This superb documentary, first shown on BBC Four, offers a detailed picture of the Motor City's music scene during the 1960s, and how riots changed its sound forever.
In the early 1960s, Detroit was the home of Motown Records. The label - modelled on car production lines - successfully crossed race barriers with its acceptable, cultured and smooth blend of soul music, cleverly marketed to appeal to both black and white teenagers. Acts such as The Temptations, The Supremes and Martha Reeves And The Vandellas were enormous, having huge hits across the world, instantly recognisable as the Motown sound.
But times changed. Detroit became a city of unrest. Fearful of reflecting current trends, Motown tried to stick to its formulaic trademark sound, but it started to seem old hat. A new musical revolution was just around the corner.
Enter the Motor City 5 (pictured), a bunch of disaffected white working-class kids. Influenced by mid-60s British rock bands and stoned out of their heads on acid and dope, they stripped standard blues down to its raw basics, added a psychedelic howl and supercharged it to create garage rock, sowing the early seeds of punk and grunge.
When race riots erupted across Detroit in July 1967, killing 43 people, the MC5 were perfectly placed to reflect the unrest. In their wake came Iggy And The Stooges, the multi-cultural, later highly bizarre, Funkadelic, and, taking a very commercial approach, Alice Cooper.
A tremendously absorbing documentary, the footage of the MC5 is worth the price of admission alone. Brilliant.
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