5 Stars
In 1972 Iggy Pop and the Stooges third album Raw Power hit British music fans like a bolt of lightning.
Nobody on that side of the Atlantic had ever heard of this Iggy Pop or the Stooges. As far as the great British record-buying public were concerned, The Stooges were an American comedy trio at the movies! To be fair, very few people had heard of them in the States either. In fact, they weren’t very well known in their hometown of Michigan, playing in clubs to a dedicated few hundred, with the likes of the MC5. Michigan was always a hotbed of musical creativity, giving us The White Stripes, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad, amongst others, and some of the best Tamla Motown, including the great Stevie Wonder.
Iggy Pop is often cited as the Godfather/Grandfather of Punk Rock. It is true that the Stooges’ first two albums, The Stooges(1969) and Funhouse (1970), were full of aggression, power and abrasive music, but this was more because, at this time, the Stooges – brothers Ron and Scott Ashton, and Dave Alexander – really weren’t very good musicians, hiding their deficiencies behind their behaviour and volume.
The songwriting was there, with songs like “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “T.V. Eye” becoming regarded as classics in later years. Their behaviour on stage was punk, featuring self-mutilation and attacking the audience!
Both albums were slammed by the critics and ignored by the record-buying public. The Stooges disbanded in 1971 on the verge of starvation.
But help was at hand. Iggy kept up his association with James Williamson, who had been brought into the Stooges to attempt to bring some musical stability to the lineup whilst the band were in their death throes.
Then, on an evening at the famous Max’s Kansas City, a nightclub in New York, Iggy Pop met David Bowie when Bowie was riding the crest of a wave with Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. David Bowie was already salvaging the careers of Mott the Hoople and Lou Reed, so Iggy Pop was added to the pot. Iggy was signed to David Bowie’s manager, Tony Defrie’s company Mainman, who secured a recording contract with Colombia Records.
Iggy Pop and James Williamson were taken to London with the idea of recording an album and forming a new Stooges. When no suitable musicians could be found in the area (Iggy as ever was about four years too early), the Asheton Brothers were recalled from America. This formed an uneasy alliance as the brothers were not impressed at being second choice, and Ron was unhappy to become the bass player, but the Stooges rode again.
In the recording studio, things went well, with new songs dripping from the pens of Pop and Williamson. That is until production time. Nobody knew what to do. Iggy Pop had a go and came up with a mix that had the band coming out of one channel and his own vocals coming out of another. In a flux, David Bowie came down and mixed all eight tracks in a day. The album was rush-released as ‘Raw Power’ (1973) and, at first, caused ripples of curiosity sales as it was now firmly associated with the new Czar of Rock, David Bowie. The sheer savagery of the music shocked the world; Sadly, it did not translate to album sales. But it made Iggy Pop an instant star.
Of course, in a year, the band broke up again in a haze of substance abuse, leaving Iggy in rehab.
But Raw Power is so powerful it didn’t just ruffle feathers; it ripped them out at the root.
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Opening song ‘Search and Destroy’ crashes out of the speakers with its piledriving riffs and Iggy’s screaming joyous vocals. The album continues in similar fashion with delightful titles like ‘Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell’ or ‘Penetration.’ Harsh listening. Sowing seeds that would flourish with the likes of the Sex Pistols a few years later.
Raw Power has been remastered, remixed, and reissued many times across the years but has never really had its just desserts in sales. Although now, it’s considered a classic.
After a successful solo career, Iggy Pop reformed the Stooges in 2003 with Ron Asheton on lead guitar until his untimely demise in 2009, but not even the Grim Reaper can stop the Stooges. Iggy simply recalled James Williamson and rocked on until the band came to a glorious conclusion in 2016.
Iggy carried on as a solo artist, making respectable adverts for insurance companies and travel agencies or playing off a golf handicap of seven in his downtime. The world keeps on turning.
Far more influential than seemed possible in 1973.
insurance world.
Scribbled down by Mott the Dog on Pattaya’s Darkside.
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