The Hard Stuff

Wayne Kramer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Epitaph / Ada
• ASIN: B000001IQQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,841 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Crack in the Universe

2. Junkie Romance

3. Bad Seed

4. Poison

5. Realm of Pirate Kings

6. Incident on Stock Island

7. Pillar of Fire

8. Hope for Sale

9. The Edge of the Switchblade

10. Sharkskin Suit

Editorial Reviews

Available again after 2 years out-of-print, the original 1995 album plus 4 remastered bonus tracks 'God's Worst Nightmare', 'Till The Police Come', 'Back To The Wasteland' & 'So Long, Hank'. Also featuring 2 bonus videos previously unavailable 'Crack In T --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Hard Stuff, May 27, 2002

By 

A. M. Rowe "music, book, and game freak" (N. Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hard Stuff (Audio CD)

For Wayne Kramer, the hard stuff isn't drugs. It's the rock'n'roll life--day jobs, booze, blaring amps, police sirens and struggle. Constant struggle.

Kramer has been pushing since 1967, when he and his bandmates in the MC5 sailed a spearhead of protopunk metal and righteous political anger out of Detroit and into...absolute obscurity. Their "spiritual adviser" John Sinclair got sent to the slammer over two joints, the band split with their major label, singer Rob Tyner and guitarist Fred Smith died, and Kramer has done hard time. "I've been trying to sell out for years," he says, "but nobody was buying."

His solo debut sounds unlike anything else out there: an autobiography and a sociopolitical diatribe that embraces guitars of cold hardened steel, William Burroughs reveries, Marxist rhetoric and avant skittering. This is real rebel rock, pumped up by indie-undie ringers from the Melvins, Pennywise, the Vandals, Circle Jerks and Epitaph label owner/ex-Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. But it's fueled entirely by Kramer's conviction that worth-while songs must have butt-kicking music and lyrics.

"Pillar of Fire," "Crack in the Universe" and "Incident on Stock Island" are lessons in humility, taught as ex-convicts murder in the 'burbs, Los Angeles burns and excess testerone boils into violence. "Edge of the Switchblade" may be the best song written about a band. "It was all for the music, we barely got paid/We were the edge of the switchblade," Kramer sings, invokingthe MC5's ghost over razor-wire chords. "Realm of Pirate Kings" and "Hope for Sale" flog demon capitalism too archly, but they're balanced by "Sharkskin Suit", a willfully goofy ode to "the Cadillac of suits" with tortured, caterwauling guitar strings tucked in its lapels.

Despite his chiseled writing, Kramer speaks loudest with his Strat. Riffs drop out of the mix like blockbusters, random squawks and guttural honks burp throughout his hardscrabble tales. Let there be no doubt, Kramer is one Mother who can still kick out the jams.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You need to hear this legendary guitarist, January 23, 2004

By 

Daniel Sokolski (Hackensack, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Stuff (Audio CD)

Great songwriting and intense musicianship. Do you think that bands like the Hives and White Stripes are original? Why dont you listed to the original bands and musicians that influenced them? Wayne was the guitarist of the MC5. In this album, he hasnt lost any of the intensity in guitarmanship and the songwriting tells some great stories of his past.

Highly recomended. List to Johnny Badseed. Electrifying!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Switchblade chords and inclusive politics burn!, March 20, 2011

By 

Jeffrey Alexander (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hard Stuff (Audio CD)

Brother Wayne Kramer. Proto-punk guitarist. MC5 rocker that helped define modern political discourse in music. Umm, how many bands had the resolve to actually play the Democratic Convention in '68? NOBODY. The MC5 played amongst the police battalions ordered by Mayor Daly. "Fort Daly" was attempted to be sewn up like Singer, but the MC5 ripped it to shreds!
Yup. You heard it here. Reformed street thug that served time and today gives back to prisoners with his sincere activism. You do know Brother Wayne recently kicked out the jams at friggin' SING SING in Ossining. You tellin' me that Cash at Folsom rocked harder?

This solo record pummels you from the beginning. You know it's Brother Wayne from the get go. His playing replicates hot rods pulling off the line when the light turns green. There's fractured melody in there, too and thus a listener doesn't feel alienated.
His lyricism updates the MC5's politics to be more inclusive of current struggles; but the record has no shelf life! The words still ring true.
His playing is still menacing. Having worked with him on a number of occasions, his politics are sincere and his dedication to making positive impacts on today's communities is unquestioned as evidenced with his work in Road Recovery.

Wayne's vocals may not have the soul swagger of Mc5's Rob Tyner, but there's honesty you feel ringing through your speakers.
This record is a testament to Kramer's soul force, resilience, and transcendence.
Find another storied guitarist that plays this hard; as if this was his first record.