Milestones in Music History #6: Fun House Iggy and the Stooges’ Musical Revolt

The band today known as The Stooges (previously Psychedelic Stooges and also known as Iggy and the Stooges) was formed in 1967 by James Newell Osterberg Jr. a.k.a. Iggy Pop—"Iggy" derived from his previous band the Iguanas and "Pop" given to him by the other members of the band because of his resemblance with a local character—and the guitarist Ron Asheton. Eventually, the formation included Ron’s brother Scott on drums and bass player Dave Alexander. Iggy’s idea was to form a blues band, with musical influences such as The Kinks or The Sonics. The band had also witnessed a MC5 gig in Ann Arbor, but Iggy attributes the evolution of the band to two pivotal events: the Doors' performance at a homecoming dance for the University of Michigan and another gig played by a female band called The Untouchable.

The wall of sound and the bursting energy that comes from the music of bands like these has certainly provided Iggy and his Stooges with the inspiration for their music and, above all, their performances: already in the first shows you can see the wild strength of Iggy through the use of the voice, at times almost a primordial instrument of communication, and the use of his body, which becomes the subject of exhibition and sometimes the object of injuries. While Iggy's attitude can be called punk (and in fact, their music can be considered seminal proto-punk), their performance reflects avant-garde rather than actual punk-rock. Iggy introduced to the stage household objects like a vacuum cleaner or a blender, creating loud feedbacks and background noises.

They immediately gained a particular reputation for their wild and raw performances. Iggy also began to inflict wounds to himself, cutting his chest open with shattered glass or spreading his body with peanut butter. Added to this, he often showed his intimate parts and performed half-naked in many gigs. He also used to jump from the stage over the audience, who would let him float upon them (many actually attribute the idea of stage diving right to Iggy).

In 1968, Elektra Records signed them for their first, self-titled album, which was released the year after, but it was not very well received by critics and it did not have much success at the time, mediocrely peaking at number 106 on the Billboard charts. But songs like "1969," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "No Fun," and "Real Cool Time" marked the beginning of a new era. Taking inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, Syd Barrett, and Johnny Cash, they dared to move on and take it to the next (wild) level. A new and fascinating sound: biting, powerful, fast, and provocative. "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is a hymn to masochism and male sexual slavery; it is interesting that John Cale (in Milestones #4 we talked about Velvet Underground and their Venus in Furs, a homage to Masoch) contributed to the song by playing piano and sleigh bells.

In 1970, Iggy and the Stooges started recording their second and most important work. Fun House was recorded at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, in only two weeks in the middle of May of that year, and with the addition of the saxophonist Steve Mackay. They recorded several takes for each song, a song a day—except for the first day, which was dedicated to sound-checking. On the original tapes of the whole session (in a special edition of the album released last year, celebrating its 50th anniversary and titled 1970) you can hear the rawness and the low quality of the sound, due to the fact that the band played all the songs as if they were performed live. Also, the audio and room setup was adjusted accordingly.

In the band’s opinion, the result was terrible. Nowadays, it sounds very sophisticated; at times, it sounds like jazz, with hard rock and blues influences but elevated to experimentation and punk extravagance. Not only that, the lyrics wisely mix underground dirt and poetic elegance as in "Dirt," a psycho-ballad in which the acceptance of oneself is also the acceptance of one's state, whatever it may be. Any reaction is also acceptable, be it good (“Said do you feel it when you touch me?”) - or bad (“Said do you feel it when you cut me?”).

At the opening of "T.V. Eye," Iggy's primal heartbreaking scream makes us think of the reaction that the first forms of life on Earth had when they discovered that sound—or, rather, when they invented it. The band seems to proceed like a train without a conductor, while at times the conductor is present, but in the throes of convulsions, as in "Loose." The second side of the record, which I usually listen to in one go, consists of three masterpieces of modern rock mixed with jazz, with a riot of guitars with exaggerated reverberations and Iggy intervening here and there and doing it in the best of his ways. "1970" still keeps the form of a song, but the closing part, with Iggy singing out loud “I feel alright!”, already informs us of what is about to happen. The mating ritual featured in the album's eponymous piece "Fun House" is highly original. Iggy is the fun house boy, a little naughty, luring the girl to play with him. 

The closing track "L.A. Blues" is of course anything but a blues. It's time for the party to end, as the morning light starts breaking through as do the stage lights—but still, the partygoers most reluctant to go home hold on and stay. What results is a combination of distorted guitars, a saxophone that alternates jazz improvisation with cacophonic experimentation, drums and bass changing rhythm and tempo at will, following a design of chaos. The result is amazing and it's the perfect ending to this record.

Fun House is a milestone, and that alone would have been enough to inscribe the name of the Stooges into history. But they did so much more—and they still do.

In the next episode, we will examine how “real music” can make its way to the mainstream without becoming merely commercial. And we will see this through one of the most influential and creative musicians of our times, Frank Zappa, and through one of his infamous interviews.

Was Fun House just a fortunate coincidence, an exception? Or is it possible to make music that is both of high quality and acceptable for a larger audience? Or is music nothing but a business nowadays? Leave us your opinion below in the comments!