John Sinclair

Poet and activist John Sinclair managed and politicized one of the most influential bands in rock history, MC5. ∙ When MC5’s record label threatened to edit the intro of “Kick Out the Jams,” Sinclair successfully argued that the band should keep the obscenity in the song. ∙ Sinclair set up MC5’s historic performance at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. ∙ When Huey P. Newton asked white allies to support the Black Panthers, Sinclair responded by cofounding the militantly anti-racist, socialist White Panther Party. ∙ In 1966, Sinclair signed on as music editor for Detroit’s Fifth Estate, the longest-running anarchist publication in the US. ∙ As a jazz writer at DownBeat magazine, Sinclair advocated for the avant-garde free jazz movement. ∙ Sinclair read his poetry at the landmark 1965 Berkeley Poetry Conference, where he was introduced by Allen Ginsberg. ∙ Inspired by Sinclair’s imprisonment on marijuana charges, John Lennon penned the protest song “John Sinclair.”