Jim Jarmusch
Gimme Danger

The absence of a tribute film to the Stooges was felt, and fortunately, this gap was filled by the esteemed American director Jim Jarmusch with Gimme Danger. The Stooges, led by the great James Newell Osterberg, aka Iggy Pop, were a crucial group for the evolution of music in the late '60s and early '70s: their hard and raw sound was the exact opposite – almost a response – to the psychedelic culture of flower power with its libertarian ideals of peace and love promoted by hippies: in a sense, they embodied the end of the Woodstock generation.

Jarmusch's film is a faithful documentary of their story and is primarily based on the firsthand testimonies of the group members, mainly Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Ashton (1948-2009), drummer Scott Ashton (1949-2014), and the other guitarist James Williamson. An interesting picture emerges that traces their entire career from the beginning: the Stooges hailed from Ann Arbor, Michigan - near the industrial city of Detroit, which is why one speaks of the 'Detroit Sound' to identify groups like Stooges and MC5 – and they were children of the political protests of the time: they shared communist ideals with their colleagues MC5 although, unlike them, they maintained a nihilistic approach. Iggy Pop still seems in great shape today and narrates all the vicissitudes of the Stooges: from the beginnings when he played in the garage-rock band the Iguanas – a name undoubtedly significant to him – to the formation of the group and the genesis of the first classic The Stooges with immortal masterpieces like "No Fun" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog," an anthem to sexual submission that Iggy sang with a dog collar.

Rightly, much space is given to the excesses of Iggy Pop, a genuine stage animal: Stooges concerts were true happenings where anything could happen. But beyond this, it should not be forgotten how they were a musically outstanding group: Iggy Pop's musical background – as he himself admitted in the film – was vast, ranging from rock to jazz and avant-garde. It's no coincidence that in The Stooges is the long hypnotic mantra "We Will Fall" with guest John Cale of the Velvet Underground while in Funhouse, their second classic, saxophonist Steve Mackay was enlisted. The explosive energy the Stooges emanated would influence generations of punk, new wave, and noise-rock musicians, as documented in Gimme Danger, featuring a series of tribute covers by bands like Ramones, Sex Pistols, Damned, and Sonic Youth.

After the third album Raw Power, recorded in London thanks to the interest of David Bowie, the Stooges would disband after an epic concert documented by the legendary live Metallic K.O., practically the document of the end of an era. Jarmusch is very skilled at illustrating various moments of the group's history with cleverly inserted and amusing animated inserts or film clips of the time, relating to the characters mentioned by Iggy Pop in his ‘sparkling’ monologues: the director is a huge fan of the Stooges, and this is clearly understood.

However, being a tribute, perhaps it would have been appreciated to include more period footage, maybe from their last concert: only a few brief fragments are shown, with Iggy Pop leaping off the stage and little else like the 2007 reunion. “Gimme Danger” remains an essential document – Jim Jarmusch's signature, after all, was a guarantee – that all new generations should watch.