The Stooges

Was going to give it a 3, but then a vision of Iggy Pop's shirtless body appeared to me in a dream, guiding my hand to the 4th star.

“The Stooges” by The Stooges (1969) Never heard this album, and I’m only slightly familiar with the later work of frontman Iggy Pop. Proto punk is anti-music. I get it. But after 50 years, this album is an archaeological artifact. Heroin always screws up the music. Always. “We Will Fall” should have ended with the sound of your dad pounding on the bathroom door, yelling. “Hey! How long you gonna be in there?” At some point, Iggy Pop must’ve said to himself, “Ya know, I bet I could make enough money to keep me stoned just by doing a bad imitation of Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison.” And so he did. Southeast Michigan produced Motown, MC5, Grand Funk Railroad and Bob Seger. Could’ve skipped the Stooges. That’s all that comes to mind after listening to this mindless album. 1/5

Listening to this LP all I could imagine was a couple of Beetle fans having their minds exploded and corrupted after a friend slips them this album and gets them to drop the needle on it back in 1969. I mean the opening track ‘1969’ is enough to give listeners like myself goosebumps still today so I can only imagine what impact it had on the youth of yesteryear! Sparkly pop and cheerful melodies are suddenly overtaken in the charts by what I imagine parents would class as devil music with it’s fuzz & distorted driven guitar solos and primal sounds. To think only 9yrs before this album hit the only music you could buy at the local record store for a comparative rock fix would have been Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue. And Elvis Presley still had three singles in the top 30 of the same year. Sometime between then and 1969 Iggy and his band discovered a whah pedal and the joys of driving a vox or Marshall tube amp into heavenly distorted territory few had probably even heard before. What a time it must have been to be alive...but also young and totally naive to all the legendary music that was yet to be made in your era by the most famous performers in the whole of rock music history. But I digress...I also probably have all the exact timings in history incorrect but you get what i mean. Older vintage albums like this, I believe, need to be scored by the impact and what was fashionable in music in their time. If the music still manages to fill the gap between then and today in listenability and reverence then it should get many more bonus points. This overdriven soul dripping rock album covers it all...and I can imagine it still exciting a couple of keen young teenagers starting out on their musically life journey today. 5 Stars

Definitely hear their influence on similar bands from the 2000s. Like The Strokes. I hate The Strokes. Do not like this.

This album spawned a million copycats. The lineage of influence you could draw from this record and the two that followed it is far and wide. This sounded like nothing else in 1969 and it still sounds incredible today. The fuzz guitar, Iggy yelping and screaming like a madman, a badass rhythm section. This is a classic. This isn’t even my favorite Stooges record either, or my second favorite. Favorite track: I Wanna Be Your Dog Least favorite track: psh there isn’t one

I was extremely sober listening to this and I feel like I could have enjoyed it being extremely high. But as such, I didn't enjoy it.

If you want me to love your record: - Make it 35 minutes long - Have lots of fuzzed out guitar - Don’t be afraid to drone - Don’t be afraid to get weird - Play with a sense of urgency The Stooges debut LP checks all those boxes and then some.

Imagine hearing this in 69

I feel like I understand music history better from having listened to this. It feels like the bridge between psychedelic rock and punk.

אלבום טוב אבל באמת שנשבר לי הזין מהז'אנר ומהמוזיקה הזאת

Now I wanna be your dog!

Admittedly I went into this album knowing the name of the band (and that Iggy Pop was in it) but not recalling any of their songs or anything about them so it was mostly a "blind" listen. - Iggy Pop has a great voice on the record. Love the performance and production of it on this album and how it is allowed to shine. - Some of the tracks get pretty repetitive and not really in a good way. I'm a big fan of when rock bands use the 2nd or 3rd tracks of an album as an upbeat one (or at least something that keeps a listener engaged) and while I think it's fine to not follow that tenet, I was pretty dulled out by the third track on this album being a 10 minute repetitive / meditative drone piece. The violin on it is really incredible, but unfortunately it comes in at around 8 minutes and 45 seconds into the piece- too late in my opinion. I do think this track would have been great as the album finisher. - Production-wise, the hard panning (some voices were panned 100% left / 100% right instead of more common 33%, 66%, 75% etc) was a little grating for some tracks and unfortunately its pretty prevalent. I hate for this to take away points because this was a time period where it was being experimented with, and while the execution might not always be there on these early records, I do recognize that we wouldn't have things like panning technology today without the experimentation. - I do think its a great blend of punk and psychedelic rock which has to be two really difficult genres to smash together. I wish there were more songs that had both of those elements together in a more homogeneous way. While the album has plenty of both types of genres, I find it unfortunate that they are almost completely split up. "Here's a punky song." "Here's a psychedelic song.". I would have loved a "Here's a punky song with psychedelic vocals and guitars." or "Here's a psychedelic song with punk vocals."

This rules and it’s almost unbelievable how current it is

Already had a few Iggy Pop solo albums. Liked this one as well.

It's crazy how simultaneously 60's and not 60's this album sounds.

Iggy Pop's snarling, disassociating, do not give a fuck garage is what I always want to embody. I love tracks like 1969 and I Wanna Be Your Dog, but also loved the unexpected treats like "We Will Fall"

1,5; sounds like a group of children somehow getting the mic, repeating the same words over and over again and trying to sing over the same boring melody through the whole album wtf is this

Fuckin sick

Enjoyed this

Love this album

Raw power

to be perfectly honest this album drags a bit but i don’t care it still gets 5 stars

Entonces esto es protopunk? todos mis respetos. Cuando inventas algo y tu invento empieza a crecer como bola de nieve hasta llegar a límites que nadie sospecha, es que hiciste algo bueno. Este disco es tan influyente que la música de hoy no sería lo mismo sin él. 5/5

Well this is just awesome. There's not a bad track on here. I like to think I would have been all over this had I been a teen in 1969, but the truth is teen me had nasty taste. 1969 must have been really shocked by this album, it still sounds relevant today. Lovely stuff.

Impactante, além do punk-rock.

Un. Lassique ? 1ere ecoute mais je suis seduit vraiment. Tres explosif, mais un album a ecouter et reecouter.

Well this is just awesome. There's not a bad track on here. I like to think I would have been all over this had I been a teen in 1969, but the truth is teen me had nasty taste. 1969 must have been really shocked by this album, it still sounds relevant today. Lovely stuff.

Notes: listened to this album at work, and at home. Man, this album oozes energy. I've read that this album precedes punk by a LOT, and it shows; 35 minutes of pure noisy rock, all killer, no filler. And to think, this came out the same year as Abbey Road and Tommy! What a counterpoint to those two. Favorite track: No Fun

Excellent sounds.

Iggy founded his legend status with this. Too rough for me.

Some of the longer songs dial back the aggressive mood, but solid all around.

Album #9 It is sometimes difficult to be objective with these reviews. I love everything about this album. It's short and sweet. It was incredibly influential as a "protopunk" album by bridging the gap between psychedelic rock and punk rock. The lyrical content is simply rebellious and cynical. I Wanna Be Your Dog is a nasty classic that I've always loved, and We Will Fall is just an amazing 10 minute experience. And of course, there's 1969's guitar sound that just needs to be heard by everyone. These 8 songs breeze right by (even We Will Fall). It's like listening to the Rolling Stones give everyone the finger, and I'm here for it. 4* for content, but bumped to 5* for personal taste and influence.

One of the best rock albums ever.

Classic precursor to punk rock

I have a nephew who has started collecting records. In the lead-up to birthday and Christmas, I always ask him "are there any records you want? Because, if you don't tell me what you want, I'm going to buy you records that I think you need to have." Bless him, he usually defers to my picks, and this album is one of the LPs I bought him. I _think_ he likes it... I love the Stooges. "I Wanna be your Dog" was the cover song my old band played more than any other. Our attitude and stagecraft had a fair amount of Stooges in it (not to the point of cutting ourselves with broken glass and smearing our chests with peanut butter, but there were quite a few on-stage fist fights, and lots of getting into altercations with the audience). This album is classic, classic Stooges, and, probably has some of the best written songs in their oeuvre. The attitude is fast and loose, and they are rocking out fiercely, but there are proper songs in there under the sneer and fuzz. I Wanna Be Your Dog and No Fun are my favourite tracks. We Will Fall is a reminder that this album was recorded in 1969 (extended raga-like psychedelic jam) and how significant an influence Jim Morrison was on Iggy Pop. Iggy takes the lessons of the Lizard King and, at his best, distills it down to pure Id, jettisoning (most of) Morrison's faux-intellectualism and cod poetry. He is still learning how to do that on this album, but the blueprint is all there. Christgau described this album as "stupid-rock at its best", which is right on the money. It steals all the best bits of rock music that came before it, pushed it through their own dumbed-down and unfiltered performance until it is just a burst of raw power (hey, that could be a good album title. Note that down for later, Ig).

So good.

excellent album, really enjoyed it. Would like to listen more!

Don't even really need to isten to this album again as I've listened to it so much. But then again, I'm always looking for a reason to listen to it again. I love this album, 1969, I wanna be your dog, and real cool time. There isn't really a bad song here. I can feel the influence of this album in a lot of music. Proto-punk for sure. It's awesome, and not even my favorite Stooges album. I highly recommend their music to everyone.

Not the best Stooges album but still crazy good.

td pra mim

Great! This is a classic. Iggy Pop is amazing

There'd be no punk as we know it without this album. Gotta give it up to Iggy and the boyz.

More depth to the music than I expected. Production is excellent meaning it sounds simultaneously raw and warm.

So good!!!

The more I listen to The Stooges the more they become my new favorite band.

Dirty garage rock and psychodelia of the 70's. Somehow the Stooges evade all of the dirty hippie shit that I associate with 1969. Michigan is a long way from NorCal and the west coast, I guess. While everyone was busy being anti-war the Stooges were just enjoying getting fucked up and smearing hamburger meat on their chests. I appreciate the wry unrefined sound and loose play. We Will Fall goes a little too deep for me, but the 'don't care / fuck all, ethos is exciting and fun.

I love how stripped down the Stooges sound. It's like they looked at rock'n'roll, and said I don't need this, I don't need that, alright good enough!

Krachtige riffs met veel distortion. "We Will Fall" is op zijn minst speciaal te noemen, maar"Now I wanna be your dog" en "No Fun" blijven meesterlijke nummers. Even dacht ik af te ronden naar een 4, maar het krijgt het voordeel van de twijfel

One of the best. Just a nuanced raw reaction to rock n roll gone astray. Just a killer record and a killer vibe and a killer sound.

One of the foundational leaders in the punk movement. This is a solid album which keeps a certain chaotic sound that counters to the hippies of the 60’s.

My favorite Stooges album. Perfect mix of melody, noise and sleaze. How many great (esp. debut) albums has John Cale produced over the years?!

Did they have pogo'ing back in 1969? That's what I'd be doing!

From the other side of the coin that was the druggy decadence of the Aquarian dream, The Stooges hit the nail on the head of the increasingly artful, psychedelic style of rock, reveling in the blood oozing from the temple and dancing around it. With its tapestry of proto-punk freakouts and drone influenced meditations, this debut from four Detroit kids served as the catalyst of what would become of downright dirty rock and roll in the coming decades, being as prescient in this day and age as it did back in 1969.

4.5 I didn’t know much Iggy Pop beyond what appears in Tony Hawk games which were always cool punk songs. This was also a really fun punk album to listen to. Surfy and fast which is my favorite kind of punk. The 10 minute chant in the middle was surprising and overstayed it’s welcome by about 7 minutes though. Short of that it was perfectly serviceable. Favorites include: Pretty much all of them except We Will Fall

Bowser's kid Iggy basically created Punk, so that's pretty cool

we will fall очень крутая! к тому же солист зе стужи явно сергей перегудов (в этой песне точно) если еще что-то выделять, ann запомнилась короче, отличный роцк, сказать нечего больше

Легендарный Игги Поп Простые тексты, но как раз простотой и честностью цепляющие 3 песня выбивается из всего альбома. Ритуал шамана; пляски языков пламени в темноте Этот альбом я добавила в свою медиатеку

Wow! What an album! It took my by surprise, unexpectedly awesome

Already knew many of the tracks - 1969, I Wanna Be Your Dog, No Fun - all proto punk classics. We Will Fall was a surprise - could have fitted on a Velvet Underground album as it's a 10 minute drone! Basically, a classic album that deserves your full attention.

Still as fresh today as it was back in the late 60’s. Hugely influential album.

Excellent

Fun to listen to this album while I’m visiting Ann Arbor! The Stooges are a great garage Rock proto-punk band. I’ve always been an Iggy Pop fan. The album starts with a bit of youthful cynicism — 1969 is just another year with nothing to do. Driving drum line, cool guitar effects, and Iggy’s assertion of not caring all make for a great classic tune. Moving on to the one that got me listening to the Stooges: “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” This song is strange and perverse, but it’s clear that the musicians are just being shock-value teens (or perhaps making an incisive, tongue-in-cheek critique of sexual monogamy). After those two short and rather simple tunes, we move to the ten minute “We Will Fall,” which has a dark psychedelia vibe to it with deep drones, a dirge-like tempo, and another language at the beginning. This piece definitely differentiates the Stooges from other garage/proto-punk groups — I wonder how this sounded live. I also wonder how this particular song was perceived at the time (perhaps it was perfect for smoking listeners to get high to) as it is clearly influenced by Indian drone music. Regardless of its cultural context, I thought that song was a pleasant surprise! Next, we move back to the punk stuff. That fuzzy guitar sound is so classic Stooges. The recurring theme appears to be teenage boredom, harkening back to “1969.” “No Fun” has been my least favorite so far; I think it drags a little. “Ann” has a different feel from the other songs, and it’s nice. This song feels somewhat more sophisticated lyrically than the others. The third half erupts back into fuzzy garage goodness. The band blinks back into crude garage punk on “Not Right.” Though the lyrics on these types of songs aren’t as sophisticated as those on “Ann,” Iggy’s stilted phrasings simulate a conversation or scene creating a kind of musical realism against the backdrop of musical chaos. The final song on the album is “Little Doll,” again evoking a kind of perverseness like “Dog.” Classic grimy rock ‘n’ roll with musical and lyrical surprises (drone, fuzz, perversion, and the occasional tenderness). An easy 5!

iggy

Brilliant! Barely aged in all this time

Listened to this shopping on muscle relaxers. Really good album. 1969 and I wanna be your dog are very fun.

Just glorious. the stooges and sabbath both kicked the living shit out of what was left of the 60's and i'm so glad they did

5/5 klasito dojebany proto-punk, iggy jaki seksiak uwu, oczywiście klasyczek i wanna be your dog, i jeszcze są bardziej psychodeliczne momenty jak we will fall. No ugułem całe te dobrze przyprawiłem

In a Beatles review on here, I mentioned The Stooges as a band that were actually important and influential, and made music that can still be enjoyed today. Listening to this just makes me even more sure of that, it's insane what they managed to come up with in 1969, nearly a decade before punk actually blew up. So much energy, the guitars are screeching and squealing the whole time, it's so easy to listen to. I feel like I would be wrong to give it less than a 5, even though their next 2 albums were somehow even better.

good

I was enjoying the album a good deal. And then We Will Fall played. Then I was loving this album. What an epic stowed inside a tight record.

Had not registered before how We Will Fall sounds so much like something from a Swans album for the 2010's...

"The Stooges" is the debut album by American rock band The Stooges. The band (vocalist Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander) came to NYC to record with seven songs. Their record label Elektra told them they needed more so they wrote four more songs within a week. It was produced by John Cale who also played viola and piano. Cale initially did the mix but it was rejected by Elektra and then re-mixed by Iggy and Elektra president Jac Holzman. I remember a similar thing with David Bowie and The Stooges "Raw Power." What is it with rejecting mixes? On the positive side, I guess it led to multiple re-issues later on. This album was not initially liked by critics but now is considered a landmark proto-punk release. Yeah, this has the punk attitude for sure. The wah-wah guitar and Iggy's "Well alright" and we're off with "1969." The guitar was lifted from The Byrd's "Tribal Drumming" and the drums from Bo Diddly. Who cares? This song rocks. About boredom. A distorted guitar and piano begin "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Hypnotic bass and guitar. Punk. Heavy Metal. Well, Iggy will do just do about anything for...yeah that. The 10-minute long "We Fall" ends Side A and contains a good chunk of chanting and droning pyschedelic guitar. This had to be John Cale's doing. Side B begins with groovy guitar and "No Fun." The handclap becomes a primary instrument. It's no fun being alone. Wow, The Stooges go into ballad-mode on "Ann" all the way up until about a minute left and then Ron Asheton gives a chaotic guitar ending. Thank God; I was losing faith. Is this about a girl named Ann or their home town Ann Arbor, Michigan? I'll say both. The album ends with " Little Doll." Supposedly, it's about a girl they saw in the audience once. Definitely, the most unique drumming on the album. Nice grinding rhythm guitar and another chaotic and pyschedelic guitar finish. This has two essential rock and roll songs. Everything about this album is punk. The lyrics are minimal with very few complete sentences. Iggy's bored, looking for a good time and, of course, wants sex. Some fantastic guitar solos to finish songs. A classic.

it's everything and more

So messed up, I want you here In my room, I want you here Now we're gonna be face-to-face And I'll lay right down in my favorite place And now I wanna be your dog 5/5

Wow! It's hard to believe this came out in 1969! I can imagine this kind of sound must have been terrifyingly new back then. This is a real proto-punk classic with plenty of psychedelia mixed in for good measure. Contrary to a lot of reviews I liked the dark psychedelic droning dirge of We Will Fall a lot, but I think it could have done with being at the end of the album for the best effect. 1969 is an absolute banger though, although the whole album is just great. Possibly my favourite album from the 60s that I've heard on the list so far. Favourite: 1969

This album frikkin rules. it's so yum. it's sleasy and grimy and more musical than i remembered. and i can really relate to it because they're 21 soon turning 22

Whether this is proto-punk or the first punk release is beside the point. This is awesome raw, rock and roll and belongs in every collection. The facts that it is a debut (one of the best of all time) and introduces us to Iggy (a treasure) are icing on the cake.

Very tight rock and roll

Another album I've never listened to in full but, of course, knew a fair amount about and has clearly informed a huge amount of music I listen to on a regular basis. It's difficult to not pick up Velvet Underground vibes, I guess that makes sense. I'm familiar with I Wanna Be Your Dog, of course, and it's definitely the best song on the album but I really enjoyed all of it. I'm really really stuck between a 4 and 5 for this but after a second listen I'm gonna nudge it into 5 territory.

Lots of resounding classics on this album for me. Not without it's flaws but the early garage sound has always worked for me across this band's whole early catalog

We Will Fall should pull this down to 4 stars, but the rest of it is so damn good.

Masterful early angry rock, with elements of psychedelica and punk. Pulsing, driving, hypnotizing tracks.

Raw rock 'n' roll. A new sound was gestating, and this album had its mark. 1969 sure was special!

After 330 albums on this list, things start to get a pattern. Sometimes I enjoy finding out some cool non-English albums (even being so few in the book) and sometimes I spent the whole week listen "the same thing". Then...this! It's very strange to note how a 50 years album can be so refreshing. I don't know if it's a pre-punk, metal, or anything, but it's very good!!

best album ever, period

First time listening to a full album by The Stooges. Obviously very familiar with "I Wanna Be Your Dog" - heck, I even re-wrote it as "I Wanna Be Your Doug" a bunch of years ago for my friend Doug Koyama who was an absolute stalwart of the B.C. summer festival scene, and is one of the best damn huggers I've ever met. Listening to "We Will Fall" now and it's nothing at all like I expected anything on this album to sound. The slow dirge of this is absolutely awesome! Yeah, this is fucking awesome. 100%. I want more!

This is brilliant. Difficult to believe that it is over fifty years old. Playing it now, it feels fresh and vibrant. Well. Mostly. Five stars for the music. Five for what it went on to inspire.

Tense, muscular and tough as nails, with twisted, fuzzy guitars and a frontman who is equal parts charismatic and menacing. This is a band with a sizeable chip on its shoulder and they make you feel it. Years ahead of its time and still crackling today. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): I Wanna Be Your Dog, 1969, No Fun, Ann, Not Right, Real Cool Time, We Will Fall, Little Doll

Peak brilliance.

Just excellent, raw and at times super psychedelic.

GOAT album

A musical onslaught

Another stone-cold classic. It's been 1969 okay for a long time now, all across the USA, but also inside the head of so many obsessed rockers, there and elsewhere. Likewise, fans have wanted to be Iggy's dog for decades due to those three insanely simple yet ravenous guitar chords every *loud* band has at least once practiced in their rehearsal space. And from that other cut that sneered about having "no fun", a whole genre spewed forth: punk rock. It's as if you're witnessing its lurid conception here, Iggy's lascivious howls and yells teasing with Ron Asheton's erect guitar riffs--sharp as a blade, driven like the pistons pumping in those Detroit factories, unrelentless. And this until *your* brain melts. With three cuts like that on your very first album, how can you lose? Of course, said album must not only be summed up by those three monsters, as sly "Ann" and that dark psychedelic, slowly entrancing, heroin-laden number, "We Will Fall", can prove it. John Cale's production is spot-on--meaning that you have the feeling that he didn't really intervene to change any part of that gorgeous sonic chaos, and just got the tape rolling to catch lightning as it struck inside the Stooges' bottle. This, folks, is how you're giving birth to an incredibly influential record. Such lightning would strike two more times, with *Funhouse* and *Raw Power*. I can't wait to give a 5/5 grade to those other two masterpieces. Good luck to the album that's gonna pop up tomorrow, ha ha. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: less than 780, I've temporarily lost count here Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens:  approximately a half so far (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: a quarter Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): the last quarter

C’est vraiment sympa mais sans plus pour la plupart des titres. J’aime bien Ann et I wanna be your dog et surtout We will fall. Ce remplissage psychédélique de 10 minutes est incongrus et parfait à mes yeux.

Really cool! Bem anos 70. Super vou buscar mais. Melhor música: No fun e Ann

10/10 some of the greatest pioneers (or maybe even inventors?) of punk rock they knew exactly what they were doing and executed it perfectly

Yes indeed-always been a fan of Iggy's vocals. Love this album.

Ajajaj!

Perfect end to end.

This is a strange one to review. Do you review it knowing everything you know in 2022 (when this review was written) or do you try to think of what 1969 was like? I choose to go with the later. It rules, and it would've blown my mind in 1969.