WAYNE KRAMER was a cofounder and guitarist of Detroit's incendiary rock band the MC5, and a notable activist for racial and economic equality, which made him a target of the FBI's counterintelligence program. After serving a federal prison term, he cofounded the charity Jail Guitar Doors with Billy Bragg, released a dozen solo albums, and has gone on to score countless feature films, cutting-edge documentaries, and notable series for television. He is considered a pioneer of both punk rock and heavy metal.
"The Hard Stuff is a raw account of Kramer's life growing up in the
increasingly mean streets of post-World War II Detroit, the
glorious rise and precipitous fall of the MC5, and his decades-long
addiction to drugs that led to his two-year bid in a federal
penitentiary."--VICE's Noisey
"[This] book comes alive when bringing the reader into the heart of
the late-'60s scene, where revolution seemed not just possible but
plausible...The Hard Stuff is rarely poetic, but in its brutal
honesty Mr. Kramer may succeed in deterring future musicians from
contemplating serious drug abuse."--Wall Street Journal
"A book as suited to the sociology section as the music
aisle."--The Guardian
"A thorough examination of his life, including musical adventures
and drug misadventures that ultimately landed him in jail... The
Hard Stuff covers the entirely of Kramer's life, with no attempts
to hide any warts."--Billboard.com
"An honest accounting of everything the title states, from the
rapid rise and fall of the MC5 over the course of three albums, the
heroin addiction and drug dealing that landed him in prison, and
ultimately the defeat of those demons, redemption, and late-in-life
fatherhood that he calls 'the most meaningful thing I've ever
done.'"--Orange County Register
"By blending his own narrative with the trials of MC5 and by
merging musical rebellion with social justice, the author has
penned a contemplative diatribe against political
authority."--Library Journal
"By the time he turned 30, Kramer had been the lead guitarist in a
legendary but star-crossed rock band, a playacting Detroit
gangster, and a guest of the American carceral system. All this
living is covered in his new memoir The Hard Stuff, along with
Kramer's roundabout path to the life he leads today."--NPR
Music
"For all the hardness of his life, his insights into
addiction-drawn from his own, and his absent father's
alcoholism-are shot through with an enduring, thoughtful empathy
that makes The Hard Stuff such an endearing read."--MOJO
"He defied death, drugs and detention. Now MC5 legend Wayne Kramer
has written an equally full-on
memoir...Eye-opening...Wide-ranging...His journey from fatherless
child to musical maverick to junkie to upstanding survivor reads
like a history of the late 20th century."--TheObserver
"In the grand literary tradition of finding meaning in the course
of a life, guitar legend and rock music icon Wayne Kramer's deep
and insightful memoir The Hard Stuff stands out like one of his
piercing Fender solos. This is the story of a man ahead of his
time, who has managed to carve a real life out of the shards of the
magical but self-destructive life of his youth. Real wisdom arises
from pain and loss, and Kramer has the chops to claim his place as
a modern-day sage. That he stays grateful and humble is the best
evidence of his personal growth. Read this memoir for a glimpse
into the deepest reality of the human experience."--Kenneth E.
Hartman, former prisoner, justice reform activist, and author of
the Eric HofferAward-winning memoir Mother California: A Story of
Redemption BehindBars
"Kramer has written one of rock's most engaging and readable
memoirs."--Rolling Stone
"Kramer writes with a self-lacerating clarity about life in The MC5
and their chaotic slide into drugs, disorder and prison. Every grim
inch of the trip from boundary-smashing idealism to dingy realty is
here, with a twist of redemption at the end."--Q Magazine
"Kramer's life has been a raging roller-coaster of euphoric highs
and bottom-feeder lows. The now-sober superstar talks about all of
it-the student demonstrations, police riots, crazy concerts,
drug-fueled debauchery, wiretapping, marriages and divorce, prison
time, therapy, recovery, and redemption-in his new memoir...Sure,
we've been awed by other rock autobiographies...but we've never
encountered a tale as turbulent and gritty as Kramer's. The Hard
Stuff is a brisk, brutal page-turner wherein the Motor City 'white
boy with the wah-wah' candidly chronicles the formation of one of
rock's most outrageous ensembles."--AXS.com
"Often harrowing, sometimes hilarious and always
compelling."--Buffalo News
"Reading Wayne Kramer's painfully honest autobiography was like
savoring a real-life reverse murder mystery: how he ever survive to
write this? World-class rock and jazz musician at the age of 20,
progenitor of punk with the MC5, political and cultural
revolutionary, heroin addict, alcoholic, residential B&E
burglar, drug dealer, federal convict, nothing's omitted. Future
generations of disaffected kids will read The Hard Stuff to learn
the miracle of a life of music and survival."--Mark Rudd, author of
Underground: My Life with SDS and theWeathermen
"Relives those energising days of the late '60s, when Detroit's MC5
mixed rock and revolution with free jazz and exceptional hair...An
inspiring and redemptive tale."--Uncut
"The book, while detailing the struggle of an addict and an artist,
is layered with the optimism of a man committed to seeing past
impossibilities."--South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"The MC5 are the ultimate cult band: a rebellious group from
late-1960s Detroit whose raw, proto-punk take on rock'n'roll
influenced everyone from the Sex Pistols to Primal Scream. They
never made it, though, and when you read this memoir by the
guitarist and leader Wayne Kramer, you begin to see why. The Hard
Stuff can be read as a manual of how not to become a rock star.
Drugs, band feuds, jail and radical politics all combined to
prevent stardom. This is a story of bad luck and bad behaviour in
equal measure."--Times of London
"The 1960s rocker and (sometimes) revolutionary pulls no punches in
his autobiography, delivering a detailed look at his life good
(leading the rock powerhouse MC5, political activism during the
late 1960s and early '70s) and bad (drugs, prison) in a voice as
clear as the vocals on MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams.'"--Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel
"There's no hyperbole in saying that The MC5 were one of the most
important bands to emerge from America during the 1960s, which is
why it's so great that Wayne Kramer, one of the founding members of
the band, decided to sit down and write himself a memoir...The end
result-The Hard Stuff-turned out spectacularly."--Rhino
"There's nothing like an autobiography when it comes to really
digging deep. Kramer's The Hard Stuff does exactly that. It's
simultaneously brutally honest, heartbreaking, hilarious, and
life-affirming...It's a frankly wonderful read."--Detroit Metro
Times
"Voyeuristically dramatic."--New York Times Book Review
"Wayne Kramer bore first-hand witness to an unparalleled era of
rebellion, freedom, and total craziness. The Hard Stuff brings that
milieu back-to-life with a wildly compelling, vivid, and eloquent
portrayal. It's the next best thing to having actually been there.
I binge-read the whole book and, for the next week, could smell and
taste the Grande Ballroom in my mind."--Don Was, producer
andfounder of Was (Not Was)
"Wayne Kramer is the biggest badass in rock 'n' roll. Period. And
The Hard Stuff proves it. Between these covers is a story of
survival, talent, madness, dope, guts, and a sheer, fearless
commitment to bringing straight-up enlightenment to this fascist,
prison-happy nation we happen to inhabit--even if it meant putting
his own freedom, and his own unbelievably epic life, on the line.
This just may be the best memoir of the year."--Jerry Stahl, author
of I, Fatty and Permanent Midnight
"Wayne Kramer's story is an incredible tale of rock 'n' roll
redemption. The MC5 crystallized the '60s counterculture movement
at its most volatile and basically invented punk rock music. But
Wayne's life proved to be as chaotic as his groundbreaking guitar
playing. Rogue, rascal, rebel, revolutionary, artist, addict,
inmate, poet, prisoner, and now proud papa, Brother Wayne Kramer is
one of the wisest people I know, and he has earned that wisdom the
hard way. The world needs to know this man's story. Here it
is."--TomMorello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine,
Audioslave, and Prophets ofRage
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