John Sinclair: Poet, Punk Pioneer & Political Activist

In this video, we delve into the story of John Sinclair and his relationship with some of the most influential figures of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Sinclair was known for his activism as a poet and political organizer, and as the manager of the band MC5, who are widely regarded as one of the pioneers of punk rock.Sinclair's connections to other key figures of the time, such as John Lennon and Abbie Hoffman, make his story all the more fascinating. Lennon even wrote a song about Sinclair, titled "John Sinclair," which he performed at a benefit concert for Sinclair's release from prison.
The video explores Sinclair's role in the counterculture movement, including his involvement in the White Panther Party and his efforts to promote marijuana legalization. We also take a closer look at his activism and how it led to his arrest and imprisonment for possession of two joints of marijuana.
But Sinclair's story doesn't end there. His time in prison sparked a wave of protests and activism, with many musicians and activists rallying behind his cause. We delve into the impact that his imprisonment had on the counterculture movement and explore how it led to his eventual release.
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[@NicolaMaxwell]

Rest Easy John, thank you for all you did for my generation and those that came after you. Peace and love. Thoughts are with you all affected by his loss, more importantly his life made people think and affected them to free think. Le gach deagh dhurachd, Nicola✌🏼❤

[@ValensRocks]

Mark, I just had to stop the rolling tears just for a quick hot second at the “to make a long story short..” part Just to say how freaking hilarious you are. It’s very healing for me.The best part is watching Eric’s facial expressions. Much luv, brother.

[@timothyconnelly3034]

I was Tim Yippie! And had a column in the Chicago Seed called Rippin’ Off with Tim Yippie! I wrote a letter to John Sinclair while he was in jail during the Chicago 7 trial, expressing solidarity and had the Illinois Bureau of Investigation show up at my house to “talk” to me. My mother let them search my bedroom and they confiscated a bag of Yippie! Buttons, a nude poster of John and Yoko from Two Virgins and a Rizla rolling machine. They asked my mother where I was and she said, “He works for the Chicago 7 Defense Committee at the Conspiracy office downtown after school. They couldn’t believe I was only 16 years old and told her they were going to take me in for questioning. My mom called the office to advise me and I answered the door when they came and when they asked for me, I told them, “I think he’s with Abbie and Jerry and high tailed it outta there. They never did find me but I got a tail from the Red Squad and eventually was arrested for littering when I was handing out flyers for a Yippie! Dope Fest a few months later. Hahahaha!

[@timothyconnelly3034]

By the way, Mark-how the hell are you? Been too long!

[@bryanhalcott8980]

My Uncle who grew up in Detroit always told me the same story, that punk had no impact on Detroit in the late 70's because they had punk since the late 60's from MC5 etc.

[@russblack443]

Yep it had been invented here in the early/mid 60's by all of the garage bands from Flint A2 Saginaw and Detroit Listen to I wanna be your dog by the stooges

[@rducase]

RIP, John Sinclair. John died the first week of Spril 2024.

[@michaele.sibeleskijr.6304]

Man you guys are my favorite... wicked cool choice about John Sinclair...the first time I Discovered your channel was about the Grateful Dead... And from G Gordon Liddy to JFK and everything in-between I've been hooked since... Keep up the good work and thanks

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

MS: Thank you man. We cover all types of topics. Please consider subscribing. It helps.

[@jamielowell4237]

John has been living in Detroit for the last few years. He was living here in 2019 as he still does -when he made the first cannabis purchase under the new law. I helped arrange it and took him to Ann Arbor that day where we met up with Ryan Basore and the recently departed Rick Thompson. Later that afternoon we went to Third Man in Detroit for a poetry reading where John performed. The event was hosted by ML Liebler. We were reprimanded for smoking pot in the green room. John just celebrated his 82nd birthday in Detroit.

[@adamheaney3]

Reading this as a former student of ML, in light of the unfortunate news about John passing today. Cool story, RIP John!

[@stefraivan]

What a great video ! Thanks guys for bringing back to the public such a figure !

[@stevenpb99]

I dropped a super chat a few months ago asking if there was ever going to be an episode on the MC5, since Marc was friends with Wayne Kramer. As a lifelong Metro Detroiter, this is especially cool to see. Thanks guys.

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

All good things come to those who wait!

[@jaredpeterson380]

When I was 20 in 1970, I was arrested for minor consumption in Mankato, MN. I was jailed overnight. My cell mate was a mild mannered young man who was serving a year for possession of 1 joint. Had 5 months to go, but was hoping to get out a little early. Pretty sad.

[@jamiekellyred9]

Mr. Hunley was referring to the metal band Pantera. R.I.P. Dimebag Darryl

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

That's it. Thanks! EH

[@gergemall]

Bravo

[@BillRees-yz9vk]

The MC5 was the best band ever, and best band that will ever be. And i have seen them all. Loudest band I ever heard. We were just a couple of punk kids that loved them, and they treated us as equals when we attended their shows. My life was never the same after I experienced this band, I feel privileged to have seen them, and to have gotten to know them. There will never be another. Go see Wayne Kramer if you get the chance.

[@FGP_Pro]

The MC5 was the first Punk band. I don't care what anyone else says, FTW. I met John Sinclair at the Michigan theater in A2, at the premiere for the "10 for 2 Rally" film, after Yoko released it in the 90s. Got to know some of the White Panthers, Gary Rasmussen the bass player of "The UP" and Scott Morgan of "The Rationals". Some cool folks who I got lucky enough to know, relevant to this video.

[@josephsierzengaIV]

Detroit was the 4th largest city in the US with over 2M people until the 1960’s when it was surpassed by LA. There are still over 5.5M people in the Detroit-Metropolitan area… Hudson Department store was the third largest Department store in the US only behind Macys(NY) and Marshall Fields (Chicago) and the largest actual single brick and mortar Department store in the US in Downtown Detroit! Henry Fords only son married the niece of the owner of Hudson’s as well…

[@WTFCHUCK9920]

🌹🌹🌹JOHN SINCLAIR🌹🌹🌹

[@loreneRa]

Remember the mid 60s YARDLEY BEAUTY BASH in Detroit at the Ford Auditorium where the MC5 performed on a split bill with Boz Scaggs. Free gift bags of beauty products were given to all who attended.

[@WattisWatts]

Ate barbecue with John and Leni at a Kite in at Belle Isle in Detroit. Would see him at bar called The Tap Room. We'd drink imports and talk music music music. John loved a good Tiger game too. RIP John. You are missed.

[@waitwhat5931]

Voodoo Donuts in Denver is next to a dispensary.

[@sandragoss48]

War on Drugs was a band from 2005 out of Philadelphia

[@jeffreykabik]

RIP My good friend John Sinclair

[@janvanderziel8548]

Thanks for the memories , I would go to the Grande Ballroom weekly. It was hard for any band to compete with the MC5 at the Grande (and all the great groups played there) . They were great and gave everything they had to the audience , every time they played.

[@mclifer]

Iggy's dad, Mr. Osterberg was my English teacher at Fordson High.

[@CaryLoren]

Hi Mark Groubert, that's a fair telling of the facts regarding Federal Judge Damon Keith vs Supreme Court decision-- but what you left out was KEY: when the Supreme Court knocked down the ruling Judge Keith famously said, "We are a Nation of LAWS not of men." --so the ruling about wiretaping being a crime without a warrant would become law was leaked to President Nixon (probably by Judge Rehnquist), so NIxon brought in his "plumbers" G, Gordon Liddy etc., to remove his wiretaps at the DNC HQ in the Watergate building on the weekend since they would become illeagal on Monday morning. Nixon's henchmen were caught in the act of burglery and that is what brought Nixon down. He was facing impeachment and instead resigned. The story was broken in Pun Plamondon's great autobiography: "Lost from the Ottawa: The Story of the Journey Back" (2002) - and Leni Sinclair's "Detroit Rocks!" (2013) and "Motor City Underground" (2020). BTW that was MC5 bassist Michael Davis that Wayne Kramer was talking to in the Chicago clip, also John's great contribution to American culture was in crossing politics with rock 'n roll and building a bridge between racial divides - (not to mention his community building and poetry) --otherwise thanks for the conversation.

[@tomaims]

Fred Sonic Smith was part of this milieu. Fred and Rock Poet "Patti Smith" were married had a child and she fronted a wonderful band "The Patti Smith Group". I remember "Easter" a great, I mean great album, a classic along with quite a few other albums- the early ones especially!

[@timwhyooneedtano4812]

Loved this show as with all the others! Just great entertainment, great info and great laughs, whether you’re into the topic or not. Can’t thank you guys enough for your fantastic work, experiences and talent. Might be wrong but think the program Kramer started is called Jail Guitar Doors after the Clash tune and there’s a chapter in England as well. Just love the MC5, Pink Fairies, Sonic’s Rendez-vous Band and Mick Farren and the Deviants and Mark and Eric!!!

[@chadallenmills]

Great episode you guys. Best podcast on the planet. 🙏☺️✌️

[@billr2375]

MC5 only band show up for Dem 68 Convention. Wasnt that other band from Michigan, Tommy James and The Shondells the official Band for Hubert Humphrey's Campaign? Not a joke...not sure though if they actually played at the Intl Amphitheater where 68 convention was. Never knew Neil Young was hanging around the area at the time. Great story. I bought the Kick out the Jams Album in 69---we fell in love with it and their sound.

[@gregginter5867]

Wow! Y'all could tell that 9/11 query got to Mark! So sorry for ALL of your losses that day! It was the 2nd time in my life that rocked my soul's bearings! Of course, JFK's killing was the 1st time. The subsequent white-washing n propoganda has literally ticked me off to no end. Your respective efforts--both of you--to fill in the info gaps has been priceless. Ty so very much!

[@gregginter5867]

For Viva... I'm 68yo a few wks, ago! Viva can now put me in his age ledger! Hahahahahaha

[@chuckfarley1213]

RIP John Sinclair

[@jamiekellyred9]

YAY! J.S. and MC-5!!! Let freedom ring fellas...

[@sandragoss48]

Bingo was popularized in the United States due to the ingenuity of Edwin S. Lowe. In 1929 Lowe, a traveling New York salesman, spotted a carnival as he passed through Georgia. There he noticed a crowded booth where people were playing a game with hand-stamped boards and beans. The game originated in Italy.

[@waitwhat5931]

Lenny Penny rhyme was the first thing I thought of too Eric.

[@jackwagner2557]

Sinclair also wrote "Guitar Army" a book I was afraid to read at during school while i was going to high school. The administration was very conservative. The book was published on "Rainbow " colored paper. Does anyone remember this book.

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

uh, I uh held it up at the end of the show? an autographed copy? Does anyone remember that? it was a hour ago.

[@anitasmith203]

@@AmericasUntoldStories rainbow colored paper and all 😁

[@jackwagner2557]

Sorry I missed it?

[@FGP_Pro]

I have a copy.

[@deadmanhiking9260]

My father went to Dodger stadium in Brooklyn to sit in the bleachers, a big guy came up to him and said "Mack these seats are taken"...so the bleachers were reserved

[@gregginter5867]

Back in 1988, I was in Witchita Falls, KS at a rehab hosp processing a Tbi (traumatically brain-injured) survivor obo of an Austin, TX based treatment facility. The attending PM&R (Physical, Medicine & Rehabilitation) MD was a beautiful n engaging young woman. Later on, a male Social Worker of that hospital asked me if I had ever heard of William Kuntzler? Of course I had, duh! I said, "Sure! He represented the Chicago 7!" The SW replied, "Exactly! And she (is, the MD) is Kuntzler's daughter!" Cool beans!

[@phillipmele4448]

I think the lead singer faking getting sniped is fucking awesome. Someone should do this… some mumble rap band et al

[@jeffreykabik]

Happy Heavenly Birthday John .

[@Thebourbongod40]

The only thing that prevented Detroit being burned to the ground was the Tigers winning the WS in 1968.

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

HA! Denny McClain saved motor city!

[@Thebourbongod40]

@@AmericasUntoldStories no. Mickey Lolich did. McLaine sucked ass in that series.

[@Thebourbongod40]

It was RFK IN Indianapolis.

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

@@Thebourbongod40 As opposed to Al Kaline?

[@theaquarian5849]

When is Paper clip 3 coming?...gosh... ✌😉

[@jameslockard929]

Wait a minute, this is the year George Wallace ran as an Independent on a segregation platform. That had an impact on breaking the Democrat stronghold on the Presidential elections since Ike Eisenhower.😮😮

[@gergemall]

David is a great guy.

[@renataheiberg7534]

Great show. Learned a lot!

[@mary49ist]

Born Manchester UK, grew up with Northern Soul music, (spent many weekends at Twisted Wheel & Wigan Casino) managed to see some greats out of Manchester when we needed a heavy night at the Ranch (when you looked good to the doorman) the likes of the Buzzcocks etc gave some great nights, Never saw the Pistols but they were regulars in Manchester, thanks for todays broadcast guys getting some real insight to the American scene, but we did do it so much better (smile) now retired to the quiet Gold Coast, Australia with great memories from my birth place in the North of England.

[@jacquestaulard3088]

Incidentally, this is BBC's summary of the legality of drugs in Amsterdam "Under current laws in the Netherlands it is a criminal offence to possess, produce or deal drugs. However, the Dutch have a "toleration policy" that allows coffee shops to sell cannabis under strict conditions. One of those conditions is that coffee shops must not cause any nuisance and the government has ordered them to stop attracting foreign drug users."

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

BBC is a spook operation so I never listen or watch anything they deal with.

[@CartersRemasters]

I wouldn't;t call him a punk pioneer, he was a Marxist Leninist, somewhat of a difference

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

He managed and played with the MC5. Punk pioneer and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer was also a Marxist. Two things can both be true.

[@jtm57]

I met Mr Sinclare in the early ninties in New Orleans. He was always playing music, starting bands etc. I saw him a few times at the Dragon's Den on Esplanade Ave. Cool guy.

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

We done

[@summertime104]

Plz do a show on the Milwaukee riots. My brother was arrested and I remember when the cops showed up at 3 I'm the morning.

[@jackwagner2557]

I remember those riots. That would be a great episode.

[@summertime104]

@@jackwagner2557 I was about 11 at the time. The way I heard the story was that he knocked over some bar stools. So I dunno what really happened. I do remember my mom got her belt out and had him sit in a chair. Funny thing is, he went to work for the DoD selling army tanks to Saudi Arabia as a procurement guy. And at his funeral, there was a tall guy who looked like a Fed DoD guy for sure. I think he was a bit of a whistleblower on some black water trial cuz he explained he had to learn how to encrypt a CD or something like that. I think they killed him by giving him uncurable cancer. I heard the feds do that.

[@MrBalloonHanz]

Great show guys!

[@Dave_USMC_FTW]

My dad used to work for the Fifth Estate around the same time John Sinclair was there. Peter Werbe is a family friend and my dad ran into John at a recent event for Peter’s book. Ran into him at a 50th anniversary event for the Fifth Estate.

[@TheSpritz0]

There is a great Fifth Estate program here on KZbin on the JFK assassination have you seen it? Very well produced when investigative journalism still existed!

[@Dave_USMC_FTW]

@@TheSpritz0 I don’t think we are talking about the same Fifth Estate.

[@TheSpritz0]

@@Dave_USMC_FTW My bad...

[@FGP_Pro]

Down in Jackson, when I was a kid, I used to listen to Werbe on 101 WRIF all the time. I met John at the Michigan theater in A2, at the premiere for the "10 for 2 Rally" film, after Yoko released it in the 90s.

[@ronaldgordon8988]

Donovan also had alternate lyrics for Mellow Yellow[I'm just mad about 14 year girls, they're just mad about me].

[@zekrk504]

I stole and read Abbies book "Steal This Book" Great show guys!

[@gregginter5867]

Mark, you gotta fup w/your jazz baseball cards!!

[@anitasmith203]

Fun show guys, thanks for the laughs.

[@NickRatnieks]

Bill Kirchen went to school with Iggy Pop. I tend to think of the MC5 as one of those hard-rocking groups of that era- Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels also come to mind.

[@thurin84]

happy birthday david!!!

[@NickRatnieks]

Mick Farren wrote for the New Musical Express in the 1970s and the Pink Fairies included Telecaster master Martin Stone for a while. He had it is said been asked to join the Rolling Stones at one point- he had been in the Savoy Brown blues band.

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

I miss Mick

[@Chris-uj7wt]

Hey..you see a band bringing rifles to the stage..you pay attention. Mother F'ers

[@inahandbasket288]

What about comparing the unjust Jan 6 issues and draconian weed laws? And MC5 carried guns onstage? Strange times again.

[@kslinaz5668]

War on drugs band is great. A bit like Bob Dylan with more rock.

[@TheSprinklerNinja]

You don't know what's in that genetically modified corporate weed

[@sorleymcsorley5558]

Question what was LBJs relationship with Allen Dulles? Who compiled the evidence that was presented to the Warren commission, did Dulles have a hand in choosing.

[@sorleymcsorley5558]

Sorry I cudnt ask last night

[@allenschmitz9644]

Yea at Goose Lake 1970 we sure showed the Gov. of the State. what a 'pop' festival can do.

[@alkohler5397]

Gun Nutz,, not gun heads .😆

[@vincedee6607]

Protestants and Jews should get on this dodger boycott, nut just Catholics

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

I am a jew.

[@vincedee6607]

@@AmericasUntoldStories yes, and your contribution is massive, thank you. 100,000 more needed to boycott the games. I hope the dodgers feel this

[@niceguymick9780]

wow...i swear....good stuff...check out Rockefeller Laws in NY and TX in the 60s,,,you forgot Fred Sonic Smith married Patti Smith, who was in the first NY punk band with Verlaine and Kaye. where is Krassner in all this???

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

The show was about John Sinclair. I hate Patti Smith BTW.

[@robnamowicz8073]

@@AmericasUntoldStories could you flesh out your sentiments about Smith? Fred liked her,,,he was a great player!

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

@@robnamowicz8073 Patti Smith was a fraud.

[@gergemall]

Mark and the Nuns .lol

[@dangates3022]

i have the album kick the jams Mother f---er well on music files on my pc

[@Lee-qo6ef]

Black panther s marxist

[@NickRatnieks]

If you remove the competitive spirit from games and sports, then basically, the game just does not develop as it is competition that drives the game. It's like a car without fuel removing the competition.

[@zennbrown6112]

😎

[@AngloCelt88]

They gave him ten for two!

[@WillyMcCoy50]

Really smort management.

[@unofficialpolitics9553]

😂 my buddy passed out at a party, so to wake him up I slipped my headphones on him and cranked up Archie Shepp. He lept off the couch like Dwight Stones! Edit: Hey Mark, can you do us old growers a favour and stop calling it marijuana. The Linnaean taxonomy is Cannabis. Marijuana is an old corp fascist scare term. Great show guys!

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

He speech control fascist, I'll call it whatever I want.

[@marcmarinacci7378]

No JFK this week ?

[@AmericasUntoldStories]

Huh? Oh you want the JFK channel on youtube