"I never saw equipment destroyed
the way they destroyed it. I mean they really did it right. No doubt about
it - the best equipment destroyers in rock'n'roll history." JON LANDAU
Michael Davis
and Rob Tyner meet at Wayne State University, Detroit.In the Fall of 1965
Rob Tyner invites him to come to see his band, then called the Motor City
Five. 
Michael
Davis eventually picks up the bass and begins learning how to play from
recordings of the Stones, the Kinks and the blues, plus one original song,
an instant masterpiece never released on any of their albums - "BLACK
TO COMM" which they played at Wayne State University fifteen days
after he joined the band.
What you have is an overview of the gear that Michael used during the MC5 days from 1965 to 72. ( Thanks to LENI SINCLAIR, RICK RIECKHOFF, RANDY M.FOLEY for use of their photos - every efforts has been made to identify photographers, but it was not possible in all cases; if you have any addition to this then email us -
Special thanks to MICHAEL DAVIS and ROGER 'The Engineer' DAGUET at daguetguitars.com
)
The
beloved OLYMPIC WHITE '65 FENDER PRECISION.
My very first bass, bought brand new, for the ripe sum of $265. In those early days, I used a VOX T60 bass amp.
Note the Carnaby Street outfits, and I am wearing the white P bass higher on the strap, shorter hair, and vocal harmonies. We were trying out being "mods"
(Photo EMIL BACILLA)
1 9 6 6 - 6 7 
(Photo LENI SINCLAIR)
June 1967 - The name of that club was "The See".
A John Sinclair Production, featuring the MC5 and The Detroit Contemporary Jazz Quartet.
The amplifier head on top of the T 60 speaker is obviously not the T 60 head. It looks bigger than the T 60, which was solid state. It may be a Vox Super Beatle tube head, because I see that Wayne has a solid state Beatle set up next to me, but that is not a Beatle cabinet.
I can't say for sur e . . .
*FORD
AUDITORIUM* DETROIT (
Photo: R.G.SHEUFELT) >>
Opening for Jefferson Airplane. WHITE FENDER P BASS, VOX T60 BASS AMP. The beginning of the psychedelic MC5. Also on the show; The Amboy Dukes, and The Rationals. I might add, before our performance, all of that gear was temporarily repossessed by the guy who bought it for the band in lieu of being the MC5's manager. Russ Gibb, who was a promoter of the show put up the monies owed on the gear. That's how we became the house band at The Grande Ballroom, Russ Gibbs' new club.
LATE 1967 Mid-1968 
THE
GRANDE BALLROOM (Photo LENI SINCLAIR)
Note that Wayne is playing a Gibson Firebird, and I have a different bass, the identity of which is a mystery (MOSRITE VENTURE BASS?). Our guitars were all stollen from our rehersal room while we still lived in Detroit in the summer of 1967, during the Detroit riots. Also note we have shucked the VOX stuff for SUNN. I see a Kustom tuck and roll amp head on Wayne's stack that he may have been trying out. I dunno. That bass has a Gibson headstock, but the pickguard looks like an Epiphone. Again, I dunno. I must have borrowed that bass. After the white bass got stolen, I borrowed basses right up until 68, when I finally bought the sunburst Jazz Bass.
SUMMER 68 (Photo LENI SINCLAIR)
West Park Band Shell, Ann Arbor. GIBSON THUNDERBIRD BASS, borrowed from Ron Asheton of The Stooges, since he had switched to guitar. Which I subsequently destroyed not long after that at the Grande Ballroom in the famous guitar bashing stunt with Wayne at the climax of the show where he wasted the flag Strat. Actually, I had broken the headstock off the bass a week earlier, when I jumped from the top of a PA stack at the end of another show. I put it back together with a screw, and it held up long enough until Wayne and I wound up and smashed them together, destroying both instruments. Sunn amps, now with American flags, and whatever we came up with. We're hitting our stride by now.
. . . A very cool sunburst Fender Precision bass, probably a 66, that I borrowed from Peter Prim, who was the bassplayer in Motown's only white band, The Underdogs. I think they were on the Tamla label. I've got the record somewhere. Actually, the story is, the track was recorded by the Motown session players and the singer was the only Underdog member on the record. It's a very good sounding track. The photo was taken in the summer of 68. As a matter of fact, I know where it was taken. It was one of our free Sunday concerts in the park on the outskirts of Ann Arbor.
I love that bass.
LATE 1968 _ 1972 