“We should use that”: A dentist’s office, MC5, and a roaring 1969 classic
An article on Far Out Magazine retells guitarist Wayne Kramer's account of how MC5's 1969 punk anthem "Kick Out the Jams" came together while the Detroit band was living in a disused dentist's office, using the ground floor as a rehearsal space. Kramer explained that the now-famous phrase originated as a heckle the band shouted at underwhelming touring acts they supported, before he and vocalist Rob Tyner decided to turn it into a song title. The piece matters as a small but colourful piece of rock history behind a track widely credited, including by Tom Morello, with helping invent punk rock.
The article also notes the coincidence that the song emerged from a literal dentist's office, and uses this as a springboard to survey other songs referencing teeth and dentistry, including Lorde's "White Teeth Teens," Lady Gaga's "Teeth," Steely Dan's "Your Gold Teeth" tracks, "All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)," and older blues numbers such as "Long John Blues" and "Toothache Blues." It frames MC5's story as an unusually literal example of a broader, quirky pattern of dental themes in popular music.
- MC5 wrote "Kick Out the Jams" while living in a dentist's office in 1969.
- The phrase began as a heckle aimed at underwhelming touring bands.
- Article also lists other songs referencing teeth and dentists.
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Kick Out the Jams is one of the best-known songs by MC5, a Detroit rock band formed in the 1960s whose loud, aggressive live shows and 1969 debut album made them a touchstone for what would later become punk rock. Guitarist Wayne Kramer has recounted how the song took shape while the band lived and rehearsed in an old, disused dentist's surgery, and the title itself grew out of a phrase they used to shout at other bands during shows.
The song is significant because it is widely seen as an early influence on punk music, with later musicians such as Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine crediting it as one of the genre's starting points. Wayne Kramer, who died in 2024, and singer Rob Tyner, who died in 1991, are the two band members most closely linked to how the track and its title came about.
The wider article uses the dentist's office setting as a jumping-off point to look at other songs about teeth by artists including Lorde, Lady Gaga and Steely Dan, alongside older blues songs on the same theme, treating MC5's story as a particularly literal example of a recurring quirk in popular music.