During the psychedelic haze of the late '60s, the grimy, noisy, and relentlessly
bleak rock & roll of the Stooges was conspicuously out of time. Like
the Velvet Underground, the Stooges revealed the underside of sex, drugs,
and rock & roll, showing all of the grime beneath the myth. The Stooges,
however, weren't nearly as cerebral as the Velvets. Taking their cue from
the over-amplified pounding of British blues, the primal raunch of American
garage rock, and the psychedelic rock of the Doors, the Stooges were raw,
immediate and vulgar. Iggy Pop became notorious for performing smeared
in blood or peanut butter, diving into the audience. Ron and Scott Asheton
formed a ridiculously primitive rhythm section, pounding out chords with
no finesse. In essence, the Stooges were the first rock & roll band
completely stripped of the swinging beat that epitomized R&B and early
rock & roll.
During the late '60s and early '70s, the group was an underground sensation,
yet the band was too weird, too dangerous to break into the mainstream.
Following three albums, the Stooges disbanded, but the group's legacy grew
over the next two decades. Legions of underground bands used their sludgy
grind as a foundation for a variety of indie-rock styles, and Iggy Pop
became a pop cultural icon.
After playing in several local bands in Ann Arbor, Michigan, including
the blues band the Prime Movers and the Iguanas, Iggy Pop (b. James Osterberg)
formed the Stooges in 1967 after witnessing a Doors concert in Chicago.
Adopting the name Iggy Stooge, he rounded up brothers Ron and Scott Asheton
(guitar and drums, respectively) and bassist Dave Alexander, and the group
debuted at a Halloween concert at the University of Michigan student union
in 1967. For the next year, the group played the Midwest relentlessly,
earning a reputation for their wild, primitive performances, which were
largely reviled. In particular, Iggy gained attention for his bizarre onstage
behavior. Performing shirtless, he would smear steaks and peanut butter
on his body, cut himself with glass and dive into the audience. The Stooges
were infamous, not famous. While they had a rabidly devoted core audience,
even more people detested their shock tactics. Nevertheless, the group
lucked into a major-label record contract in 1968 when an Elektra talent
scout went to Detroit to see the MC5 and wound up signing their opening
act, the Stooges, as well.
Produced by John Cale, the Stooges' primitive eponymous debut was
released in 1969, and while it generated some attention in the underground
press, it barely sold any copies. As the band prepared to record their
second album, every member sank deeper into substance abuse, and their
excess eventually surfaced in their concerts, not only through Iggy's antics,
but also in the fact that the band could barely keep a simple, two-chord
riff afloat. Fun House, an atonal barrage of avant-noise, appeared in 1970
and, if it was even noticed, it earned generally negative reviews and sold
even fewer copies than the debut. Following the release of Fun House, the
Stooges essentially disintegrated, as Iggy sank into heroin addiction.
At first, he did try to keep the Stooges afloat. Dave Alexander left the
band and Ron Asheton moved to bass as James Williamson joined as guitarist,
but this incarnation wasn't able to land a record deal, despite recording
a handful of demos. For the next two years, the band was in limbo, as Iggy
weaned himself off heroin and worked various odd jobs. Early in 1972, Pop
happened to run into David Bowie, then at the height of his Ziggy Stardust
popularity. Bowie made it his mission to resuscitate Iggy and the Stooges,
as the band was now billed. With Bowie's help, the Stooges landed a management
deal and a contract with Columbia, and he took control of the production
of the group's third album, Raw Power.
Released in 1973 to surprisingly strong reviews, Raw Power had a weird,
thin mix due to various technical problems. Although this would be the
cause of much controversy later on -- many Stooges purists blamed Bowie
for the brittle mix -- its razor-thin sound helped kick start the punk
revolution. At the time, however, Raw Power flopped, essentially bringing
the Stooges' career to a halt. Iggy stuck with Bowie, who helped him shake
heroin and establish a solo career with the 1977 albums The Idiot and Lust
for Life. The Ashetons formed New Order, which quickly fell apart, leaving
Ron to join Destroy All Monsters.
Toward the late '70s, when Pop separated from Bowie, James Williamson began
working with the vocalist, playing on a number of records and tours. By
the mid-'80s, a decade after the group's demise, the Stooges were hailed
as one of the first punk rock bands. There were legions of underground
groups replicating their sound, such as Sonic Youth and Mudhoney who expanded
and updated that sound, making it one of the cornerstones of alternative
rock. Meanwhile, the Stooges lived on in countless semi-legal releases
and re-packaging of live shows, demos and outtakes, all of which were consumed
avidly by a still-devoted cult.