The Stooges
The Stooges were an early punk music band in the late 1960s, headed by Iggy Pop. Pop (b. James Osterberg) played in several Ann Arbor, Michigan-area bands, including The Prime Movers and the Iguanas. Iggy Pop was inspired to form the Stooges after a Doors concert. Ron (guitar) and Scott Asheton (drums), two brothers, joined up along with Dave Alexander (bass guitar). Their debut was at a Halloween concert at the University of Michigan in 1967.The band soon gained a reputation for wild, primitive live performances. Iggy especially won fame for acting crazy onstage, smearing his naked chest with steak and peanut butter, and cutting himself with shards of glass. In 1968, the Stooges were signed by Elektra Records, who had sent a scout to see MC5 and wound up signing both acts.
1969 saw the release of a self-titled debut album, but it did not sell very well. By the time Fun House (1970) was released, the Stooges had begun to disintegrate, primarily due to heavy drug use by the entire band. With the band in limbo, Iggy met David Bowie in 1972 and the pair became good friends. Bowie, then at the height of his Ziggy Stardust-era fame, helped the reconstituted Stooges score a record deal with Columbia Records and then produced their third album, the massively influential Raw Power (1973). This album would go on to become one of the cornerstone of early punk rock, though the album flopped originally. The Stooges disbanded, and Iggy Pop began a solo career in 1976 and (most influentially with 1977's The Idiot and Lust for Life). The Asheton brothers formed a band named New Order (not to be confused with the English band of the same name), which promptly fell apart. Ron Asheton joined Destroy All Monsters, while James Williamson worked with Iggy Pop during his solo career.
