1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 163. The Stooges – The Stooges (1969)

 

Now this, I’d say, is more noteworthy than the last album. Iggy Pop and his pals give us some proto-punk/garage rock, falling somewhere between Velvet Underground and Rolling Stones.

The Stooges songs tend to be based around simple repeated riff over which Iggy sings and guitars are soloed. The tone palette isn’t as scratchy and harsh as White Light/White Heat style Velvets, but is more rugged and chunky. Pop’s vocals, meanwhile, mimic Jagger’s tortured pronunciations – a word like “now” becoming “nee-ay-owww”. The opening track 1969 (which isn’t, ironically, on the soundtrack album of that name I keep whanging on about) draws heavily on Not Fade Away, complete with hand claps. 

The big single I Wanna Be Your Dog takes the best bit of Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive and turns it into the ongoing riff. The use throughout of sleigh bells makes it sound amusingly like a very un-Christmassy Christmas song. It is, however, very indicative of the Stooges’ sound – a driving beat, simple repeated lyrics, a bit of distorted guitar. Least typical is the track that follows, We All Fall, which with its droning backing and repeated mantra is more like a meditation device for its 10-minute run time.

Side note, I saw Iggy Pop at a Reading Festival some time at the end of the 90s, this leathery guy with weird muscles growling out hard punk. My friends and I wondered what it would be like to have him as a father. Would it be cool or mortifying? Probably both at the same time.