The next artist inducted into this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category is the hard rock band MC5. The Michigan-based band’s name is short for Motor City 5, a nod to their Detroit origins.

MC5 was nominated for the Rock Hall in six different years between 2003 and 2022 without making the cut, which must have prompted the Rock Hall’s leadership to bypass the voting process to include them.

MC5 was a loud and politically progressive rock band during the late 60s and early 70s, a clear influence on the punk rock genre and specifically groups like Rage Against the Machine.

MC5 released two studio albums in 1970 and 1971, but their best-known work is their 1969 debut, a live album titled Kick Out the Jams. The title track of that recording has been covered by more than two dozen artists across four decades.

This band was completely off my radar. I’ve written nearly 6,000 Song of the Day posts without once mentioning them. Hard rock just isn’t my thing. It seems they were very influential on the genre, so I can’t argue with their inclusion in the Hall.