“Rock N Roll music is a weapon of cultural revolution. There are not enough musicians around today who are hip to this fact”
John Sinclair is best known as the Sixties “marijuana” activist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving two joints to an undercover policewoman. He was eventually freed when John Lennon and Yoko Ono spoke out on his behalf.
Less understood is his role as the founder and chairman of the radical anti-war group, The White Panther Party, an offshoot of the Black Panthers. The Black Panther Party was a militant political organization formed after the brutal murders of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy.
The Nixon Administration and the FBI launched a secret program called COINTELPRO to disrupt and ultimately destroy the Black Panthers and the Anti-War movement. As part of this program, John Sinclair was set up and imprisoned on marijuana charges. When the government could no longer justify denying him a bond over two joints, they falsely charged him with a Federal conspiracy to blow up a CIA station, in order to make him disappear. Watch this:
WHITE PANTHER: The Legacy of John Sinclair – a short film by CHARLES SHAW featuring JOHN SINCLAIR music by THELONIUS MONK
“The Revolution is totally committed to bringing people out of their shells and into each others arms. The music is the source and effect of our spirit flesh and we demand a free music and a free high energy source that will drive us wild into the streets of America yelling and screaming and tearing down everything that would keep people slaves”
“Pop culture in general is the main thing they use to keep young people from developing any ideas.”
“Forget about the money, you aren’t going to get paid, so you can do whatever you want, you’re free! You just have to figure out a way to keep eating, and then the rest of your time you can create things, whatever you want. The only way you’re going to get paid is by making the dumb shit that they can sell”
Immortalized by John Lennon’s 1972 song that bears his name, John Sinclair was an iconic figure of ‘60s counterculture, famous for, among other things, having co-founded the anti-racist White Panther Party and for managing Detroit’s legendary proto-punk outfit MC5 early in its history. Following a highly publicized two-year stint in prison for marijuana possession (Lennon’s song was a protest against his incarceration), Sinclair has stuck to his guns as an advocate for marijuana reform.
“Living Euro to Euro, sleeping on the couches and extra beds of friends, a man without a country and a post office box in New Orleans for a permanent address.” That’s how spoken word poet John Sinclair describes himself on Beatnik Youth. From raucous rock ‘n’ roll to psychedelic jazz and abstract soundscapes. Throughout, John Sinclair’s booming voice functions as an anchor, taking on an American social landscape bursting with civil unrest and self-reinvention as Youth’s modernist production swirls around him.
John Sinclair, the renegade poet, scholar and cultural revolutionary released “Beatnik Youth” on Iron Man Records. The double CD contains over 80 minutes of music from the restless creative mind of Youth, with some fine spoken word and poetry delivered by John Sinclair.
Youth is one of the UK’s most influential producers and has been honoured, with an Outstanding Contribution Award by the Music Producers Guild. His career spans more than 30 years and is one of the UK’s most consistent, credible and influential producers.
“As for the Eagles, I don’t think It was their music so much that I hated, but the fact that they represented the corporatization of rock and roll, and the fact that “the man” had found a way to coopt the revolution, which was begun by the likes of the MC5, taking it from the streets of America, and moving it into the boardroom. They bought all of the guitars”
John Sinclair who was living in Detroit, died Tuesday 2nd April after years of declining health. Sinclair had been hospitalized at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital for two weeks before his death at 7:58 a.m. He was 82.
This post will be updated once I have time to comprehend what has happened and to write this up in full….
“Everything must be free for everybody — that’s a good place to start. Total Assault on the Culture, by any means necessary. . .”
Obituaries:
John Sinclair, Poet, MC5 Manager, and Activist, Dead at 82 – https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/john-sinclair-dead-obit-1234997977/
John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager and Activist, Dies at 82 – https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/john-sinclair-dead-mc5-manager-dies-obituary-1235647609/
John Sinclair in his own words: Talking the MC5, Detroit rock scene, radical politics, more – https://eu.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2024/04/02/john-sinclair-interview-mc5-detroit-rock-history/73180675007/
John Sinclair, MC5 Manager and Activist, Dies at 82 – https://ultimateclassicrock.com/john-sinclair-dead/
John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager and Counterculture Activist, Dies at 82 – https://variety.com/2024/music/news/john-sinclair-former-mc5-manager-dead-1235958404/
John Sinclair, MC5 Manager and Subject of John Lennon Song, Dies At 82 – https://www.noise11.com/news/john-sinclair-mc5-manager-and-subject-of-john-lennon-song-dies-at-82-20240403
John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager, Has Died – https://www.clashmusic.com/news/john-sinclair-former-mc5-manager-has-died/
Former MC5 manager John Sinclair has died aged 82 – https://www.nme.com/news/music/former-mc5-manager-john-sinclair-has-died-aged-82-3612369
John Sinclair: The rebel of many causes – https://www.metrotimes.com/news/john-sinclair-the-rebel-of-many-causes-35929068
John Sinclair, poet and MC5 manager, dead at 82 – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-sinclair-poet-and-mc5-manager-dead-at-82/
John Sinclair, Political Activist, Ex-MC5 Manager & Inspiration for a John Lennon Song, Dead at Age 82 – https://americansongwriter.com/john-sinclair-political-activist-ex-mc5-manager-inspiration-for-a-john-lennon-song-dead-at-age-82/
John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager, Writer & Weed Activist, RIP – https://americansongwriter.com/john-sinclair-political-activist-ex-mc5-manager-inspiration-for-a-john-lennon-song-dead-at-age-82/
John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager, Writer & Weed Activist, RIP – https://news.pollstar.com/2024/04/04/john-sinclair-former-mc5-manager-writer-weed-activist-rip/
John Sinclair, 82, Dies; Counterculture Activist Who Led a ‘Guitar Army’ – https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/us/john-sinclair-dead.html
Pioneering Journalist, Poet And Activist John Sinclair Has Died – https://www.offbeat.com/news/pioneering-journalist-poet-and-activist-john-sinclair-has-died/
John Sinclair (1941–2024), poet, activist and counterculture icon – https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/john-sinclair-1941-2024-poet-activist-and-counterculture-icon/
Would the MC5 be a hit? Would marijuana be legal? The answer might be ‘no’ if not for John Sinclair – https://www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio/news/local/looking-at-the-legacy-of-cannabis-activist-john-sinclair
John Sinclair, Detroit poet, cannabis activist and counterculture icon, dead at 82 – https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/04/02/john-sinclair-detroit-poet-cannabis-activist-and-counterculture-icon-dead-at-82/73179306007/
RIP John Sinclair, dead at 82 – https://www.metrotimes.com/weed/rip-john-sinclair-dead-at-82-35899529
Michigan marijuana activist John Sinclair dies buff.ly/3VGJkkw
John Sinclair, Former MC5 Manager, Has Died | News | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews – https://buff.ly/49iPXN7
John Sinclair, a marijuana activist who was immortalized in a John Lennon song, dies at 82 – https://apnews.com/article/john-sinclair-dies-82a88b0420656561e708ea36c4050a21
Marijuana activist and ‘Detroit’s resident radical’ John Sinclair has died at 82 – https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/people/2024/04/02/obit-john-sinclair-marijuana-activist-detroit-radical/73178795007/
John Sinclair, whose pot bust and prison sentence inspired Lennon song, dies at 82 – https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/04/02/john-sinclair-marijuana-pot-lennon-dead-obituary/
John Sinclair, MC5 Manager and Subject of John Lennon Song, Dies At 82
Further Reading:
“Our culture is a revolutionary culture, a revolutionary force on the planet, the seed of the new order that will come to flower with the disintegration and collapse of the obsolete social and economic forms which presently infest the earth.”
Saby Reyes-Kulkarni interviewed John Sinclair and Youth and wrote a fantastic piece for Bandcamp https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/08/14/beatnik-youth-interview/
Episode 26 of Essential Conversations, Ann Delisi spoke with John Sinclair about the music and activism that define his revolutionary life and career – https://wdet.org/posts/2020/10/30/90221-essential-conversations-john-sinclair-still-hates-the-cia/
Inside The Little-Known History Of The White Panther Party – https://allthatsinteresting.com/white-panther-party
The Fifth Estate, founded in 1965, is an anarchist, anti-capitalist, and anti-authoritarian, anti-profit project published cooperatively by a volunteer collective of friends and comrades. We are committed to non-dogmatic, action-oriented writing and activity to bring about a new world. – https://www.fifthestate.org/
We can thoroughly search all the archives, going back in time as far as possible and across all continents; however, reality is stubborn, and one fact remains unyielding: prior to April 1964, an A in a circle had never symbolised anarchy or anarchism. No poster, no graffiti, nor any trace whatsoever. This absence of evidence, however, does not conceal any mystery; rather, it simply reflects the straightforward fact that the circled A couldn’t exist before being conceived, which happened precisely in April 1964
Listen to John Sinclair’s Work here: https://johnsinclair.bandcamp.com/
Buy John Sinclair Vinyl, CDs, T-shirts and more here: https://ironmanrecords.net/store/
