My brother, Andy, is a human encyclopedia of music, art, and the alt Detroit scene. This morning he sent me this email about Mike Kelley’s death, his many talents, and the impact he had on both Detroit’s and worldwide art and music culture. I asked Andy if I could share it here, and he agreed. Thanks Andy, and thank you to Mike Kelley. I hope that you have found peace.
I don’t know if you heard yet or not, but Mike Kelley died of an apparent suicide yesterday. Mike grew up near Detroit and started Destroy All Monsters with Niagara and Cary. All three were going to U of M (University of Michigan) at the time. They were ahead of their time — influenced by Godzilla movies (that’s where the name came from), Iggy and the Stooges, the Ghoul’s weekend monster movie broadcasts, the MC5, comic books, Andy Warhol, Sun Ra and 1920s-40s illustration (among others) years before other people combined these same influences. Mike quit the band just before punk rock exploded and became an artist. Cary went on to open Book Beat in Oak Park; Kristine and I try to visit and talk with him at his store at least twice a year. Niagara continued the band with Ron Asheton (ex-Stooges) and then went on to fame as an artist too. Mike Kelley’s work would later be used on the cover of Sonic Youth’s Dirty and I have fond memories of seeing one of his video installations at the DIA with Kristine and her dad. This Christmas Kristine gave me a large collection of collages, illustrations and prints made by Mike, Niagara and Cary in the 70s. We talked about some of the stuff used in their work — images of Bettie Page and covers of old pulp magazines — completely ahead of their time for using this stuff in design in the 1970s when most people were making macrame owls or painting their kitchens golden harvest yellow. Mike will be missed.
