[copyright- Guardian. the London show MMX]
[copyright- Getty. the backing singers]This is an excellent story of punk and redemption.
Quote from the concert: "When we were young, everybody said we were sh*t. Now we're old and we're gonna die! But we finally played the ^%&*(* albums" Iggy
Brief:
The Stooges of Ann Arbour, influenced by MC5 of Detroit, released a few albums and flailed about between 1968 and about 1975. Whether intentionally, or by accident, they created a new genre of music which was later called PUNK.
While they were struggling young lads, the critics were crapping on them, because critics like what they like, making them useless when they come face to mug with an astounding new genre of music that's kick-ass and life-affirming (a tough double).
Now, the Stooges're doing triumphal tours of the world, to mid-size, but delirious audiences. Critics of our day are tripping over themselves for the right to drool on these now sixty-year old guys. [see stories below]
Luckily for us, their show is not another Rolling Stones/Eagles/Status Quo world-wide sleep-a-thon:
The show
The show in London's Hammersmith Apollo was a wild punk and hard-rock show. It had a stunning punk ethic. Iggy Pop was continuously stage-diving; I jest not. He invited folks on stage and actually talked to them. As always, he was shirt-less and losing weight during the show, as his wrinkled butt-crack was showing.
Gotta admit it. I was moshing for the first time in over two decades. It wasn't like jazzer-size either. It was full contact. The tunes were frenetic and my neighbours instigated the mele.
The band had two guitarists. The one in video below died last year. The guitarist on tour this year came out of retirement, and quit his job at Sony, for the tour.
A more recent rendition of 1969 (2004). still fresh: BEWARE, it's LOUD!!!
Personal revelation
I gotta tell you, I had totally missed the boat on the Stooges as a youngster. I was only a babe when they released their first album, but that's besides the point.
1 from late 70s
I slowly discovered Iggy in my teen years, due to this video, for his song I'm Bored
from the Chairman of the Bored himself:
-Wild song. Unique. Iggy shows he's willing to go a bit further to entertain. Also, he was the antithesis of the pop star sucking up to people by being nice and pretty. Iggy is not.
Who else would sing:
"I'm sick of all my kicks. I'm sick of all the stiffs, I'm sick of all the dips."
2 mid 70s
I thought that Iggy's song, the Passenger, was written by Sixioushie (whatever)& Banshees
Shusixishi's version was comparatively weak, but still not bad. Here's the real thing:
-Wild version with great bass line. The band is not the Stooges, but some pale tall guys. Shot in Manchester, 1977.
The concept of a person being a passenger in his own life is also very heavy, man! xD
3 mid 80s
I was interested in Iggy's hard rock rebirth, with songs like Cold Metal, but in the end it was a bit empty, and I got sick of it. It was his biggest sell-out. If you insist, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVzcs9Ygb5Q&feature=PlayList&p=6E836792F7B2A363&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=36
4 late 80s
He released a wild song, called Homeboy which was about him wanting to have a roof, and not sleep on the street:
-Lively song, even though this version is a bit slow. The official video is very good as well, but EMI won't let me embed it. Jerks. Anyway, check that out, too.
5 early 90s
Trainspotting came out and I heard Lust for Life and I thought 'he's sold out again and covered some Motown song'. How was I supposed to know that he wrote it with Bowie in the 70s? However, the song does grow on you. It's so counter-culture! xD
Here, though, is a kick-ass version filmed in Manchester, again, in 1977. For the anoracks amongst us, the band members are listed at the beginning.
-10 times louder and 10 times faster than the movie version. He mixes it up with the audience. His quote at the end says how music is like an illusion. Well anyway, I did begin to see how much he threw himself into his work. Classic lines:
"Don't wanna beat my brains, with liquor and drugs."
6 mid 90s
while he was being cool in the Coffee and Ciggies movies, he also did a totally bizarre version of a Goran Bregovic song. Mind-expanding:
-his rap and his cat, Poodles, or something. xD
7 Back to the past, Iggy!
Around 2005, I begin understanding what the Stooges were. I was pissed off that I had missed this boat. I was a big fan of the Ramones in university, and punk in general and, as far as I knew, everything had 'started with the Ramones'.
Back to the real start, in Ann Arbour, Michigan, 1968. Check out the BBC4 documentary on Motown (forgot the name). It starts off with Barry Gordie and ends with Iggy and the White Stripes, and opens the gates of Hell in the process. Riots and Punk. What a combo. It seems that the only white folks left in Detroit were the MC5, the Stooges and an assorted bunch of thrill-seeking druggies.
There was an arrest of a local 'guru' to try to kill off the scene, but the people rose up. Wild stuff.
Here's some of my favourite Stooges songs. Note how these sounds influenced later punk, how they're not just rock, and how many people and genres have ripped these guys off. You can pick up some of their influences, like Motown and the Doors. But THESE GUYS ARE WILD:
Album 1 Eponymous (1969)
Tune: 1969. 'Last year, I was 21...' and he was
I wanna be your dog 'wuff..' a nihilistic pup
check the bass line. MAGIC
no fun . I beg to differ
Album 2: Fun House (1970)
Tune- 1970. not just a theme, but another nutso song
Wild bass line again.
Album 3: Raw Power (1973). the swan songs. sqwawk!
Tune- shake appeal
gimme danger
Reminiscent of the Doors
search and destroy
It reminds me a bit of the Ramones.
"Hands full of Napalm. A runaway son of a Nuclear A-bomb"
Vietnam and Hiroshima, in one tune. How's that for nihilism?
Vietnam and Hiroshima, in one tune. How's that for nihilism?
This, as you can tell, is my band of the month, maybe longer. Try it at home. Play safe. Don't stage dive over the couch.
Do you want to go further back? Check the Sonics from Seattle. They're acknowledged as the nutty lads who gave 60s garage and garage punk a start. Wildest song: the Witch.
Epilogue:
The Stooges started up at about the same time as Black Sabbath, the fathers of Heavy Metal.
They even had some similarities in the way they used guitar and bass to weave a web of nihilistic feelings and dejection with reality, not to mention the psychotically-tinged lyrics from the edge of the cliff. I wish I could perambulate!
Compare them with all the flatulent, introspective 1970s wankery that we were raised to adore:
the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Clapton.
[retrospective on CNN]
March 2010: These boys were inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the mistake by the lake.
Here's 'I wanna be your dog', at the ceremony. I could show you the speeches, but they're weird.
Iggy is full of circumstance. Billie Joe Idiot of Green Day is so sycophantic, it's ill! When he mentioned Iggy's nice smile, Iggy spat on the floor in a ballroom! In front of the camera! Now, all you'll get to see is Billie Joe dry humping Iggy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPymzatl2xg&feature=related (sorry, can't embed it)
Iggy has seen every drug known to mankind, and has been a dog, has cut himself, has sold out so many times, but the look he gives Billie is priceless, like: "That boy is f^&*ked up."
There must be some sense of justice for the Stooge boys that, after so many years, their music has been classed as 'classic', 'genre-breaking' and some of the best albums in the History of Rok (not to mention some of Iggy's gems, above). For that reason, they're probably not grumpy old men.
Devil horns. (_) /
-Cos67 ¬(%^D>
