They're long-gone, unfortunately (although they did get together for a benefit show in 2009). Hometown brethren The MC5 may have had the gumption to Kick Out the Jams, but dammit, The Junk Monkeys opted to Kick Out the Jelly, and all the better for it if you ask me.

Kick Out the Jelly was the second of five Junk Monkey's releases. They went on to bigger, better things in later years. Their last two releases on Metal Blade/Warner Bros, Five Star Fling and Bliss, are a perfect blend of heart-on-your-sleeve pop and smack-in-your-face Detroit rock.

Live, they could veer from tight, blazingly fast rockers to surprisingly tender country-tinged ballads. Often, their shows would turn into boozy rambles that combined all their influences-for better or worse.

In 2001, the Junk Monkeys headlined the closing show for Detroit's famed "Gold Dollar" in the city's Cass Corridor. The venue was central to the garage rock revival. Less than a year later, they headlined the closing show at Hamtramck's "Lili's 21 Club," a bastion of early Detroit punk and further proof that the Junk Monkeys were a vital, genre-crossing touchstone to many in the Detroit rock and roll community.

Guitarist Dave Boutette continues to perform as a solo artist.

Singer David Bierman and drummer Glynn Scanlan make up the studio project Swig in which Scanlan performs all instruments with Bierman growling away front and center. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.