Being banned and dropped actually boosted the MC5’s reputation

Evidence

Nevertheless, Sandy Pearlman, whose band the Soft White Underbelly was to share a New Year’s Eve bill with the MC5 at the Broadway Central Hotel (until the fearful venue canceled the gig) gave the 5 a good review in the Voice—more high energy than the Doors, the Who, and Sly Stone, comparable only to Sun Ra. The following week, Richard Goldstein published a thoughtful piece on rock and the blues that, citing the lame crooning of “it’s gonna be all right” on the Beatles’ new single “Revolution,” declared, “We much prefer the MC5, and their open hostility to all that is ‘gentle’ in rock.” If the MC5 suffered from exaggerated expectations, their reputation was enhanced after Graham declared them personae non grata and they were dropped by Elektra. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1349

Categorization

• XREF: This is the inverse of the artist-as-gentrification-advance-guard dynamic elsewhere in the book — here exclusion from the market is what certifies authenticity.
• SEED: Angle: how getting banned became a career accelerant in the late-60s music economy — the anti-market as credential.