The raw power of Iggy Pop and The Stooges

Raw Power(1973) is the culmination and peak of what The Stooges were trying to achieve yet it’s also not quite how they sounded on the first two albums, The Stooges(1969) and Fun House(1970), because James Williamson’s guitar playing is so different and much fiercer than Ron Asheton’s on the first two records.

I think I’ve heard the 1973 David Bowie mix of Raw Powerand now I’ve listened to Iggy Pop’s 1997 remix of it too. Some prefer the originally authorised mix, some prefer the rawer, later Pop version. I’m one of those people who listened to the original album and wondered what the fuss was all about; it seemed slick, anaemic and ineffectual, hardly the stuff of legend or a record that could have been an influence on the punks of the late Seventies.  The Iggy Pop mix makes the record exciting and vital.

I bought the first two albums probably in 1984 or 1985, well after the heyday of the punk explosion of 1976, but when I heard “1969,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “No Fun,” I heard punk rock, or at least the two or three chord musical concept of it, played by people allegedly picking up a guitar for the first time. With the dumbed down two chord riffs there were also the incongruous, psychedelic freak out lead guitar parts that seemed to be from a different band altogether and the 10-minute plus tedious dirge of “We Will Fall” could have been a third band of pretentious twats.

On the second album, “Down in the Street,” “Dirt” and “Fun House” upped the ante again from the defiantly dumb debut to the scarily intelligent second act, with ferocious, tough grooves and scornful vocals. This was post punk and beyond.  Fun Housewas not only ahead of its time, it hasn’t dated and still sounds cutting edge.

The Iggy Pop mix of Raw Poweris the visceral business though and the roaring rhythm guitar parts are a blueprint for punk to come, from the New York scene to the UK scene, and they blow you away. Ron Asheton had a completely different sound and approach on the first two albums and that was effective and supported Pop’s musical vision. James Williamson seems to BE Pop’s musical vision. The guitars are loud, they are awesome, and they absolutely drive the performances. There’s no sloppiness, no raggedness, no quirkiness, just brute power and acceleration. If ever a record was mixed to be played at extreme volume, it’s this one. Even the ostensible ballads rock hard.

I’m not a huge Iggy Pop fan. The Stooges are where I’m at and his solo career has never inspired me to buy the records, though I’ve always felt bad for not getting hold of The Idiot(1977) and Lust for Life(1977) when they were released, because it was then, from the NME, that I learnt who he was and how he’d been an influence and inspiration for the punk Class of 1976. I have listened to those records, much later, and if they are contemporary to their time and have some classic songs, like “Nightclubbing,” “China Girl,” “Lust for Life” and “The Passenger,” the music is too smooth, too groomed and too sophisticated for me, especially when I know The Stooges’ first two albums.