Great Bands From Detroit?

[Bev]

I've been put up to helping with the music end of a documentary about Detroit. I'm looking for great Detroit bands to interview but also great bands from the past or great songs about the city for the soundtrack. Any suggestions?

[kopper]

You mean like this?

MC5

The Stooges (Ann Arbor)

The Dirtys

The Gories

The Dirtbombs

The Hentchmen

Demolition Doll Rods

Nikki & the Corvettes

The Gore Gore Girls

Bob Seger & the Last Heard

The Ramrods

Sonic's Rendezvous Band

The Detroit Cobras

The Rationals

Fortune & Maltese (also Freddy & the Four-Gone Conclusions)

Gino Washington

Death

Unrelated Segments

The Up

The Von Bondies

Bill Bondsmen

The Witches

Mitch Ryder

Alice Cooper

etc. etc. etc.

[KK Dirty Money & Las Drogas]

Kopper did a fine job of providing a solid list of many. The list goes on, of course, but Kopper's list will get you started for sure.

A couple more things to look at:

Sympathy for the Record Industry put out a decent comp years back called The Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit (recorded/produced by Jack White before the White Stripes escalated to stardom). There are a lot of great bands on that, including the Clone Defects and the Paybacks (which isn't on the list above). You could also go further by digging up any of the several other Mick Collins bands (the guy behind Gories and Dirtbombs).

A lot of people also lump the MC5 on lists like this, too. 

Also, there's a new-ish band out called Gorevette, which is fronted by Nikki Corvette (of Nikki and the Corevettes) and a couple of the Gore Gore Girls. The Go also made a bit of a splash, even got signed to Sub Pop a few years back.

Tyvek is another one that just got signed to In The Red Records.

I could go on, but...

 

 

[Johnny Bean]

Soledad Brothers
Brownsville Station

and the greatest band to ever come from Detroit - Funkadelic (and if you think the MC5 and the Stooges are better you can kiss my cracker ass )

[KK Dirty Money & Las Drogas]

 

I have a feeling that the guy originally asking this question was referring to garage and/or punk bands from Detroit. 

Funkadelic is great, sure, but I don't know if they really fit in to this online community as well as the bands previously listed.

 

I thought Soledad Brothers were from Ohio.

[kopper]

The Soledad Brothers were from Ohio originally, but I think they relocated to Detroit. And I can't believe I completely forgot about the Clone Defects and the Paybacks! Yeesh. Oh, and also: HUMAN EYE!!

[Erske Storsvedja]

The "supergroup" Destroy All Monsters were pretty cool. Featured members from MC5 and The Stooges among others.

[Bev]

Wow. Thanks. I also completely forgot about Clone Defects and Human Eye.

[ELECTROMAGS]

Timmy Vulgar, the dude from Human Eye, Clone Defects, etc. has a bunch of different bands he dabbles in (or has dabbled in over the years).
And yes, with some research, you'll find that a lot of these guys went on to form side projects or after-projects (a la Destroy All Monsters, etc.)

Also, I'd be remiss not to mention The Sights. They are a great band.

If you have any other questions, let me know. I'd be happy to help you out. I am down in the trenches of the Detroit scene here and can even help you line up some interviews, or even just help you get permission to use some of this music via the bands.

[Erske Storsvedja]

Oh, I forgot to mention The Punks!

[Dead Boy]

And Dark Carnival and the New Order, too.

Erske Storsvedja said:

The "supergroup" Destroy All Monsters were pretty cool. Featured members from MC5 and The Stooges among others.

[Old School Hero]

doubt this helps but...Detroit had amazing underground Funk / Soul in the late 60's and early 70's!

[KK Dirty Money & Las Drogas]

There used to be a great band a few years back called The Piranhas (their recordings are on In The Red), but they've since imploded.
They were very Hunches-esque and fairly edgy, and put on a great live show.
Check them out, too.