The light shows and sounds indicated the influence of dope
on audience and musicians alike. They could no longer be called dances for they
resembled Be-Ins more than the foxtrot shuffles that still predominate in
middle-aged memories. Clubs, like U.F.O. and Middle Earth in London's West End,
used to have all-night sessions, where one could listen, dance, blow bubbles,
eat, sleep, trip, make love or just wander around digging the people. As might
be expected, rip-off club managers began their own enterprises, charging high
prices for music, food and hard liquor. For a time nobody cared, because the
head clubs were community run and one could hear the best in progressive rock
and grin stoned grins at performers who would later be ranked as superstars. A
mixture of police harassment and capitalist economics eventually closed them
down. The political nature of rock music is manifested at a number of levels. Many
groups take explicitly political stands, whilst others make obvious references
in their songs and interviews. The nature of the music industry, however,
sometimes induces an ambivalent stance for, despite the free concerts and the
heavy rhetoric, the record companies are 'only in it for the money'. The M.C.5,
as long as they stayed in Detroit with John Sinclair, were a screaming,
revolutionary band. As soon as they left, they became a teeny bop group with a
mean reputation but without any balls.
