Punk-rocking the Iowa vote

Published January 15, 2004 7:00PM (EST)

Rollingstone.com reports that Wayne Kramer, guitarist for the legendary Detroit punk rock outfit MC5, is helping political action group Punkvoter crank up the noise in Iowa this week. Punkvoter's mission is to rally young voters to the polls, and apparently the group's message is music to the Dems' ears. "[Dennis] Kucinich and [Howard] Dean spent time with us, as did the [John] Edwards folks," says Punkvoter's Scott Goodstein. "We were the only guys in there with red mohawks, and probably the only ones under the age of thirty."

The group just released a compilation CD titled "Rock Against Bush," and is staging concerts along the campaign trail. MC5's Kramer proved he could still kick out the jams -- and a manifesto, of sorts -- in downtown Des Moines on Saturday: "'Hey you motherfuckers, it's time to get educated,' he yelled to the mixed crowd of young punks and 'whoop-and-hollering union people.'"


By Mark Follman

Mark Follman is Salon's deputy news editor. Read his other articles here.

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