The Stooges

In the late 1960s amid swirling psychedelic influences, the Stooges delivered gritty, abrasive, and unyieldingly dark rock & roll that felt strikingly misplaced. Much like the Velvet Underground, they exposed the seedy underbelly of sex, drugs, and rock & roll by laying bare the filth beneath the glamour. Yet the Stooges lacked the Velvets' intellectual bent. Drawing from the thunderous amplification of British blues, the raw energy of American garage rock, and the mind-expanding sounds plus confrontational stage presence of the Doors, they operated with visceral immediacy and crude provocation. Iggy Pop earned infamy through performances involving blood or peanut butter smeared across his body and leaps into the crowd. Ron and Scott Asheton created an exceedingly rudimentary rhythm section, hammering chords without polish; fundamentally, the Stooges represented the initial rock & roll ensemble fully divested of the swinging groove central to R&B and early rock & roll. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s the outfit generated fervent underground buzz, though their eccentricity and volatility barred mainstream breakthrough. After issuing three albums the Stooges dissolved, yet their influence expanded across the subsequent two decades as countless underground acts drew upon their heavy, grinding approach to shape diverse indie rock variants, while Iggy Pop ascended to pop-culture emblem status.

Following stints in various Ann Arbor, Michigan ensembles such as the blues outfit the Prime Movers and the Iguanas, Iggy Pop—born James Osterberg—launched the Stooges in 1967 upon seeing a Doors show at the University of Michigan campus. Taking the moniker Iggy Stooge, he assembled brothers Ron and Scott Asheton on guitar and drums along with bassist Dave Alexander; the unit first performed at a house party that year. Over the following twelve months they toured the Midwest nonstop, cultivating a name for untamed, elemental shows that mostly provoked disdain. Iggy in particular drew notice for his eccentric stage conduct. Shirtless, he applied steaks and peanut butter to his skin, sliced himself with glass shards, and plunged into audiences. The Stooges provoked notoriety rather than acclaim—though a fiercely loyal inner circle embraced them, far more listeners recoiled at the shock tactics. Even so, the band secured a major-label deal in 1968 after an Elektra scout traveled to Detroit for the MC5 and instead contracted their openers, the Stooges.

John Cale helmed production on the Stooges' elemental self-titled debut, issued in 1969; while it attracted notice within underground circles, sales remained negligible. During sessions for the follow-up, band members encountered heroin, which swiftly exacted a severe toll. As they readied the sophomore release, all but Ron Asheton—who grew increasingly exasperated as gear was sold off to fund the habit—descended further into substance issues, and those excesses manifested onstage not only via Iggy's antics but also through the group's inability to sustain even basic two-chord riffs. Fun House, a dissonant onslaught of avant-noise, emerged in 1970 and, where noticed, drew largely unfavorable notices while moving fewer copies than its predecessor, though it later received recognition as a landmark. After Fun House failed commercially the Stooges essentially collapsed once Iggy succumbed fully to heroin addiction. Initially he attempted to sustain the group. Dave Alexander was dismissed following a weak showing at the 1970 Goose Lake Rock Festival, with Zeke Zettner stepping in. In 1971 a revised lineup coalesced, featuring Ron Asheton and Bill Cheatham on guitar, Zettner on bass, Scott Asheton on drums, and Iggy on vocals. Months later Cheatham and Zettner departed; James Williamson became guitarist and Jimmy Recca bassist. Though live recordings of the Asheton/Williamson configuration survive, the band never entered a studio, and activity ceased for a time.

Early in 1972 Iggy Pop encountered David Bowie, then riding the peak of Ziggy Stardust fame and a declared Stooges admirer. Bowie resolved to revive Iggy & the Stooges, the billing then in use. Iggy and Williamson signed a management pact with MainMan, the company overseeing Bowie's affairs, and the refreshed lineup landed a Columbia Records agreement. Temporarily based in London and unable to secure a fitting rhythm section in the U.K., Iggy and Williamson enlisted the Asheton brothers, with Scott on drums and Ron shifted to bass. Iggy produced the third Stooges album, Raw Power, while Bowie handled the mix. Released in 1973 to unexpectedly positive notices, Raw Power carried an odd, thin sonic quality stemming from technical difficulties. Though this later fueled debate—many Stooges purists held Bowie responsible for the brittle sound—its razor-sharp thinness and ferocious attack helped ignite the punk movement. At the time, however, Raw Power flopped and effectively ended the Stooges' run, their calamitous final Detroit performance in February 1974 preserved on the live album Metallic K.O.

In 1976 Bowie again aided Iggy, this time by producing the solo albums The Idiot and Lust for Life and playing keyboards in Iggy's touring band. Iggy gradually built an international audience as one of rock's enduring outsiders, while the remaining Stooges faced harder fortunes. Dave Alexander succumbed to pneumonia in 1975, worsened by an inflamed pancreas. James Williamson rejoined Iggy's orbit as songwriter and producer on New Values (1979) and Soldier (1980), yet in the 1980s he left music for a thriving electronics career. Ron Asheton started the New Order—no connection to the later British band—but it foundered quickly. In 1981 he joined New Race, a brief project initiated by Radio Birdman guitarist Deniz Tek that also included MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson plus Radio Birdman veterans Rob Younger and Warwick Gilbert; the group disbanded after one Australian tour and album as planned. Back in Michigan, Ron played occasional gigs with Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival, appeared in several low-budget films, and in 1998 recorded with the one-off Wylde Ratttz, which featured Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, Mark Arm from Mudhoney, and Mike Watt, formerly of Minutemen and fIREHOSE. Wylde Ratttz's version of "TV Eye" surfaced on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, though their album stayed unreleased. After the Stooges split, Scott Asheton performed with local Detroit acts before entering Sonic's Rendezvous Band in 1974 alongside Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5, Scott Morgan of the Rationals, and Gary Rasmussen of the Up; the ensemble gained a strong live reputation, but labels hesitated and the group dissolved by decade's end.

In 2002 Ron and Scott Asheton toured with J Mascis + the Fog, performing select Stooges numbers from the first two albums. The shows drew strong responses, particularly in Europe, prompting Iggy Pop—who had intermittently discussed a reunion with Ron—to pursue the idea. In 2003, while recording Skull Ring with contributions from several notable acts, Iggy added the Stooges; the Asheton brothers supported him on four tracks, Ron covering guitar and bass. On April 27, 2003 the Stooges returned to the stage after thirty years at California's Coachella Festival, Mike Watt filling in for the late Dave Alexander. The reunited Stooges toured intermittently over the next three years, appearing at major European and American festivals. In fall 2006 they entered Electrical Audio Studio in Chicago, Illinois with engineer Steve Albini to capture The Weirdness, drawn from twenty-two new songs written by Pop and the Ashetons. The album appeared in March 2007, followed by an extensive world tour.

The Weirdness received mixed notices, yet the tour proved well received. Tragically, Ron Asheton was discovered deceased at his Ann Arbor residence on January 6, 2009.

By May of that year Iggy began discussing continuing the Stooges with Raw Power-era guitarist James Williamson in Ron's stead. In November 2009 the revised lineup debuted and maintained activity into the new decade, highlighted by their 2010 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, a deluxe 2010 reissue of Raw Power, and the April 2013 release of Ready to Die by the Williamson-fronted Stooges. Scott Asheton participated on Ready to Die yet soon withdrew from touring due to health concerns, with Toby Dammit (aka Larry Mullins) assuming drum duties. Sadly, Ready to Die marked Scott Asheton's final recording; he passed away on March 15, 2014. In 2020 Stooges enthusiasts received an extraordinary archival discovery—a stereo soundboard capture of the band's complete Goose Lake International Music Festival set from 1970, delivering the Fun House album in its entirety. Third Man Records issued the recording officially as Live at Goose Lake, August 8th, 1970.