The Stooges – Introductory Page

The Stooges

Reviews:

• The Stooges
• Fun House
• Raw Power
• The Weirdness
• Ready To Die

The Stooges were/are a quartet of mooks from Ann Arbor, Michigan who played the devil’s music. One of my favorite quotes is by Tom Wolfe: “the Beatles want to hold your hand, but the Stones want to burn your town.” If that’s the case, then the Stooges wanted to fucking shoot you in the face and piss on your burnt remains.

Not literally, of course. But Iggy Pop (vocals, formerly Iggy Stooge), Ron Asheton (first guitar, later bass, now deceased), Scott Asheton (drums, Ron’s brother), Mike Alexander (bass), and later James Williamson (guitar) played like they were the bastard children of Mick Jagger and Satan’s Bitch, conceived right in the middle of Woodward Avenue in 1968 riot-ravaged Detroit. Wayne Coyne once called them “primitive caveman rock” – a pretty apt description for the way they violently banged and tore their way through simplistic proto-Stones riffs as Iggy did his wildman thing until they reached the most vicious edges of 60’s and early 70’s rock, in the process setting the stage for 70’s rock movements from punk to glam. While the hippies were all wallowing around in the mud at Woodstock with flowers and brown acid, the Stooges were cranking the shit up and making all that seem like the stupid dippy bullshit it quite possibly was.

The Stooges made two or three of the most ass-kicking rock ‘n roll albums of all time. Unfortunately, they all loved heroin a lot too. Iggy somehow escaped oblivion to become the shirtless icon we all know and love today, but the band as a creative force was dead by 1973 (though they’ve been doing “reunion” tours for a few years now! They even did another album! It’s not very good!). But their mighty legacy remains. Also, I have to review them because Iggy stage dived onto my mom in 1969. This one’s for you, mom.