessarily voice songs that gave the movement strength,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01but we liked them.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06We did receive a lot of criticism say, being homogenised.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09You know, being too white, or too this, or whatever.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13But our, and I remember my brother, who was in Vietnam at the time
0:12:13 > 0:12:16was saying, "Mary, why don't you wear an afro?"
0:12:16 > 0:12:18You know. "Because that's just not our style."
0:12:19 > 0:12:19# ..Baby love
0:12:19 > 0:12:22# Oh, baby love... #
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Motown's style was to aim for the burgeoning teenage market,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30the demographic of youth, white or black.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Berry Gordy had created the world's first cross-over label.
0:12:36 > 0:12:37# Baby love
0:12:37 > 0:12:39# My baby love
0:12:39 > 0:12:43# Why must we separate, my love... #
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Berry gets a bad rap, I think, for being too slick
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and having his artists too slick.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55But people forget the social times, this was a revolutionary thing to do
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and this was his way of bringing the audience together
0:12:58 > 0:13:01and appealing to a diverse audience,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03which really brought blacks and whites together.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08If you have... If I sit down with a black woman from Detroit of my age,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10we have the same musical taste
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and that doesn't happen in a lot of generations.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20When I was in high school, black music was your national anthem.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23It was local music. Motown and Detroit was...
0:13:23 > 0:13:26The singles came out and you went downtown to the Motown Revue
0:13:26 > 0:13:27and saw these artists.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29# ..but I love yer... #
0:13:29 > 0:13:34Those were local anthems and for us it was important in a sense that,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38at least for white surburban kids in this pasty surburban life,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41This was exoticism. It was...sex.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45# You really got a hold on me... #
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Come on!
0:13:45 > 0:13:47# You really got a hold
0:13:47 > 0:13:49# Ba-by!
0:13:50 > 0:13:51# I... #
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Our music was love music.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57We knew that music soothed the soul.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00We were giving our people what they wanted from us.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02# But I need you... #
0:14:02 > 0:14:05They stuck with us. The music has lasted
0:14:05 > 0:14:11and it's part of history as being a love movement, as opposed to an uprising,
0:14:11 > 0:14:12or a protest.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14# ..got a hold on me
0:14:14 > 0:14:16# You really got
0:14:15 > 0:14:16# Oh, yes yer have
0:14:16 > 0:14:17# A hold on me
0:14:17 > 0:14:19# You really got a hold... #
0:14:19 > 0:14:24We're not politicians and we weren't there to try and solve
0:14:24 > 0:14:26the world's problems with a song.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31You know, because, at best, we were trying to bring people together
0:14:31 > 0:14:35with our music, Motown. It was the end of race music, you know.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36# Hold me
0:14:37 > 0:14:41# Hold me ple-e-e-ase... #
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Hagh!
0:14:45 > 0:14:51Well, I never thought of it in terms of black or white or answers,
0:14:51 > 0:14:56I felt that the emotions of people are the same all over,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00and quality is quality, you know.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Whilst Motown was putting inner city Detroit on the world map,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09a group of white, working-class surburban kids,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13known as The Motor City Five, also hoped to take the world by storm.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20We came out of the surburbs. We all came from families that were working-class people,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24like, my father started at Ford's in the 1940s.
0:15:26 > 0:15:32Our vision was to create a music that hadn't been done before.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33# ..Me want to hide... #
0:15:35 > 0:15:40And Chuck Berry, probably, was the main influence on the MC5.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42# I stood up on the stand
0:15:42 > 0:15:44# With my eyes shut tight
0:15:44 > 0:15:46# Didn't want to see anybody
0:15:46 > 0:15:48# Feelin' happy
0:15:48 > 0:15:49# Havin' a good time, now hey
0:15:49 > 0:15:52# Doin' all right, doin' all right
0:15:52 > 0:15:55# Doin' all right, Doin' all ri-ght... #
0:15:55 > 0:15:59England, of course, was the focal point.
0:15:59 > 0:16:05The British first wave had revolutionised popular culture.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09The Americans were struggling to keep up.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13The big American acts, all of a sudden, seemed hopelessly square.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24# Run salt into the dancing crowd
0:16:25 > 0:16:27# They'll like screaming out loud
0:16:27 > 0:16:29# I saw you standin' there
0:16:29 > 0:16:30# I saw you alone
0:16:31 > 0:16:34# Saw you alone, hey-hey... #
0:16:34 > 0:16:38And then New York, as always, had its, um, power.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43And Los Angeles, of course, is the other centre, the other pole
0:16:43 > 0:16:46of the American recording industry.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52But no-one ever considered Detroit as part of that equation.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18They were down river boys.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22They were guys who lived in the disused parts of Detroit.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24The industrial parts.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And, really, when you grew up in Detroit in those areas,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30you had one of two ways to go. College wasn't the option.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34It was usually, were you gonna work the line, in a tool and dye shop
0:17:34 > 0:17:39and how many fingers were you gonna lose by the end of your career?
0:17:43 > 0:17:45The MC5 were managed by John Sinclair,
0:17:45 > 0:17:50a middle-class bohemian whose artist commune was based in the heart of the inner city.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55I wanted to come here to be around the jazz players
0:17:55 > 0:18:00and the beatniks and the dope fiends and the people who were not normal!
0:18:04 > 0:18:07The young white people that came here, came here on purpose.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11They came here to find urban adventure, you know.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13EERIE MUSIC
0:18:18 > 0:18:24White people had not shared in the largesse of America at this time
0:18:24 > 0:18:27yet it was right there, beyond their reach. They wanted that.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32Whereas, we were the children of people who had gotten the pay-off,
0:18:32 > 0:18:38and found that, "So what?" You know, it wasn't what we were looking for.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43We weren't looking for a life of total safety and ease,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45we wanted some danger.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50He had great weed.
0:18:51 > 0:18:52Just fantastic.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55And he had a great record collection.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57# ..In school about freedom
0:18:57 > 0:18:59# And when you try to be free They never let ya... #
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Basically, we just wanted to hang out, you know, and be cool like him.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Sinclair was kind of like an agent provocateur.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14He was just a guy who knew how to grab headlines.
0:19:14 > 0:19:20He was a big, bearded presence and physically he was like a guru.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24# And when we say the pledge of allegiance... #
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Sinclair took MC5 from blue collar suburbs to the heart of the city,
0:19:30 > 0:19:35getting them a residency at Detroit's psychedelic Gran De ballroom.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36# The air's so thick
0:19:36 > 0:19:38# It's like drowning in molasses
0:19:38 > 0:19:40# I'm sick and tired of... #
0:19:40 > 0:19:45The music scene in Detroit was born at the Grand De ballroom.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47That was like our petri dish.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50We put the bacteria in and watched it multiply!
0:19:54 > 0:19:59We would come to the Gran De, take acid and freak out with the MC5.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02It was very far out.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07These kids would come from the suburban context, where they had seen The Beatles on television
0:20:07 > 0:20:09and they thought that was great.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14They would come here and this was a place that was a different world.
0:20:14 > 0:20:15Maybe they'd get laid!
0:20:23 > 0:20:24Oh, you would walk in,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27you would park and it was a very dangerous neighbourhood,
0:20:27 > 0:20:33so, if you made it through the doors intact, it was an accomplishment.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38It was like an adult playground, perhaps.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41# Yes, yes, yes, yes... #
0:20:41 > 0:20:45People would be dancing and then at the back there'd be a platform
0:20:45 > 0:20:49doing a light show.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Lots of people of all sorts,
0:20:52 > 0:20:57all ages, different costumes, different kinds of dress.
0:20:57 > 0:20:58It was freedom.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09It had a tremendous amount of atmosphere. It was the perfect venue.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12It was not on the street level, it was upstairs.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19And here was this fantastic room
0:21:19 > 0:21:24with these archways and a promenade around and a stage at one end
0:21:24 > 0:21:29and it was, kind of, big and cavernous and mysterious.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33It had... It was just full of atmosphere.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38And we knew that the place had been used in previous decades
0:21:38 > 0:21:42as a ballroom for swing dancing
0:21:42 > 0:21:46and jitterbugging, it was so... It had all that charisma about it.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50And here we were in the mid-'60s,
0:21:50 > 0:21:55bringing something completely new to it.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56It was our palace.
0:21:56 > 0:22:02And I'm having the warmest memories of spectacular sex acts,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05performed in various parts of this building.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08HE LAUGHS
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Very warm memories!
0:22:10 > 0:22:12BLUES VOCAL
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Whilst the inner city was a playful adventure for the white kids,
0:22:18 > 0:22:23conditions for the black population were becoming intolerable.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Trouble was on its way.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31I mean, we had a police crew called the big four,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35four big white guys who rode round in a big four-door sedan,
0:22:35 > 0:22:40used to jump outta the car all the time, threatening black people standing on the corner.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42# ..fire bomb bustin' All around me... #
0:22:42 > 0:22:45And they'd jump out and say, "Go home."
0:22:45 > 0:22:47We'd say, "We at home. You go home!"
0:22:47 > 0:22:50POLICE SIREN WAILS
0:22:51 > 0:22:56In our mind, it was inevitable that there would be a riot by black people in Detroit
0:22:56 > 0:22:58because the conditions were so bad.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Because when Detroit was gonna blow, it was gonna blow!
0:23:09 > 0:23:15On 23rd July, 1967, Detroit erupted into riots.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It was the hatred of the police department that sparked that.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27I mean, the fact that they decided to raid
0:23:27 > 0:23:29an after-hours joint and arrest everybody...
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I mean, an after-hours joint was part of our life here in this city.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35# ..Takin' my wife and my family
0:23:36 > 0:23:37# And little Johnny... #
0:23:37 > 0:23:41This is the street that the police brought their cruisers at
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and parked out here to arrest all those people.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47And that's where the first bricks were thrown, right here,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50and begin to spread down 12th Street that way
0:23:50 > 0:23:55then Lenwood, Dexter, you know, involved the whole city before it was over.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56# ..The Motor City's burnin'
0:23:59 > 0:24:01# Ain't a thing that I can do... #
0:24:01 > 0:24:07The rioting lasted five days, during which 43 people were killed.
0:24:07 > 0:24:0933 of whom were black.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Everybody sort of thought we were gonna have a riot
0:24:16 > 0:24:19because there had been racial issues that had mounted up
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and killings and aggravations by some police.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25# They're dancin' in the street... #
0:24:25 > 0:24:28This place was terrorised and there had to be a change.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31# .. An invitation Across the nation... #
0:24:31 > 0:24:34And it wasn't only the city that would be changed for ever.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39Detroit's music would be profoundly affected by the riots.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Motown was dragged into this reality when one of Martha Reeves' old hits
0:24:43 > 0:24:46became the unofficial anthem of the rioters.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48# ..And DC now
0:24:48 > 0:24:49# Dancin' in the street
0:24:49 > 0:24:51# Can't forget the Motor City
0:24:51 > 0:24:52# Dancin' in the...
0:24:52 > 0:24:55The riots happened and Marvin Gaye,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59who has been known to write revolutionary songs,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01this is prior to What's Going On,
0:25:01 > 0:25:06thought if he sang a song about dancing in the street, they would stop fighting in the street.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08It was to quench the riots, not incite them.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10# ..Oh
0:25:10 > 0:25:13# It doesn't matter what you wear
0:25:13 > 0:25:16# Just as long as you are there... #
0:25:16 > 0:25:20The civil rights movement had escalated, the riots had arrived.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26Detroit had changed. It was no longer this idyllic little city.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30We could no longer sing about the birds and the bees,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34because that was not really what was on our minds.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38I... The music had to change and it did.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41# Oh-oh-oh-oh
0:25:42 > 0:25:43# Ah-h-h
0:25:44 > 0:25:46# You think that I don't feel love
0:25:46 > 0:25:48# But what I feel for you is real love
0:25:48 > 0:25:50# In other's eyes I see reflected
0:25:50 > 0:25:54# A hurt, scorned Rejected love child!
0:25:55 > 0:25:57# Never meant to be
0:25:58 > 0:25:59# Love child
0:26:00 > 0:26:02# Born in poverty
0:26:02 > 0:26:03# Love child
0:26:05 > 0:26:06# Never meant to be
0:26:07 > 0:26:08# A love child... #
0:26:08 > 0:26:13The Motown artist who later became acclaimed for his social conscience
0:26:13 > 0:26:18would be Marvin Gaye, whose 1971 masterpiece, What's Going On?
0:26:18 > 0:26:22was a record that Berry Gordy tried to bury.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24# Mother, mother
0:26:26 > 0:26:29# There's too many of you cryin'... #
0:26:29 > 0:26:32After the riots the factories closed down.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35They closed down work, so no-one had any work.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37So now you have poverty.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42Now people are grasping for jobs, for money, for this, for that.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Drugs come into the picture.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52So much was destroyed.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54# ..Mother, mother
0:26:55 > 0:26:58# We don't need to escalate
0:27:01 > 0:27:03# War's not the answer
0:27:04 > 0:27:08# For only love can conquer hate
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Although the Motown sound had finally begun to diversify,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15the label had outgrown the crumbling city of Detroit.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20Berry Gordy had become interested in making films with Diana Ross
0:27:20 > 0:27:22and Hollywood beckoned.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26In the wake of the riots, Motown would ship out west,
0:27:26 > 0:27:28leaving a gaping hole in the city.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Motown went to LA.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37I was sad as hell cos I wanted the dream of Detroit to stay around,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40but when they got Lady Sings The Blues...
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Berry's eyes were set on the bigger picture.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47And he didn't realise, at the same time, he still had all of us,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50we could've kept Motown going with the new version.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56And the white music scene would also be affected by the unrest.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01The MC5 lived within the riot zone and were caught up in the chaos.
0:28:02 > 0:28:03# Dealin' in debt!
0:28:03 > 0:28:07# And stealin' In the name of the Lord... #
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I was exhilarated. I wanted to overthrow the system
0:28:11 > 0:28:16and I thought, "Man, they're taking it to the max!
0:28:16 > 0:28:18"They're going up against them!"
0:28:18 > 0:28:23You know. "We're going up..." I mean, I felt I was part of this.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27NEWSREEL: Law and order have broken down
0:28:27 > 0:28:28in Detroit, Michigan.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Pillage, looting, murder and arson
0:28:33 > 0:28:36have nothing to do with civil rights.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# ..All he left us was alone... #
0:28:39 > 0:28:41We lived right in the middle of the ghetto.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Our sympathies were with the rioters, completely.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Against the police - we hated the police.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Hated the police!
0:28:53 > 0:28:59The Detroit police were becoming like the Gestapo.
0:29:00 > 0:29:01Seriously.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03They were coming, looking for it.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07# You know the Motor City's burnin', baby
0:29:09 > 0:29:11# There ain't a thing... #
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Early one morning the police broke the door in
0:29:15 > 0:29:20and arrested us all and they found a bow and arrow in the house.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25They said we were snipers shooting the police with bows and arrows!
0:29:25 > 0:29:27So, "OK, take 'em all in."
0:29:27 > 0:29:33I walk out on the street and there's a US Army tank on my street
0:29:33 > 0:29:36pointing its big gun at my door!
0:29:36 > 0:29:39This is on my street, in my city!
0:29:39 > 0:29:46In the face of relentless police oppression, the MC5 decided to form their own revolutionary group.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50They called themselves the White Panther party.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53The White Panther party was kind of a universal way of saying,
0:29:53 > 0:29:58you know, "Hey, let's take this shit over."
0:30:01 > 0:30:03I admired the Black Panther party.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05To me they were heroes.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11These guys were from the neighbourhood...and we all did.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14They had a 10-point programme,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16so we decided we'd have a three-point programme.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21Point two is, total assault on the culture by any means necessary.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24Including rock 'n' roll, dope and fucking in the streets.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28You know, rock 'n' roll, dope and fucking in the streets.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32You can't approach the White Panther party without a sense of humour.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39On the one hand we were serious political revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the government,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42on the other hand, we were on acid.
0:30:43 > 0:30:50My take in the MC5 was that we could express this frustration
0:30:50 > 0:30:53with the slow pace of change, with the contradictions,
0:30:53 > 0:30:57with the injustices that we felt.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59And we could do it through our band.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!
0:31:03 > 0:31:06# Yeah! I, I, I, I,
0:31:06 > 0:31:07# I'm gonna!
0:31:08 > 0:31:10# Ah, kick 'em out!
0:31:11 > 0:31:12# Yeah!
0:31:16 > 0:31:17# Well I feel pretty good
0:31:17 > 0:31:19# And I guess that I could
0:31:19 > 0:31:21# Get crazy now, baby
0:31:22 > 0:31:24# Cos we all got in tune
0:31:24 > 0:31:26# And when the dressin' room
0:31:26 > 0:31:28# Got hazy now, baby
0:31:29 > 0:31:31# I know how you want it, child
0:31:31 > 0:31:32# Hot, sweet and tight
0:31:33 > 0:31:34# The girls can't stand it
0:31:34 > 0:31:36# When you're doin' it right
0:31:36 > 0:31:38# Let me up on the stand!
0:31:38 > 0:31:40# And let me kick out the jam... #
0:31:40 > 0:31:43I mean, we wanted to rewrite society.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46We wanted to build it from the ground up.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51You know, tear everything down and start over. Do it right this time.
0:31:53 > 0:31:54# Yes I'm starting to sweat
0:31:54 > 0:31:56# You know my shirt's all wet
0:31:56 > 0:31:57# What a feelin... #
0:31:58 > 0:32:04And motherfucker, of course, was not only a paean to the language of black Americans,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07in which motherfucker is a key word.
0:32:07 > 0:32:15Saying motherfucker was like dropping a 20lb bomb of shit in the middle of a church service.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17# And let me kick out the jams... #
0:32:19 > 0:32:22The MC5's Kick Out The Jams was actually a hit on local radio.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26And at the time, you could burn herbs ceremonially,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30on a lone road on the highway somewhere.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33I remember a particular night when Kick Out The Jams came on the radio
0:32:33 > 0:32:36and we beat the hell out of the dashboard.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40And truly this was, you know, the id of the nation.
0:32:40 > 0:32:46It was the screaming, angry, libidinous howl from...
0:32:46 > 0:32:49It was Allen Ginsberg's howl to a beat.
0:32:51 > 0:32:56I was part of an entire generation of people my age,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59who believed the country was going in the wrong direction.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04And then, to experience polarising events,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07to go through the rebellion of 1967 in Detroit
0:33:07 > 0:33:11and hear the city of Detroit at war for a week,
0:33:11 > 0:33:17to deal with the contradictions in the Vietnam War.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Our government is saying we have to go there
0:33:19 > 0:33:23and fight people that have nothing to do with us,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26that have no impact on our lives, whatsoever.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30If they're coming through the Windsor Tunnel, we're there!
0:33:30 > 0:33:32But they weren't coming through the Windsor Tunnel.
0:33:34 > 0:33:40The anger and frustration of young, white Detroit was part of a nationwide uprising,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43a second front fought on home soil, in which American youth
0:33:43 > 0:33:48went up against the authorities in cities across the land.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55POLICE SIREN WAILS
0:33:57 > 0:34:02The police were just the front lines, but the school principals,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06the congressmen, the city council, all authorities...
0:34:06 > 0:34:09The last thing they wanted was to turn on you.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13They wanted you to turn off and go along with the programme.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23We were under constant pressure from the Detroit Police Department
0:34:23 > 0:34:28and later the state police and then federal government got involved.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30The FBI -
0:34:30 > 0:34:33we entered into their sphere.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43The Detroit authorities decided it was time to take action
0:34:43 > 0:34:47and take out the man they saw as the Pied Piper of the city's youth.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01I believe they used the marijuana laws to silence him.
0:35:01 > 0:35:07But if you give two joints to this little hippy chick,
0:35:07 > 0:35:13who turned out to be an undercover agent, that gets you 20 to life.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15That's what he was facing.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Sinclair was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22It was for two joints of marijuana.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Hardly a crime.
0:35:27 > 0:35:33Certainly not something you need to keep someone segregated from the public for.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39They took John away in handcuffs
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and we were like lost sheep. We didn't ever expect that to happen.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48We thought he'd get sentenced, get appeal bond and we'd get him out.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52That didn't happen. they were so dead-set in locking him up
0:35:52 > 0:35:55that, all of a sudden, we lost our leader.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59He couldn't continue managing the band
0:35:59 > 0:36:05and it was right at the time, right at the point, when the MC5 needed to make the step
0:36:05 > 0:36:09from being a local band to being, you know, on a major label,
0:36:09 > 0:36:14be on tour and make calculated, smart decisions
0:36:14 > 0:36:17and there wasn't anybody there to make the decisions.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Whilst their leader languished in jail,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23The MC5's progression was put on hold.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28But the influence of their revolutionary, acid-drenched rock
0:36:28 > 0:36:31had already reached some unlikely places in Detroit.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34They used to call themselves the White Niggers.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36They were really gone!
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Kick out the jams, motherfucker.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44They were like the ones we all got branded by,
0:36:44 > 0:36:46but they were really the bad boys.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54George Clinton had originally come to Detroit with the Parliaments to audition for Motown.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Our notion of black music, until George Clinton, was Motown.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Motown was our local music,
0:37:02 > 0:37:07until, one of our school dances, this guy showed up with his band
0:37:07 > 0:37:12and came to lip-sync I Wanna Testify in the upper gym of our high school
0:37:12 > 0:37:14and we looked at him cross-eyed,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18like this was the world's first black hippy, as far as we knew.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22# ..Down so dog-gone low
0:37:22 > 0:37:24# Had to look up at my feet... #
0:37:24 > 0:37:27George is a genius. He takes from everything.
0:37:27 > 0:37:32And they were just part of this wildness.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35They were not your run-of-the-mill negroes.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39They had another destination.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46And then they saw the MC5 and then they started taking acid.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48# Sure been delicious to me... #
0:37:49 > 0:37:55Berry Gordy had turned the Parliaments down, so Clinton opted for a radical change of direction.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Yeah, the Temptations on acid. By the time Testify came out
0:38:01 > 0:38:05Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the English invasion had started.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09So, we realised we were a little bit late for Motown itself
0:38:09 > 0:38:13and so we said, "It's time for us to change."
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Combining rock and soul to create groundbreaking funk,
0:38:18 > 0:38:24Parliament Funkadelic occupied a strange middle ground in Detroit's racial mix.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29George Clinton is like the other side, in some ways, of the MC5 coin,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32in that he took Detroit and spun it.
0:38:37 > 0:38:43The Funkadelic wouldn't have been that without the flamboyance of white rock.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46FUNK MUSIC
0:38:51 > 0:38:55We were too black for white folks and too white for black folks.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59But the audience that we did have stuck with us, period.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04And every year there would be more and more of the colleges.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08They'd always got a new set of kids every year.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Those were the people he mowed over -
0:39:12 > 0:39:16stoned white kids. Black kids were listening to something else
0:39:16 > 0:39:19as the mothership took off around the country.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23What black musicians were doing
0:39:23 > 0:39:29was just incredibly important to my group, The Stooges.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35It was the only music that sounded better than the damn English music!
0:39:35 > 0:39:37Which was so very good,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39but blacks still sounded better.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42It's still, they... They trumped it.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55George Clinton wasn't the only act in Detroit to benefit from the MC5.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57The five had a little brother band.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01Another bunch of white kids from Detroit's metropolitan fringes.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05As London has Oxford...
0:40:06 > 0:40:07..Detroit has Ann Arbor.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15The area functioned economically as an educational centre,
0:40:15 > 0:40:22which fed the transport and war industries centred in Detroit.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24# No funk
0:40:24 > 0:40:25# My babe
0:40:26 > 0:40:27# No funk... #
0:40:28 > 0:40:31Hell of an easy place to get a band going.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36There was loose money floating around the university.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40There were church groups that were only too eager
0:40:40 > 0:40:44to get the sinful activities under their roof, where they could watch!
0:40:44 > 0:40:50And The Stooges played a lot of our early gigs at a Unitarian church.
0:40:50 > 0:40:51# ..Out
0:40:52 > 0:40:55# For another day... #
0:40:55 > 0:40:58The Stooges opened for the MC5 at the Gran De ballroom,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01but instead of revolutionary rock 'n' roll,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04they were an avant garde outfit with a wild stage act.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09We loved the MC5,
0:41:09 > 0:41:13but there was no way we could be like the MC5.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16We had to do something original, something of our own.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20That was a big part of Iggy's job.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22And he did a really good job at it.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28We were as high energy, dedicated and driving
0:41:28 > 0:41:31and tough, but different.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36Some people really liked it and some people really didn't.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Then some people began to approach the stage, wanting to be our fans,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44wanting to get near us and some other people
0:41:44 > 0:41:46wanted to stand up and say, "Fuck you!
0:41:46 > 0:41:49"This is wrong!" You know.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53"You can't do..." It was really like, "You're ruining everything!
0:41:53 > 0:41:57"We're on the verge of a new age here!
0:41:57 > 0:41:59"We're taking over! We don't need you!"
0:41:59 > 0:42:02# ..It's 1969, OK?
0:42:04 > 0:42:06# War across the USA
0:42:08 > 0:42:11# It's another year for me and you
0:42:13 > 0:42:15# Another year with nothin' to do
0:42:17 > 0:42:20# It's another year for me and you
0:42:20 > 0:42:22# Another year With nothin' to do... #
0:42:22 > 0:42:24It was just mayhem.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29It was pretty much just having one riff and just going off on it
0:42:29 > 0:42:31and letting it go where it goes.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33# Now last year I was 21
0:42:36 > 0:42:38# I didn't have a lot of fun... #
0:42:39 > 0:42:42If there was a large crowd of people in the room
0:42:42 > 0:42:47and they weren't sure how to let things happen to them,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51then I had to give them a little help!
0:42:51 > 0:42:54# Oh-my and-a boo-hoo... #
0:42:54 > 0:43:00Or we would have had a non-event, which would have led to a non-career.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04Yeah.
0:43:04 > 0:43:05# ..I don't care... #
0:43:07 > 0:43:10The Stooges would develop a totally new primitive sound,
0:43:10 > 0:43:11inspired by Detroit.
0:43:14 > 0:43:20When I was in elementary school, we had a field trip to the Rouge Industrial Complex.
0:43:20 > 0:43:26There was a machine that would just drop a piece of sheet metal...
0:43:26 > 0:43:26Whow!
0:43:29 > 0:43:32I wanted to make music. I thought it should sound like that.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38And I loved it. It was so impressive. It was power.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44# So messed up
0:43:44 > 0:43:46# I want ya here... #
0:43:47 > 0:43:50That one piano note, driving and driving.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54And the sleigh bells putting those dins...
0:43:54 > 0:43:59Putting that big din of sound over simple music.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03It did have kind of an assembly line, robotic kind of feel to it.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10# ..And I lay right down In my favourite place... #
0:44:10 > 0:44:14Detroit people are good people, they're smart, but they're tough.
0:44:14 > 0:44:20And the music they wanted was tough and hard and dry.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22# ..I wanna be your dog
0:44:22 > 0:44:26# And now I wanna be your dog... #
0:44:28 > 0:44:34It was an answer to all the florid excesses of pop
0:44:34 > 0:44:37and back to an elemental, primitive feeling, "I wanna be your dog."
0:44:39 > 0:44:45To speak of Detroit, Motown was the apotheosis of the extended chord,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48but Detroit rock 'n' roll came along and said,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52"To hell with all this finery. Let's go back to the basics."
0:44:52 > 0:44:56And I think Iggy was... That was as raw as it ever got.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06The Stooges' primitivism harked back to Detroit godfather, John Lee Hooker.
0:45:06 > 0:45:12But instead of inner city blues, their music oozed adolescent, suburban boredom.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14# Outta my mind on
0:45:14 > 0:45:15# Saturday night
0:45:16 > 0:45:17# 1970
0:45:18 > 0:45:19# Rollin' in sight
0:45:20 > 0:45:21# Radio burnin'
0:45:22 > 0:45:23# Up above
0:45:24 > 0:45:25# Beautiful baby
0:45:26 > 0:45:28# Feed my love all night
0:45:29 > 0:45:30# Till I blow
0:45:31 > 0:45:32# Away... #
0:45:33 > 0:45:35Yeah, Iggy was right.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38When you look at what the concerns of youth are,
0:45:38 > 0:45:43you have something that's really incredibly perceptive.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48It's almost like poetry, you know, these little phrases
0:45:48 > 0:45:52that capture the state of youth.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56The somewhat monotony, the sense of closed doors.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00The sense of rootlessness and boredom.
0:46:02 > 0:46:07There was no way it would fit into FM radio or anything playing then.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13There was a different definition of what music is
0:46:13 > 0:46:18and of what rock 'n' roll is. The Stooges were that,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22as the Ramones were that five or six years later.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28The Stooges are totally the starting point
0:46:28 > 0:46:31for what would become punk.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36VOICEOVER: That's peanut butter.
0:46:36 > 0:46:41Ahead of their time, The Stooges would not find due recognition until later.
0:46:41 > 0:46:47Instead, it took an outsider to export the Detroit sound worldwide.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Consistently, for 50 years, there's been a phenomenon
0:46:54 > 0:46:59in which, in the recording industry there is a hot town.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06And when one good thing happens that lights up a town,
0:47:06 > 0:47:12then, whoosh! They will swoop in from the coasts.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15In the '60s, Detroit had its moment.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19All sorts of people, you know, were gonna get signed
0:47:19 > 0:47:25and I think that's why Alice Cooper went there and became a Detroit band.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33Having been on the fringes of LA's rock scene in the late '60s,
0:47:33 > 0:47:38Alice Cooper met with little success before moving back to Michigan.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40# ..Like the rain
0:47:40 > 0:47:42# I'll be back home again... #
0:47:44 > 0:47:50In Los Angeles or New York, if you're going to a Ramones concert,
0:47:50 > 0:47:54if you're gonna go to an Alice concert or a Kiss concert back then,
0:47:54 > 0:47:58you'd come home from work, go home, put on your black turn-up Levis,
0:47:58 > 0:48:03put on your leather jacket, mess up your hair, smear some make-up on
0:48:03 > 0:48:04and go to the show.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09In Detroit they would just come from work, cos that's what they wore.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13# I'm 18 and I don't know what I want
0:48:13 > 0:48:17# 18, I just don't know what I want
0:48:18 > 0:48:22# 18, I gotta get away
0:48:24 > 0:48:25# I've gotta get... #
0:48:25 > 0:48:30They gigged with The Stooges, three months later they were neighbours!
0:48:30 > 0:48:33You know, and all of a sudden it was, "Under my wheels",
0:48:33 > 0:48:36and "18", and they...
0:48:36 > 0:48:38..they killed us.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41He was smearing peanut butter over himself and jump in the audience,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45he was a show unto himself. Musically, they weren't theatrical.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49The band just kind of stood there and played, Iggy did all the work.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54Whereas Alice Cooper, every single song was a theatrical bit.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57# Livin' in the middle of town
0:48:57 > 0:48:59# I'm 18!
0:48:59 > 0:49:02# I get confused every day
0:49:02 > 0:49:06# 18 and I just don't know... #
0:49:06 > 0:49:07They took our themes...
0:49:09 > 0:49:11..articulated them well enough...
0:49:12 > 0:49:14..threw all the crazy shit out.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18Did very, very good song craft.
0:49:19 > 0:49:24And good vocals. Good, strong, nasty rock vocals
0:49:24 > 0:49:26and they did the units.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31# School's out for summer... #
0:49:31 > 0:49:36Alice Cooper took the Detroit sound and turned it into a lucrative pantomime,
0:49:36 > 0:49:40leaving the uncompromising Stooges and MC5 in limbo.
0:49:40 > 0:49:46# ..School's been blown to pieces... #
0:49:46 > 0:49:51I think everyone went home to their respective mothers, basically.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53That's what I did first.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56We were all broke.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00I was strung out.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03I decamped home
0:50:03 > 0:50:05until I was...
0:50:05 > 0:50:11stabilised enough to go out and seek further employment.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15And what happens is
0:50:15 > 0:50:16it's a crushing defeat.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19It's a blow to your ego.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22One day you were the golden child,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25and you're not any more, and it's painful.
0:50:25 > 0:50:31And what I did was found the painkilling properties
0:50:31 > 0:50:33of Jack Daniels and heroin.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43It's a sad tale, that all the Detroit bands kind of ended badly.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46But then...
0:50:46 > 0:50:49You know, it's not surprising in terms of Detroit.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56There is a sense that Detroit... will get you.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09But there would be a happy ending for one person from Detroit's rock scene.
0:51:09 > 0:51:16John Sinclair was two years into his sentence when fellow revolutionaries John and Yoko Lennon
0:51:16 > 0:51:18got wind of his plight and came to Michigan.
0:51:18 > 0:51:24Here's a song I wrote for John Sinclair. One, two, one, two, three, four...
0:51:31 > 0:51:35# It ain't fair, John Sinclair
0:51:35 > 0:51:38# In the stir for breathing air
0:51:38 > 0:51:40# Won't you care for John Sinclair?
0:51:40 > 0:51:43# In the stir for breathing air
0:51:43 > 0:51:46# Let him be, set him free
0:51:46 > 0:51:49# Let him be like you and me
0:51:51 > 0:51:54# They gave him ten for two
0:51:54 > 0:51:57# What else can Judge Columba do?
0:51:57 > 0:52:01# Got to, got to, got to, got to, got to
0:52:01 > 0:52:05# Got to, got to, got to, got to, got to... #
0:52:05 > 0:52:08On the following Monday, John was free.
0:52:09 > 0:52:15There was a person in the Corrections Department of Michigan
0:52:15 > 0:52:19who made the decision to let John out three days after John Lennon came.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23I mean, the coincidence...
0:52:26 > 0:52:29It was just amazing.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36# What else can Judge Columba do...? #
0:52:36 > 0:52:39# Got to, got to, got to, got to
0:52:39 > 0:52:47# Got to, got to, got to, got to, got to, got to set him free... #
0:52:49 > 0:52:53I've been out of trouble for 35 years, since I got out of prison,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55because I don't do that any more.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57I don't give a fuck what they do!
0:52:57 > 0:53:01I'm gonna sit here and have my joint, I don't care what they think.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03I'm just gonna stay out of their way.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05# ..Free! #
0:53:19 > 0:53:24As the new decade arrived, Detroit started to resemble a ghost town.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29Motown finally completed its move to LA in '72,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33where a few of its more visionary artists pioneered a tougher new funk sound,
0:53:33 > 0:53:37with a real grip on what the black inner city was becoming.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42# A boy is born In hard time Mississippi
0:53:42 > 0:53:47# Surrounded by four walls That ain't so pretty
0:53:47 > 0:53:52# His parents give him Love and affection
0:53:52 > 0:53:56# To keep him strong Moving in the right direction
0:53:56 > 0:53:59# Living just enough
0:53:59 > 0:54:04# Just enough for the city
0:54:04 > 0:54:06# Ha!
0:54:06 > 0:54:11# His father works some days For fourteen hours
0:54:11 > 0:54:16# And you can bet He barely makes a dollar
0:54:16 > 0:54:20# His mother goes To scrub the floors for many
0:54:20 > 0:54:24# And you'd best believe She hardly gets a penny
0:54:24 > 0:54:32# Living just enough Just enough for the city... #
0:54:32 > 0:54:37What you had in Detroit was happening already before the riots.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41You had a city that was going black at its core
0:54:41 > 0:54:44and white people that didn't like that and were moving out
0:54:44 > 0:54:46to surround the city.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Detroit continued to decline,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54through the first Arab oil embargo,
0:54:54 > 0:55:00and that's when Chrysler, GM and Ford got caught producing cars
0:55:00 > 0:55:03that did nine miles to the gallon,
0:55:03 > 0:55:07and the Japanese said, "We can make a car that gets 40 miles to the gallon!"
0:55:07 > 0:55:10And so that was the beginning of the end in Detroit.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15Life both rose and fell with the fortunes of the American auto companies,
0:55:15 > 0:55:21and at that time, they left Detroit like an empty peanut shell.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26They drained the life blood out of it, and the money disappeared
0:55:26 > 0:55:30and the manufacturers disappeared to where the taxes were more favourable.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34But whilst the city's industry has been decimated,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37its music has survived. Today,
0:55:37 > 0:55:42even some of those who may have overindulged in the '60s are still going strong.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52The Stooges are playing now... They're more vital
0:55:52 > 0:55:57and more fabulous than ever. Their audiences are bigger than ever.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02People who weren't born then love them more than ever.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05Finally it's gotten through. And if we look around now,
0:56:05 > 0:56:09the Beatles are not the major influence.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12It's more likely that the Stooges and the Ramones are.
0:56:12 > 0:56:18As simple as the Stooges' music is, in a sense, probably now
0:56:18 > 0:56:22it's far more popular than it was in 1969 or '70.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27You know, even today,
0:56:27 > 0:56:34with the kind of nouveau garage-ic sounds that come out of there -
0:56:34 > 0:56:37the Demolition Doll Rods, the White Stripes...
0:56:37 > 0:56:39# I'm gonna fight 'em all... #
0:56:39 > 0:56:45These are bands that really bring it down to an elemental level.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49# They're gonna rip it off... #
0:56:49 > 0:56:53You've got a good riff, you've got a phrase to stick over it,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55you whack the snare and there you are.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58# ..I can't forget
0:57:00 > 0:57:03# Back and forth through my mind
0:57:03 > 0:57:05# Behind a cigarette
0:57:08 > 0:57:11# And the message coming from my eyes
0:57:11 > 0:57:14# Says leave it alone... #
0:57:14 > 0:57:16And along with the White Stripes,
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Eminem resides at the top of Detroit's musical pile.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22The world's biggest hip-hop star,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25Slim Shady, is another suburban white kid
0:57:25 > 0:57:27upholding Detroit's musical tradition
0:57:27 > 0:57:30for blending black and white.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32# You'd better lose yourself In the music, the moment
0:57:32 > 0:57:35# You own it You better never let it go
0:57:35 > 0:57:38# You only get one shot Do not miss your chance to blow
0:57:38 > 0:57:41# This opportunity comes Once in a lifetime... #
0:57:41 > 0:57:46His songs bring to life the social problems of modern Detroit. Within its eight-mile road boundary
0:57:46 > 0:57:52the population has now halved to under a million, over 80% of whom are black
0:57:52 > 0:57:55and a third of whom live below the breadline.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57# This world is mine for the taking
0:57:57 > 0:57:59# Make me king
0:57:59 > 0:58:01# As we move toward A new world order
0:58:01 > 0:58:02# A normal life is boring
0:58:02 > 0:58:05# But superstardom's close to post mortem
0:58:05 > 0:58:08# It only grows harder Only grows hotter... #
0:58:08 > 0:58:12You think of Detroit in the modern period
0:58:12 > 0:58:16as a huge, vast African-American ghetto.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Take New Orleans after the flood -
0:58:19 > 0:58:25Detroit has been through all this and they didn't even have a natural disaster!
0:58:25 > 0:58:29It just got washed over by America, you know?
0:58:31 > 0:58:33We stand here today...
0:58:33 > 0:58:36Me and Chuck was just talking earlier.
0:58:36 > 0:58:41Chrysler just signed a new contract two weeks ago, and today on the news
0:58:41 > 0:58:45they announced they're laying off 12,000 people permanently.
0:58:45 > 0:58:49Half of those 12,000 people are directly here in the city of Detroit,
0:58:49 > 0:58:53which is gonna make things that much more devastating than it is now.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Everything has just been dismantled.
0:58:56 > 0:58:59You ride down the streets here, it looks like Lebanon or something.
0:58:59 > 0:59:03# No more games I'm a change what you call rage
0:59:03 > 0:59:06# Tear this...roof off like two dogs caged
0:59:06 > 0:59:08# I was playing in the beginning The mood all changed
0:59:08 > 0:59:11# I been chewed up and spit out And booed off stage
0:59:11 > 0:59:14# But I kept rhyming And stepwritin' the next cypher
0:59:14 > 0:59:17# Best believe Somebody's paying the pied piper
0:59:17 > 0:59:20# All the pain inside Amplified by the fact
0:59:20 > 0:59:23# That I can't get by with my 9 to 5
0:59:23 > 0:59:26# And I can't provide the right type of life for my family... #