•
Rating: Year 1969.
The music world receives one of the most violent punches in the stomach ever delivered, and it does so in a totally revolutionary way: this is punk. Mind you, punk wasn't born yet, but this album shows how history sometimes contains potentially everything that happens regularly in the future, and "The Stooges" (the self-titled debut album by the band) is the confirmation. It's been called proto-punk, but the music and the spirit are already punk, certainly not yet exploded into a musical movement, as in '77; anarchy, perversion, the desire to break all the rules are perfectly evident here, and also the paranoia and frustration typical of a city like Detroit (where the band was formed), excluded from the various neo-cultural movements of cities like San Francisco or Los Angeles... or maybe New York, birthplace of older "brothers" Velvet Underground, a band as important today as it was underrated by critics and the public in the sixties.
In "The Stooges," there's a lot of Velvet: first of all the spirit and then the production of John Cale, the violist from New York, who also had a hand in the music here and there. The album opens with "1969": Ron Asheton's guitar initially echoes Jimi Hendrix before exploding into a disturbing distortion, one that hadn't been heard before (the technique is very raw, influencing millions of future guitarists, especially punk), with Iggy Pop’s paranoid singing, poor in lyricism but rich in anger and frustration; it's impossible to stay still, the visceral nature is evident. Then it moves to "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and the sound of the guitar seems to come out of a trash can. Decadence and perversion are the constants of the track, in which Iggy Pop sincerely declares his deviance: no one had ever been so radical.
The third track, "We Will Fall", shows how the band can touch the subconscious as well as the limbs, even if John Cale’s influence is very strong, playing his viola just as he had done with the Velvet Underground. Minimalism here is fundamental, the track lasts more than ten minutes, in which a malevolent choir persistently chants the magic formula "Oh gi ran ja ran ja ja ran" while the "Iguana" always recites his innermost desires, so much so that the impression is that of participating in a séance. With "No Fun" it returns to pogo (reaching one of the most intense moments of the album): the first part tells of human loneliness, perhaps following abandonment, once again in a very radical way, only to explode into lacerating guitar solos followed by the brutal screams of the Iguana (in that "well, come on!" is contained all the pain of loneliness); here Iggy "Stooge" cries, screams, howls, with moans that only Alan Vega years later managed to reevaluate in an even more distressing way.
"Real Cool Time" is an explosive, crackling piece, with a hendrixian wah that gives everything a Dionysian atmosphere. In "Ann", one of the most "calm" tracks, it seems Jim Morrison has married Hendrix's guitar, creating a very perverse atmosphere, almost wanting to show the two faces of love (the aura of the Doors was already present in "We Wil Fall"). "Not Right" and "Little Doll" perfectly conclude the album always staying on the theme of frustration and repressed erotic desires. In short, the Stones' rock has become much more violent and distorted, and Iggy Pop's live performances are unprecedented, reaching sensational levels of obscenity (along with the electrifying performances of the MC5, another band from Detroit). The Motor City has spoken.
Who could ever imagine that such roses would spring from manure? From now on, nothing will be the same: California failed (perhaps...) to make the world more beautiful and free, but by the end of '69, they had to reconsider; the world hasn't changed, on the contrary, it's even sicker, and the Stooges are the emblem of the failure of that utopia of peace and love that hasn't been reevaluated in the years to come.
This is rock’n’roll!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 1969 (04:06)
Well it's 1969 okay
All across the USA
It's another year
For me and you
Another year
With nothing to do
Last year I was 21
I didn't have a lot of fun
And now I'm gonna be 22
I say oh my and a boo hoo
And now I'm gonna be 22
I say oh my and a boo hoo
It's 1969 okay
All across the USA
It's another year
For me and you
Another year
With nothing to do
Another year
With nothing to do
It's 1969
02 I Wanna Be Your Dog (03:09)
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
Now I wanna
Be your dog
Now I wanna
Be your dog
Well c'mon
Now I'm ready
To close my eyes
And now I'm ready
To close my mind
And now I'm ready
To feel your hand
And lose my heart
On the burning sands
And now I wanna
Be your dog
And now I wanna
Be your dog
Now I wanna
Be your dog
Well c'mon
03 We Will Fall (10:18)
Oh gi ran ja ran ja ja ran....
Tonight
I'll hold myself tight
I won't fight, I won't fight
Then I whisper to me
Then I whisper to me
Then I 'll lay right down
and I 'll lay right down
on my back
on my bed
in my hotel
and I'll be in love
Well, all night, all night
and in the mornin' I'll be ready
To see you, to see you
Don't forget to come
Room 121
Don't forget to come
I'll be shakin' I'll be tremblin'
I'll be happy, I'll be weak
And lI'll love you, and lI'll love you
And we'll fall to sleep
We'll fall to sleep
Six o'clock, dong, dong
real far, real far
good-bye, good-bye, good-bye
04 No Fun (05:15)
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to hang around
Feelin' that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to be alone
Walking by myself
No fun to be alone
In love with somebody else
Well maybe go out, maybe stay home
Maybe call Mom on the telephone
Well c'mon, well c'mon
C'mon c'mon
Now Ron, I say Ron
C'mon an lemme hear you tell em
Lemme hear you tell em
Now I feel
I say lemme hear you
Tell em how I feel, yeah, my man
No fun to be alone
It's no fun to be alone
Hang on
Don't you lemme go
It's no fun to be alone
To be alone
05 Real Cool Time (02:32)
Can I come over tonight?
Can I come over tonight?
What do you think I wanna do?
That's right
Can I come over tonight?
I say we will have a real cool time tonight
I say we will have a real cool time tonight
I say we will have a real cool time tonight
I say we will have a real cool time tonight
I said we will have a real cool time tonight
I said we will have a real cool time
We will have a real cool time
A real cool time tonight
06 Ann (02:59)
You took my arm and you broke my will
You made me shiver with a real thrill
You took my arm and we walked along
Down the road to a quiet song
I looked into your cool cool eyes
I felt so fine, I felt so fine
I floated in your swimming pools
I felt so weak, I felt so blue
Ann, my Ann I love you Ann
My Ann I love you right now!
08 Little Doll (03:20)
Little doll I can't forget
smoking on a cigarette
In my life a real queen
prettiest thing I ever seen
Uh-huh
You're the one who makes me sing
Bring happiness and everything
you're the only real one
A real way to have some fun
Uh- huh
But I don't know you little doll
I don't know you little doll
Come on shake
Come on shake
Come on shake you little doll
Shake you little doll
Come on.... shake
come on shake
Shake you little doll
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Pollack
The Stooges vented their typically adolescent anxieties in this frenzied, abrasive, misogynistic rock’n roll album.
It is above all the honesty, pure feelings, and disillusionment with which this album was played that will be hard to replicate.
By vito
A pagan rite of initiation into the music of the devil, the album without which probably no one would have ever talked about a certain 'punk rock'.
8 tracks for a total duration of just 35 minutes [...] episodes that alone are worth as much as an entire album from any rock band today.
By TraumaCronico
You don’t wash. You smoke. You do drugs. You dance like madmen. You don’t go to Church. Ever. Aren’t you ashamed?
Those damn rockers, they had done it without our knowledge, the biggest folly of their lives: They had listened to a Stooges record.
By Caspasian
After this record it’s over for everyone else, there’s no more room for anyone.
Don’t you want to turn up the volume to the maximum and blast it even louder, wishing that your amplifier and speakers explode?
By lector
Distilled anger, anguish, personal abysses and animalistic, fierce, lust for life.
The black cover with yellow writing and those 4 faces, 4 ghosts from the sewers of Ann Arbor.
