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Some 30 years after splitting in 1974, Iggy Pop reunited with his original band, The Stooges, to record some new tracks and tour. This performance recorded at Europe’s Lokerse Festival in August 2005 includes blistering versions of nearly all the great tracks from the first two Stooges albums as well as new songs Skull Ring and Dead Rock Star.
It’s clear from the opening bass riff of Loose that the Stooges’ raw power has not waned. It all kicks off with the pounding primitive thud of Scott “Rock” Asheton’s drums. Ex-Minuteman Mike Watt (standing in for the dearly departed Dave Alexander) let’s rip with a powerful bass wobble guaranteed to let loose the most uptight caboose. Scott’s brother Ron grinds in on guitar to create a filthy groove, over which he adds the mind-melting wail of distorted wah. On top of this sea of sound floats the one and only Iggy, whose grunting, gurgling, let-it-all-hang-out vocal style and on-stage gyrations epitomise the art of singing as the raw expression of the soul.
Barely out of their teens in their heyday (1967-1974) the Stooges were as much influenced by Detroit’s industrial noise as they were rock groups like the Velvet Underground, The Who, the Stones and experimental jazz artists such as Sun Ra and John Coltrane.
The soul expressed in their performance is of a stultifying suburban alienation and of the drive to escape a possible lifetime stuck on the assembly line through sex, drugs and rock and roll. Though common enough today, such themes, so overtly expressed, were poison to a 60s youth culture focussed on the utopian mirages of flower power and Woodstock. Few critics were impressed. Albums now regarded as seminal, such as the primal proto-punk of The Stooges (1969) and the psychedelic jazz-flavoured Funhouse, simply stiffed. The band ran its course after a re-jigged line-up produced the glam/metal sounds of Raw Power in 1972.
Jack White from The White Stripes wrote the introduction liner notes to the 2005 Fun House re-issue on Rhino Records stating “Fun House...…the very definition of Detroit rock’n’roll, and by proxy the definitive rock album of America”, spot on Jack!
Throughout the 70s those in the know continued to worship at the Stooges’ altar. Acolytes included the likes of Lester Bangs, David Bowie and John ‘Johnny Rotten’ Lydon, whose Sex Pistols borrowed strongly from the Stooges’ sound and attitude to create the punk revolution of 1977.
Sure enough, there would be no Sex Pistols, nor even a Green Day, without the Stooges, but the band’s influence spread ever wider in the 80s, 90s and noughties through genres such as ‘alternative’, grunge and metal.
Tracklist:
Loose
Down on the Street
1969
I Wanna Be Your Dog
T.V. Eye
Dirt
Real Cool Time
No Fun
1970
Mindroom
Fun House
Skull Ring
Dead Rock Star
Little Doll
I Wanna Be Your Dog
Not Right |
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