The Stooges (album)

The Stooges
Studio album by The Stooges
Released August 5, 1969
Recorded April 1969; The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre
Length 34:33
Label Elektra
Producer John Cale
The Stooges chronology
The Stooges
(1969)		 Fun House
(1970)

The Stooges is the self-titled debut studio album by American rock band The Stooges. It was released on August 5, 1969 by record label Elektra. Two songs, "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "1969", were released as singles and the album peaked at No. 106 on the Billboard album chart.

It is considered a landmark proto-punk album.[1] With Ron Asheton's walls of distortion, and distorted wah wah solos, textures and power chord riffs, it is also considered to have had an impact on hard rock.

Recording

For their first album, the Stooges had intended to record five songs: "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun", "1969", "Ann" and "We Will Fall". The five songs were staples—and essentially the basis—of the Stooges' live set at the time. A typical Stooges song of the period would involve two minutes of composed song followed by several minutes of improvisation. Having assumed that the five songs as normally performed would cover requirements for the album, the Stooges were told by their record label Elektra that they needed more material. According to Iggy Pop, "We handed [the five-song version of the album] in and they refused it. They said, 'There aren't enough songs!' So we lied and said, 'That's OK, we've got lots more songs.'"[2]

In reality, the Stooges were about a day ahead of themselves when Iggy made that statement to Elektra; overnight, the group wrote three more songs, "Real Cool Time", "Not Right" and "Little Doll", and played them for the first time in the studio.

An initial mix by producer John Cale, apparently resembling ex-Velvet Underground bandmate Lou Reed's "closet mix" of that band's eponymous third album of the same year, was rejected by Elektra. The mix as heard on the final product was done by Iggy Pop and Elektra Records president Jac Holzman. Four of Cale's original mixes would later appear on the bonus disc of a 2005 reissued version, with pitch correction applied to them. Five years later, all eight Cale mixes were released unaltered on the first disc of a 2010 collector's edition release of the album.[3]

Content

Music journalist Will Hodgkinson called The Stooges "charged and brutal garage-rock".[4] Rolling Stone commented at the time: "the album cover shows the Stooges to be four nice middleclass-kids-gone-wrong wearing brand-new synthetic leather jackets and pouting at the camera in a kind of snot-nosed defiance".[5]

Release

The Stooges was released on August 5, 1969 by record label Elektra.

Mark Deming of AllMusic writes "[The Stooges] didn't really sound like anyone else around when their first album hit the streets in 1969."[6]

On August 16, 2005, Elektra and Rhino Records jointly re-issued the album as a specially-priced double CD, with a remastered version of the album on disc one and alternate takes on disc two. On May 7, 2010, Rhino Records again released the album in their "Handmade" series as a collector's package including two CDs, a 7" record and a 7"x7"-sized booklet. The first disc features the main songs, the single version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog", and all original John Cale mixes of the eight songs. The second disc, and both sides of the 7" single, contain the previously unissued "Asthma Attack", a staple of the group's early live shows.[3]

Reception and legacy

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[7]
Pitchfork Media8.9/10[8]
Stylus MagazineA[9]
The Village VoiceB+[10]

The Stooges is "disavowed" by most critics, according to music historian Denise Sullivan, who nonetheless called it "a rock'n'roll classic".[11] In a contemporary review, Edmund O. Ward of Rolling Stone said it is "loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish. I kind of like it."[5] Robert Christgau gave it a backhanded compliment, calling it "stupid-rock at its best" in his column for The Village Voice.[10]

The Stooges is considered an influential proto-punk record, and its influence on punk rock has been noted.[12][8][13] In his retrospective review of the album, Daryl Eslea, writing for BBC Music, called the album "rock at its most primordial. [...] [the] album is the original punk rock rush on record, a long-held well-kept secret by those in the know."[12] Mark Deming of AllMusic commented, "Part of the fun of The Stooges is, then as now, the band managed the difficult feat of sounding ahead of their time and entirely out of their time, all at once."[6]

In 2003, the album was ranked at number 185 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[14] The same magazine included "1969" in their "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" list.[15] Robert Dimery, writing in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, said that the album was "a collection of brilliant curios, which were neither full-on garage rock, nor out-and-out dirge."[16]

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "I Wanna Be Your Dog" at number 13 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by The Stooges (Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton and Iggy Stooge (Iggy Pop)). 

Side A
No. Title Length
1. "1969"   4:05
2. "I Wanna Be Your Dog"   3:09
3. "We Will Fall"   10:18
Side B
No. Title Length
1. "No Fun"   5:14
2. "Real Cool Time"   2:29
3. "Ann"   2:59
4. "Not Right"   2:51
5. "Little Doll"   3:20

Personnel

The Stooges
Additional personnel
Technical personnel
2005 reissue personnel

References

  1. ↑ Reynolds, Simon; et al. (2007). Molon, Dominic, ed. Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967. Yale University Press. p. 82. ISBN 0300134266. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  2. ↑ The Stooges (2005 reissue CD liner notes). Iggy Pop. p. 9.
  3. 1 2 "The Stooges – The Stooges (Collector's Edition) | rhino.com". Rhino. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  4. ↑ Hodgkinson, Will (2006). Guitar Man. Da Capo Press. p. 203. ISBN 0306815141. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Ward, Edmund O. (18 October 1969). "[The Stooges review]". Rolling Stone.
  6. 1 2 3 Deming, Mark. "The Stooges – The Stooges | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Ross, Dalton. "[The Stooges review]". Entertainment Weekly.
  8. 1 2 Tangari, Joe (August 17, 2005). "The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House | Album Reviews | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  9. ↑ McNally, Patrick (August 18, 2005). "The Stooges – The Stooges / Fun House – Review – Stylus Magazine". Stylus. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  10. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1969). "Consumer Guide (3)". The Village Voice (August 14) (New York). Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  11. ↑ Sullivan, Denise (2004). White Stripes - Sweethearts of the Blues. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 171. ISBN 1617802271. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Eslea, Daryl (April 18, 2007). "BBC – Music – Review of The Stooges – The Stooges". BBC Online. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Classic Album: The Stooges 'The Stooges' | Features | Clash Magazine". Clash. 29 October 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 185: The Stooges – The Stooges". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time". Stereogum.com. May 30, 2008. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  16. ↑ Dimery, Robert (February 7, 2006). "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.". Universe. New York, NY (ISBN 0-7893-1371-5). p. 189.

External links

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