The Stooges Overview

Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg) played in several Ann Arbor, Michigan-area bands as a teenager, including The Iguanas and later The Prime Movers. The Prime Movers nicknamed Osterberg 'Iggy' in reference to his earlier band. Osterberg was first inspired to... [more]

Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg) played in several Ann Arbor, Michigan-area bands as a teenager, including The Iguanas and later The Prime Movers. The Prime Movers nicknamed Osterberg 'Iggy' in reference to his earlier band. Osterberg was first inspired to form The Stooges after meeting blues drummer Sam Lay during a visit to Chicago. He returned to Detroit with the idea that simply copying established blues performers wasn't enough '” he wanted to create a whole new form of blues music. Brothers Ron (guitar) and Scott Asheton (drums), along with their friend Dave Alexander (bass guitar) rounded out the rest of the band, with Osterberg taking vocal duties. The three nicknamed Osterberg 'Pop' after a local character who Osterberg resembled. Shortly after witnessing a MC5 concert in Ann Arbor, Osterberg began using the stage name Iggy Pop, a name that he has used ever since. The band's debut was at a Halloween concert at the University of Michigan in 1967. They did not play live again until March 1968. During this early period, The Stooges were originally billed as the "Psychedelic Stooges" at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan and other venues, where they played with the MC5 and others. The group's early sound was very different from their later music; critic Edwin Pouncey writes, The Stooges' early musical experiments were more avant garde than punk rock, with Iggy incorporating such household objects as a vacuum cleaner and a blender into an intense wall of feedback that one observer described as sounding like "an airplane was landing in the room." Homemade instruments were also incorporated to flesh out the overall sound. The 'Jim-a-phone' involved pushing feedback through a funnel device which was raised and lowered to achieve the best effect. There was also a cheap Hawaiian guitar which Iggy and guitarist Ron Asheton would take turns in plucking to produce a simulated sitar drone, while drummer Scott Asheton pounded away at a set of oil drums with a ball hammer. The Stooges soon gained a reputation for their wild, primitive live performances. Iggy, especially, won fame for acting crazy onstage'”smearing his naked chest with hamburger meat and peanut butter, cutting himself with shards of glass, and flashing his genitalia to the audience. At one concert, he played a vacuum cleaner like a musical instrument. Iggy is also sometimes credited with the invention or popularization of stage diving. In 1968, The Stooges were signed by Elektra Records, who had sent a scout named Danny Fields to see the MC5. He wound up signing both acts. (Fields would later go on to discover and manage The Ramones.) 1969 saw the release of their self-titled debut album The Stooges, but it did not sell very well, nor was it well received by critics at the time. Legend has it that half of the album was written the night before the first session, which was produced by former Velvet Underground member John Cale. A second album, Fun House, followed in 1970. Many consider Fun House to be the best representation of The Stooges, as the main goal of the album was to capture the manic energy of their live performances. On June 13 of that year, television captured footage of the band at the Cincinnati Pop Festival. While performing the songs TV Eye and 1970, Iggy leapt into the crowd, where he was hoisted up on people's hands, and proceeded to smear peanut butter all over his chest. It has since become an iconic rock image. Fun House, much like their debut, was poorly received by both the general public and the critics. Alexander was fired from the band in August 1970 after showing up at the Goose Lake International Music Festival too drunk to play. He was replaced by a succession of new bass players: Zeke Zettner and James Recca. Around this time, the band expanded their line-up, adding saxophonist Steve MacKay and then a second guitar player, roadie Billy Cheatham. Cheatham was quickly replaced by James Williamson. At this point, The Stooges (with the notable exception of Ron Asheton had all become serious heroin users, with Iggy being the worst example. The drug was introduced to the band by new manager John Adams. Their performances became even more unpredictable, and Iggy often had trouble standing up on stage due to his extreme drug abuse. Elektra soon (July 1971) dropped The Stooges from its lineup, and the band went on hiatus for several months. The final line-up was Iggy Pop, the Asheton brothers, Jimmy Recca and James Williamson. With the band in limbo, Iggy met David Bowie in September 1971 and the pair became good friends. Bowie, then at the height of his Ziggy Stardust-era fame, brought Pop and Williamson to the UK, and got them a deal with Columbia Records. The pair attempted to reconstitute The Stooges with British musicians, but finding nobody suitable, brought the Asheton brothers back into the band (this "second choice" decision rankled with Ron Asheton, as did his demotion from guitar to bass). This line-up, billed as "Iggy & The Stooges", recorded their third album, the massively influential Raw Power (1973), which Bowie mixed. This album would go on to become one of the cornerstones of early punk rock, although the album sold rather poorly, and was regarded as a commercial failure at the time of its release. Now augmented by a piano player (briefly Bob Scheff and then Scott Thurston) The Stooges toured for several months before disbanding in February 1974 as a result of Iggy's ever-present heroin addiction. The band's last-ever performance was captured on the classic live album Metallic K.O.. After going through rehab, Pop began a solo career in 1976 (most influentially with the albums The Idiot and Lust for Life). In March of 1977, Pop toured with a backing band consisting of David Bowie (keyboards), Ricky Gardiner (guitar), and brothers Tony Sales (bass) and Hunt Sales (drums), sons of Soupy Sales. The Asheton brothers formed a band named New Order (not to be confused with the English band of the same name), which quickly fell apart. Ron Asheton later joined Destroy All Monsters, while Williamson worked with Iggy as a producer and engineer during his early solo career. Dave Alexander died of pancreatitis in 1975. Other than the three studio albums, the only other music released during the original band's line-up was a different single version of "Down On The Street". This was the Funhouse version of the song with an organ overdub, and the original running time of 3 minutes and 43 seconds edited down to 2 minutes and 43 seconds. The bulk of the extra material comes from the "Raw Power" era and has been subsequently released by budget labels and comprise live recordings and rehearsals. Although the sound quality is inferior, fans consider the songs to be as essential to the band's history [show less]