Product Description

"Guitar Army was our manual for revolt. It's a rainbow-colored Howl, still resonating today with the singular value of idealism."-Michael Simmons

John Sinclair, manager of the notorious Detroit band MC5 and leader of the leftist revolutionary vanguard White Panther Party, is the still-charging embodiment of a dazzlingly optimistic time in which change felt necessary and possible.

Sinclair was the martyr of the original war on drugs, sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of two marijuana joints. Guitar Army is the iconographic book that proclaimed "Rock and Roll is a Weapon of Cultural Revolution" for young, revved-up readers in 1972. Its author was released from prison just three days after 15,000 people came to see John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Archie Shepp, Allen Ginsberg, and other musicians and leaders demand his freedom.

The updated Guitar Army includes two dozen previously unpublished period photographs, recent writings from John Sinclair, and an introduction from Michael Simmons that leads the reader through the revolutionary times to Sinclair's life today.

A bonus CD contains rare music recordings of MC5 band members, the revolutionary rock group UP!, Black Panther Bobby Seale on the White Panthers, and original White Panther Party rallies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117001 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

About the Author
Manager of the revolutionary rock band MC5 and leader of the White Panther Party. International attention and the support of John Lennon came after his imprisonment for possession of marijuana.

Customer Reviews

Classic manifesto of music-inspired rebellion.
Now in an updated edition with two dozen previously unpublished black-and-white period photographs, additional recent writings by the author, and an introduction by Michael Simmons, Guitar Army: Rock Revolution with MC5 and the White Panther Party is the testimony of the Detroit MC5 band manager and leftist revolutionary "White Panther Party" leader John Sinclair, originally published in 1972. Sinclair was one of the best-known casualties of the "war on drugs", sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for alleged possession of two marijuana joints - his supporters believed the disproportionate sentence was a form of persecution for his political leanings. Guitar Army collects Sinclair's writings on the street (1968-69) and in prison (1969-71) and discuss the power of revolution, the influence of rock-n-roll as a revolutionary weapon, the history of blues, tales of injustice and murder by the state, and much more. "Entertainment, as something you do on the weekends after slaving in the factory or the office all week, sitting at home at night taking in all the vile pablum spewed out of the television set. Luxury. What You Could Do Without. No sense, these people in this country have no sense of the immediacy of music, the quick feel of it, the way it can shape your life and take your life's shape as you give yourself to it every moment of your life, as a first term in your life." An accompanying music CD features recordings of MC5 and other revolutionary bands, enhancing this classic manifesto of music-inspired rebellion.