Michael Davis, bassist of pioneering Detroit rockers the MC5, has died aged 68.

Davis died on the afternoon of Friday, February 17 at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California after battling liver disease in the hospital for the best part of a month.

Best known for their song ‘Kick out the Jams’, the MC5 were active throughout the ’60s and early ’70s, their raucous live shows and far left political views making them a considerable influence on the US and UK punk acts that would follow.

After the group’s first break-up in 1972, Davis joined Destroy All Monsters, a quietly successful group that also featured The Stooges’ Ron Asheton, and in 2003 reformed the MC5 with Wayne Kramer, Dennis Thompson and new vocalist Handsome Dick Manitoba (the band’s two other original members, Rob Tyner and Fred Smith had died in 1991 and 1994 respectively).