Iggy and the Stooges
photo: aurélien. · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗The Stooges dragged garage rock into the gutter and made it sound like a threat, with Iggy Pop's feral stage presence and the band's three-chord grind laying the groundwork for punk a full seven years before anyone used the word. Fun House and Raw Power are still the sound of rock and roll trying to tear itself apart. Nearly ignored on release, they're now treated as scripture.
Iggy Pop has cited the Sonics directly as an inspiration for the raw, blown-out sound he wanted the Stooges to chase, a garage-rock ferocity most of their Michigan peers weren't attempting.
listen forPut the Sonics' "The Witch" next to the Stooges' "No Fun" — both push vocals and instruments into the red until everything distorts, treating that overdriven ugliness as the whole point rather than a flaw.
Iggy Pop has said watching Jim Morrison's confrontational, boundary-pushing stage act in 1967 changed how he thought about performing entirely — the Stooges' notorious live shows grew directly out of that experience.
listen forListen to the Doors' "Light My Fire" and then the Stooges' "1969" — the Doors' hypnotic, extended-jam menace gets compressed and sped up into the Stooges' blunter, more aggressive version of the same trance.
The Stooges came up alongside MC5 in the same Michigan scene, sharing management and stages, and Iggy Pop began performing under his stage name shortly after seeing MC5's incendiary live show.
listen forSet MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" against the Stooges' "Down on the Street" — both are built for a loud, chaotic room, favoring raw momentum and volume over polish.