america adrift

Quite some time ago, I wrote a post about The White Stripes’ “The Big Three Killed My Baby”, where I read the song as a critique of the car industry in Detroit and how Jack White saw Detroit being destroyed by reckless profiteering and bad industrial habits. As Stuart pointed out to me, there is a certain renewed relevance to this post, now almost a year old.

Now, I’m not a sociologist and I don’t have any deep insights into the American economy and when I wrote the post it was simply because I enjoyed the song and found it relevant to point out some of the layers it contains. However, I won’t deny the connection between the song and the current situation for the US car industry. Fortunately, there are people other than me who have far more insight into the economy behind The Big Three. David E. Nye wrote an interesting post on the dramatic decline of the American Auto Industry back in December last year. Go read it and then come back here.

So, once again, the fate of Detroit is closely tied to the industry and there is reason to believe that The Big Three will drag Detroit (and other cities) down with them. Again, this is hardly the first time this has happened. Being a cultural analyst rather than an economist, I will approach the topic from the angle of a cultural text; in fact, a text already hinted at in my orignal post: MC5 and their John Lee Hooker over “Motor City Is Burning”.

Although this song is a cover, it has also been updated to befit the time it was played in. It is from MC5’s debut album Kick Out the Jams from 1969, recorded in 1968 in Detroit. Lee Hooker’s original version dealt with the 1943 Detroit riots but MC5 chose to update it so it deals with the 1967 Detroit riots, which broke out when the police raided an illegal bar on 12th street.

Let me tell you how it started now …
it started on 12th & Clairmount that morning.
It made the pig cops all jump & shout,
Ah said, it started on 12th & Clairmount that morning,
It made the pigs in the street freak out.

This sets the context for the song quite clearly and this is certainly not one of the most subtle songs. This is the opening verse:

Ya know, the Motor City is burning babe,
there ain’t a thing in the world that they can do.
Ya know, the Motor City is burning people,
there ain’t a thing that white society can do.
Ma home town burning down to the ground,
worser than Vietnam.

The dissatisfaction with the city is clear, as is it that this is a racial conflict which is being stirred up. The inflamatory lyrics also show that this song is clearly a progenitor for The White Stripes’ “The Big Three Killed My Baby.” Bringing in Vietnam ties the song into a larger framework of social protest songs from the same era, even though MC5 are dealing with a much more specific event.

When the police raided the bar, they discovered that there were many more people than first expected; two soldiers who had just returned from Vietnam were being celebrated when everyone got arrested. As the police left, people (mainly blacks) began breaking store windows an a full scale riot broke out which lasted several days and did not end before the National Guard (mainly white) and the Federal Army (mainly black) were deployed. 43 were killed, hundreds injured and thousands were arrested. Only the 1993 Rodney King riots would later top the size of this riot.

The cause of the riot was not the incident which started it all; instead, it was due to the increased unemployment and poverty among the black population in inner Detroit, caused due to The Big Three moving their plants into the suburbs, resulting in a white flight which removed jobs from the city core. Along with an increase in police brutality from a mainly white police force, racial tensions were stirring. Interestingly, the Detroit police force used what was known as Big Four squads to strike down on petty crimes. A squad of four police officers would patrol the neighborhoods arresting all who couldn’t produce proper identification.

It is this racial tension which “Motor City Is Burning” directly adresses

Well, there were fire bombs bursting all around, people, Ya know there were soldiers standing everywhere.
I said there was fire bombs bursting all around me, baby, Ya know there was National Guard everywhere.
Ah can hear my people screaming.
Sirens fill the air, fill the air, fill the air.

And it is the same tension between the working class (predominantly black) and the middle class (predominantly white) which Nye points out:

The great middle class may be sympathetic to the plight of the workers, but they often own foreign cars themselves, and they suspect that the automobile magnates have made their own problem.

The end of MC5’s song seems to very clearly indicate the direction that things are heading for The Big Three and so also for Detroit:

Ah said, the Motor City is burning, people,
I ain’t hanging round to fight it out.
Ah said, the Motor City is burning, people,
just not hang around to fight it out.
Well, I’m taking my wife and my people and they’re on TV
Well, just before I go, baby
firemans on the street, people all around,
Now, I guess it’s true,
I’d just like to strike a match for freedom myself,
I may be a white boy, but I can be bad, too.
Yes, it’s true now, yes, it’s true now.

Today, the city of Detroit has a primarily black population and a primarily black police force and so racial issues are most likely different. What is not different, however, is the way that Detroit’s history of riots is closely aligned to its car industry, but also that its musical culture takes its cue from the same car industry and the effect it has on the city. John Lee Hooker about the 1943 riots, MC5 about the 1967 riots and The White Stripes about the general effect of The Big Three. It will be interesting to see how Detroit responds musically to the current crisis. It seems evident that MC5 would probably stand by the last lines shouted after the song has ended:

Let it all burn, let it all burn, let it all burn