"Miss X" by MC5
Written by Wayne Kramer
Produced by Geoffrey Haslam and MC5
Released on High Time (July 6, 1971)
I've been sitting here too long trying to figure out how to write this post. That's the trouble with writing without a set schedule: it becomes very easy to think way too much about what to write and how to write it perfectly rather than just writing something. Whatever I write may not end up being perfect, but editing sometimes helps.
I've been trying to wrap my head around whether the story of how I discovered this song and finally listened to MC5 was actually interesting and worth me writing about and/or you reading about. It still might not be either of those things, but here goes.
Substitute teachers are interesting people. Some are aspiring teachers; some are failed teachers; for some subbing is a side gig; for some it's semi-retirement. One guy I met when I was substitute teaching was in a local band called Kentucky Knife Fight. What a great band name! How they never made it big with such a great name, I will never figure out.
I enjoy talking to musicians about music. I especially enjoy talking to them about what they listen to. Sometimes I hear unexpected things or make new discoveries. As we talked, the Kentucky Knife Fighter told me about MC5. I had heard of them before, but never listened to anything of theirs. So on my way home, I bought one of their compilation albums on CD and gave it a listen. I recognized only one of their songs, "Kick Out the Jams" because Rage Against the Machine had covered it. I didn't end up liking much of their stuff, but I get why rockers enjoy them and why critics consider their proto-punk music important.
"Kick Out the Jams" is obviously a jam, and there was one other song I liked: "Miss X." It was fantastic. It didn't sound much like the rest of their catalog, which is probably why I liked it so much. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't figure out why. (I realized later that I had heard it before in the first episode of Eastbound & Down.)
When I talked to the Kentucky Knife Fighter again after listening to MC5, and I told him how much I loved "Miss X," he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. His favorite song of theirs was "High School." Even musicians get it wrong sometimes.
Right now, "Miss X" by MC5 is (probably) my 46th favorite song of all time.
