The Album’s Influence
“Under the leadership of Iggy Pop, the Stooges brought theatricality to rock ‘n’ roll that wasn’t avant-garde or esoteric.” PM Iggy assembled the band, originally known as the Psychedelic Stooges, for a Halloween party in 1967 at the University of Michigan. “Over the next two years, they toured relentlessly through the Midwest, achieving notoriety for their wild performances, which often featured such antics as a shirtless Iggy smeared in peanut butter or his own blood and crawling or diving into the audience.” CS “They were, in most reflective accounts, the first true punk band.” CS
They signed to Elektra Records in 1968 and recorded two albums which, “though largely panned or ignored, vastly increased their status as cult figures,” CS establishing them as “minor underground gods.” CS
“A little too predictably, however, the unruliness and drug abuse that contributed to their wild performances dragged the band’s career down to the point where they could barely function.” CS They “lapsed into an extended limbo” TM after Fun House flopped. “After an unhappy relationship with their label Elektra, who had mismarketed the band’s first two albums and ditched them before their third took shape, Pop had disbanded the Stooges.” RD
David Bowie
Luckily for the Stooges, David Bowie was a fan. “Iggy Pop was part of the inspiration for the character Ziggy Stardust and Bowie returned the favor.” CM by encouraging his management team, MainMan, to take a chance on the Stooges. He helped the band land a deal with Columbia Records.
At Bowie’s suggestion, The Stooges went to London to record Raw Power. “The genteel surroundings…in no way tempered the raucous machismo of Raw Power; indeed the record could not be further from the sexual ambiguity of the glam rock that Bowie and others were touting at the time.” RD
Even after the album was recorded, the record company didn’t want to release it. “Columbia hated the album, viewing it as even less accessible than the band’s material for Elektra, and charged Bowie with salvaging what he could from the mess.” RD Bowie remixed the album the next day. CM “Thankfully, Bowie paid heed to Iggy’s vision and delivered eight tracks that influenced the proto-punks of New York and London and secured Pop’s legacy as the movement’s godfather.” RD Iggy said, “David was interested in the primitive aspects of the Stooges…I think to him we were a bunch of Neanderthals. I see his point.’” CM
The Album’s InfluenceCM Their third album, Raw Power, “saw the group continuing the proto-punk garage vibe of its first two albums.” CQ “Like a cauldron of blood, sex and anger, Raw Power is the antithesis of delicate. A monolith of brash.” PM “Nihilism doesn’t get any better” EW’12 than on this “ferocious blast of proto-punk energy.” EW’12 It is “among the most aptly named albums ever recorded.” TB
“Raw Power is considered the apex of the Stooges’ work and a major force in the development of the early, amateurish, white-suburban garage sound that became punk.” CS It “would prove to be one of the most influential works in rock history. Without Raw Power, there is no Clash, no Ramones, no Sex Pistols.” CQ “Famously, Steve Jones admitted that he learned to play by taking speed and listening to the LP.” CQ Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist John Frusciante said, “When you think about all the ways bands these days try and expand rock and roll, most of them look pretty silly next to Raw Power. That is a definitive statement.” TM Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain went so far as to rank the album his favorite of all time. TM
A New Lineup
“In many ways, almost all Raw Power has in common with the two Stooges albums that preceded it is its primal sound, but while the Stooges once sounded like the wildest (and weirdest) gang in town, Raw Power found them heavily armed and ready to destroy the world — that is, if they didn’t destroy themselves first.” AM
“Guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had been edged out of the picture, and James Williamson had signed on as Iggy’s new guitar mangler.” AM “His power chords established a massive wall of sound.” CM His “torrents of distorted buzzsaw guitar…proved the perfect counterpoint to Pop’s howling, proudly lewd declarations.” TM Their collaboration “brought about a tighter focus, and Iggy’s efforts to kick his heroin habit (or perhaps a recognition that this might be his last chance to make his band work) seemed to give him a new lease on his music as his vocals reached an unprecedented level of passion.” CS
Ron Asheton returned to the fold as a bassist. “From a technical standpoint, Williamson was a more gifted guitar player than Asheton (not that that was ever the point), but his sheets of metallic fuzz were still more basic (and punishing) than what anyone was used to in 1973, while Ron Asheton played his bass like a weapon of revenge, and his brother Scott Asheton remained a powerhouse behind the drums.” AM
The Godfather of Punk
“Tensions were high during the recording of Raw Power, and the album sounds like the work of a band on its last legs – though rather than grinding to a halt, Iggy & the Stooges appeared ready to explode like an ammunition dump.” AM
“Of course, they were still fronted by one of the greatest live performers of all time: Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk himself.” CQ “Raw Power revealed Iggy as a howling, smirking, lunatic genius.” AM Over 34 minutes, the Detroit rock ‘n’ roll statesman goes straight for the jugular.” CQ Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr describes Iggy as ‘both demonic and intellectual, almost how you would imagine Darth Vader to sound if he was in a band.’” CM
The Songs
Creem’s Lester Bangs praised the album for “the ferocious assertiveness of the lyrics” that were “at once slightly absurd and indicative of a confused, violently defensive stance that’s been a rock tradition from the beginning.” PM “You can tell from the titles…that these are not campfire songs, they’re Molotov cocktails.” CM
The album offers “up a more glam feel on songs like Search and Destroy and the title track, thanks in part to David Bowie’s final mix of the album. Both Bowie’s management and the label had no idea what to do with Raw Power, which was likely the darkest thing they’d ever heard; Bowie exercised his star powers and mixed the record, ultimately saving it.” CQ
Whether quietly brooding (Gimme Danger) or inviting the apocalypse (‘Search and Destroy’), Iggy had never sounded quite so focused as he did here, and his lyrics displayed an intensity that was more than a bit disquieting.” AM The former “featured some nice acoustic guitar but the mood was malevolent and alienated.” CM
“Shake Appeal has some nice riffing but it is delivered at breakneck speed and Iggy’s vocal sounds more than half crazed.” CM “It sounds like it’s blowing rock conventions to bits.” TM
“Penetration utilized that rock ‘n’ roll staple, the celeste (a keyboard of orchestral bells) – but the driving guitar of Williamson and the raw stomp of the Ashetons keep the album simple and centered firmly in the belly and the balls.” RD
Notes: A 2010 deluxe edition of the album added a live concert from Atlanta in October 1973 and a disc’s worth of outtakes and alternate takes.
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