"Black to Comm" by ye olde MC5

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Prompted by the two renditions included on this new bootleg compilation from the Five from Motor City, I've always meant to ask....what the fuck does "Black to Comm" mean? The lyrics don't really provide any big clues.

In any case, it fuckin' rocks. There isn't really anything new on this compilation. If I'm not mistaken, it had long been available in lesser-quality form. Here, it's cleaned up a bit (sound-wise,...though still not perfect) and lovingly packaged. Their are a couple of James Brown-tributing moments that are most entertaining, but it's really the rendition of "Black to Comm" from Disc Two (Recorded at the Saginaw Civic Center, Michigan, Jan 1st 1970) that is really makin' me testify.

So, I put it to you White Panthers....what does "Black to Comm" mean? (

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 15:11 (twenty years ago)

I understand it's got something to do with the wiring on an amp, but I'll leave that to more technically inclined brothers and sisters to explain.

― Soukesian, Tuesday, 28 December 2004 15:14 (twenty years ago)

In the recent 5 documentary A True Testimonial, "Brother" Wayne Kramer explains the etiology of "Black to Comm" as his plug-in instructions to lead singer Rob Tyner (whose job was to set up the p.a. system). "I was always telling him 'red to signal, black to comm'" and the oft-repeated term got attached to one of their earliest feedback improvisations. There's a rendition of "BtoC" in the movie, broadcast live on Detroit TV in 1967, that has to be seen/heard to be believed. Sonic Youth 20 years before the fact.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 15:46 (twenty years ago)

MC5 = GREAT. Black to comm = MC5 at their best.
Just for the record, Norwegian power-trio Motorpsycho did a good rendition of this song on their live album "Roadworks vol.1".

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 16:03 (twenty years ago)

Ah, those explanations make sense. Black to comm as in put the black wire to common (brit-speak for ground).

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 19:24 (twenty years ago)

I'm a bigger fan of High Time. More control, finesse, better writing... they sound like a touring band. "Poison" is the shit.

― andy, Tuesday, 28 December 2004 20:06 (twenty years ago)

lovebug OTM, that TV footage of "Black To Comm" from the MC5 documentary is amazing. I think the full-length version might be included on that MC5 reunion DVD as an extra.

― haitch™ (haitch), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 23:52 (twenty years ago)

Alex, is the sound quality on this around the level of that Velvets "Quine tapes" bootleg set? I can deal with that, but I've heard a couple of really shitty MC5 boots so I'm a bit cautious.

― haitch™ (haitch), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 00:42 (twenty years ago)

Haven't heard The Quine Tapes (tho' always meant to....is good?), so cannot compare.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:05 (twenty years ago)

The Quine Tapes are really good - sort of like a louder, more jam-happy version of Live 1969. You would want to enjoy "Sister Ray" though, it crops up THREE times and total about 90 minutes!

― haitch™ (haitch), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:45 (twenty years ago)

There's a rendition of "BtoC" in the movie, broadcast live on Detroit TV in 1967, that has to be seen/heard to be believed. Sonic Youth 20 years before the fact.

Just watched this this evening, and it's a complete mind-blower (not least for the entirely unexpected nehru finery). Equal parts proto-Sonic Youth and Derek Smalls' free jazz odyssey for Spinal Tap Mark II.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 8 January 2005 09:44 (twenty years ago)

There's a great fleeting moment about halfway in of some old guy (audience member? camera man?) holding his ears and shaking his head.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 8 January 2005 09:47 (twenty years ago)

...some old guy holding his ears and shaking his head...

that's what rock n roll is meant about!

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Saturday, 8 January 2005 10:49 (twenty years ago)

The guy shaking his head/holding his ears was the host of the show! The DVD outakes include the entire segment as broadcast, concluding with John Sinclair erupting a volcano of bullshit all over the host.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 8 January 2005 12:22 (twenty years ago)

"The guy shaking his head/holding his ears was the host of the show!"

even better!

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Saturday, 8 January 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

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