The Stooges are an American psychedelic rock band. The very first music albums largely influenced the revival of the alternative direction. The compositions of the group are characterized by a certain harmony of performance. The minimum set of musical instruments, the primitiveness of the texts, the negligence of performance and the defiant demeanor.
Formation of The Stooges
The rich life story of The Stooges began in 1967. From the moment James, who later changed his name to Iggy Pop, attended a performance The Doors. The concert inspired the musician and ignited the spark of love for music in his soul even more. Previously, he was a drummer in local small bands. Immediately after watching the concert, Iggy realized that it was time to leave the musical instrument and give preference to the microphone.
After that, he trained long and hard in solo singing, performing compositions in small institutions. Then he invited three more members who were previously part of the Dirty Shames team.
The Stooges debut
The beginning group spent a lot of time in training. Then she was heard at one of the performances and was invited to record. At that time, there were 4 people in the team, in addition to Iggy Pop, the group included Dave Alexander and brothers Ron and Scott Ashton. The Stooges had only five songs in their repertoire. The studio indicated that more songs were needed. The team wrote 3 more songs in just one night. The next day I recorded a whole album and decided to name it after the band.
The debut concert of the group took place on the eve of Halloween in 1967. At that time, the guys performed under a different, little-known name and were the opening act in the MC5.
The album, which brought tremendous success to the group, appeared in 1969 and got up to 106th place in the US top.
Problems with alcohol and drugs
After the second album "Fun House" was recorded by a slightly changed team, the group began to gradually disintegrate. This was due to the widespread use of narcotic substances. At that time, all members of The Stooges, except for Ron Asheton, seriously used heroin. The substance was supplied to the guys by manager John Adams.
Concert performances have become the most aggressive and unpredictable. Iggy increasingly had problems getting on stage due to drug use. A little later, due to such breakdowns and disrupted concerts, Elektra kicked The Stooges out of their group. The guys began a break lasting several months.
New team
After some time, the team revived again, but now with other guys, Iggy Pop, the Asheton brothers, Rekka and Williamson.
In 1972, the group almost broke up, but a few months later the main soloist made friends with David Bowie. David called him and James to England, and also helped to sign an important contract for the group. A few years later, problems with drug addiction began to worsen greatly. And the behavior and relationship of the soloist with the rest of the team became completely uncontrollable. In 1974, The Stooges completely broke their lineup.
There were several attempts to resurrect the group with new musicians from Britain, but attempts to find new guys were in vain and Iggy Pop again invited the Ashton brothers to the lineup. In this group, under a different unique name Iggy & The Stooges, the guys released their latest album "Ready to Die".
Group revival
After a rather long break of 30 years, the group was resurrected. The resurrected band included Iggy Pop, the Ashton brothers and bassist Mike Watt.
In 2009, the band's irreplaceable Ron Ashton was found dead in his own home. Months later, Iggy made a statement in an interview that the band would play shows with James replacing Ron Ashton.
In 2016, a loud statement was received that it was time for the group to cease to exist. The guitarist said that all members of the band were dead a long time ago and there is absolutely no point in continuing to give concerts as Iggy and the Stooges when third-party musicians complement the band.
In addition, Williams noticed that tours and performances became completely unhappy, and all attempts to raise the life of the group turned out to be a mission impossible.
Performance style
The earliest musical performances of The Stooges were characterized by the avant-garde. When recording songs and performing them on stage, the main vocalist often used various home appliances, such as a vacuum cleaner, mixer, blender. In addition, the band used the ukulele and feedback by phone with a funnel in their performances.
In addition to this, The Stooges also became famous for their wild, lively, as well as provocative and outrageous behavior on stage. Iggy Pop often smeared his body with raw meat, cut his body with glass and openly showed his genitals in public. This behavior was perceived differently by the public and caused a lot of different emotions.
So The Stooges are a legendary band with a turbulent and eventful history. The team broke up several times and revived again, the composition and style of performance of the compositions repeatedly changed. Although the group ceased to exist, its songs still remain in the hearts of the fans.
