Exploding onto the late 1960s scene, The Stooges were a bunch of misfit Mid-Western delinquents, and their charismatic frontman, Iggy Pop, was a performer extraordinaire. Confrontational and theatrical, this maniacal entertainer was originally joined by the Asheton brothers, Ron and Scott, and Dave Alexander. This lineup delivered two albums of primal, brutal-sounding rock before fracturing. A fortuitous crossing of paths with David Bowie in 1971, however, led to a creative rebirth with a new guitarist in place, James Williamson and before delivering a third album of nihilistic ferocity. However, the album bombed, leaving the band to limp on until 1974 before calling it a day.
During their absence, the band's influential legacy blossomed, and in 2003, the original trio reunited, once again performing under The Stooges banner. The band toured extensively, finally achieving the respect and adulation that had been lacking the first time around. A new album appeared in 2007 before Ron's passing in 2009. Williamson subsequently returned, enabling the band to continue touring and recording before Scott Asheton passed away in 2014 and the band folded.
The Stooges' music has influenced countless other bands, artists and genres, and this book examines the band's enduring musical legacy by taking a fully comprehensive look at all the group's officially recorded output.
The Author
Robert Day-Webb graduated from the University of Birmingham and subsequently worked in the publishing industry for 16 years, undertaking a wide variety of editorial and writing roles. A self-confessed music, movie and TV buff, Robert has previously had two on track books published, by Sonicbond Publishing, focusing on the bands Badfinger and Humble Pie, respectively. Robert has also had several personal reflection essays published in a number of music and TV-related anthology books. He currently lives in Gloucester, UK, with his wife, Marie, and their two children, Joshua and Lauren.
Iggy Pop was born James Newell Osterberg Jr. on 21 April 1947 in Muskegon, Michigan, and was raised in a trailer park in Ypsilanti, just outside the university town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Against this lower-middle-class background setting, the ‘trailer trash’ insults he endured as a kid actually helped Iggy in the long run, making him extremely competitive and instilling that thirst for success, etc.) The young Osterberg was apparently around nine years of age when he first became fascinated by the sound of ‘industrial hum’. Indeed, any kind of machinery and its sound fascinated the young boy, so it was no surprise then when the youngster began playing drums at school.
Subsequently, at age 14, the young Osterberg got his first drum kit when his interest in music was well and truly sparked in the early 1960s by the sounds of Duane Eddy, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry. In 1962, the young Osterberg initiated his own musical endeavour when he formed a musical duo with a school friend, The Megaton Two, in which he, of course, played the drums.
This duo later expanded into the group The Iguanas circa 1964. Over the course of the next year or two, The Iguanas subsequently became a very popular local rock ‘n’ roll band, playing gigs at local high schools and frat parties at the University of Michigan, where they specialised in the à la mode British Invasion sounds of the day (including lots of Beatles tunes).
In July 1965, Osterberg graduated from high school and carried on playing with The Iguanas, who, by this time, were now playing clubs and periodically backing visiting musicians like The Shangri-Las. The band also managed to release a single, a cover of Bo Diddley’s ‘Mona’. In September 1965, Osterberg enrolled at the University of Michigan to study anthropology but dropped out after only one term. In November 1965, he decided to quit The Iguanas and instead joined local blues band The Prime Movers. It was around this time that the young Osterberg acquired the nickname ‘Iggy’, a slightly derisory sobriquet courtesy of his new bandmates, who couldn’t resist a little dig at Osterberg’s previous band.
Around the autumn of 1966, now aged 19, Iggy decided to quit not only The Prime Movers but also the entire Ann Arbor area, feeling that he had squeezed everything he could out of Ann Arbor. He, therefore, embarked on a trip of discovery to Chicago, whereupon he set about investigating the blues by hanging out and playing with some real authentic bluesmen. Iggy subsequently learned a lot during his brief time there and, upon his return to Ann Arbor, was determined to utilise his recent Chicago experience to help birth his own truly original music aspirations. He now knew that he no longer wanted to be a drummer, and he also realised that he was not destined to be a true blues player either, but he had been instilled with an urge to form his own band and a desire to create something entirely new, original and unique. He now just needed to find some like-minded guys…
Ron Asheton was born on 17 July 1948 in Washington DC and moved to Ann Arbor late in 1963 (after the passing of his father) with the rest of his family, including slightly younger brother Scott (born on 16 August 1949). Ron’s musical ambitions started early when, at the age of five, he had taken accordion lessons. Later, at the age of ten, he started guitar lessons. The youngster’s musical interests subsequently waned a little, but the likes of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Yardbirds later reignited his interest in guitar playing. At this time, he developed a minimal playing style based on three- chord simplicity. Brother Scott also knew from an early age that he wanted to be involved in the music biz. He was around ten years old when he fell in love with the radio and listening to music. Since his older brother had snagged the guitar,
