The Stooges (album)

For their first album, the Stooges had intended to record seven songs: "Dance Of The Romance", "Goodbye Bozos", "I’m Sick", "Asthma Attack", "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun", and "1969". “Asthma Attack” was a completely different composition that the version of the song utilizing the same song title that appears on the album reissue. According to Iggy Pop, '”Asthma Attack” was a structured piece of repetitive descending chording that sounded a lot like “Interstellar Overdrive.”'(Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd song) He elaborates further, 'And it was B, A, G, E (the chord structure) like a (The) Who thing - and then I would wheeze and say, “asthma attack.”' Embryonic versions of all seven songs were initially written from mid-late 1968 & early 1969. These seven songs were staples—and essentially the basis—of the Stooges' 1968 & early 1969 live set at the time. A typical Stooges song of the period would involve either two minutes of composed song followed by several minutes of improvisation or avant-garde, free-form workouts. Having assumed that the seven songs as normally performed would cover requirements for the album, the Stooges were told by their record label Elektra that they needed more material. According to Iggy Pop, "We auditioned [the seven-song version of the album] live in the studio and they refused it. Jac Holzman, head of Elektra Records is quoted having said, 'There aren't enough songs that contain structured lead vocals!' So we lied and said, 'That's OK, we've got lots more proper songs.' Upon hearing this Holzman then indicated to the band that they had one week to record and prepare the album."[2] Within the week the group was able to complete the task the label requested and wrote four more songs, "We Will Fall" (based upon a musical chant by Dave Alexander), "Real Cool Time", "Not Right", and "Little Doll" (based upon new guitar riffs written by Ron Asheton during the week of the recording sessions), and after John Cale informed the band that they needed “One more song to complete the album”, Iggy revised "Ann" (the first song he wrote for The Stooges that was initially discarded by the band in 1968). At the same time shedding two of the four avant-garde, free-form songs (shedding the original version for the new free-form version of "Asthma Attack" and "Dance Of The Romance" now subsumed into the old composition "Ann" tacked on as a musical coda after the main structure of the song) including "I’m Sick" and “Goodbye Bozos” and playing the new compositions for the first time in the studio.

An initial mix by producer John Cale, apparently resembling ex-Velvet Underground bandmate Lou Reed's "closet mix" of that band's eponymous third album from the same year, was rejected by Elektra. The mix as heard on the final product was done by Iggy Pop and Elektra president Jac Holzman. Four of Cale's original mixes would later appear on the bonus disc of a 2005 reissued version, with pitch correction applied to them. Five years later, all eight Cale mixes were released unaltered on the first disc of a 2010 collector's edition release of the album.[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Chicago Tribune	[5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[7]
MusicHound Rock	3.5/5[8]
Pitchfork	8.9/10[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10[11]
Stylus Magazine	A[12]
The Village Voice	B+[13]

According to music historian Denise Sullivan, The Stooges was "disavowed" by most critics; Sullivan nonetheless called it "a rock'n'roll classic".[14] In a contemporary review, Edmund O. Ward of Rolling Stone called it "loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish", while conceding that he "kind of liked it".[15] Robert Christgau gave it a backhanded compliment in his column for The Village Voice, deeming it "stupid-rock at its best", but did give it a "B+" grade overall.[13]

In retrospect, Will Hodgkinson called The Stooges "charged and brutal garage-rock",[16] and Pitchfork critic Joe Tangari said it was one of the essential forerunners to the punk rock movement of the 1970s.[9] It and the Stooges' next two albums were later deemed "proto-punk landmarks", according to Mojo journalist Manish Agarwal.[17] Daryl Eslea, writing for BBC Music, called the album "rock at its most primordial. ... [the] album is the original punk rock rush on record, a long-held well-kept secret by those in the know."[18] Mark Deming of AllMusic commented, "Part of the fun of The Stooges is, then as now, the band managed the difficult feat of sounding ahead of their time and entirely out of their time, all at once."[4]

In 2003, the album was placed at number 185 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time",[19] maintaining the rating in its 2012 revised list.[20] The magazine also included "1969" in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".[21] Robert Dimery, writing in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, said that the album was "a collection of brilliant curios, which were neither full-on garage rock, nor out-and-out dirge."[22] In 2005, Q magazine placed "I Wanna Be Your Dog" at number 13 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks".

On August 16, 2005, Elektra and Rhino Records jointly re-issued the album as a specially-priced double CD, with a remastered version of the album on disc one and alternate takes on disc two. On May 7, 2010, Rhino again released the album in their "Handmade" series as a collector's package including two CDs, a 7" record and a 7"x7"-sized booklet. The first disc features the main songs, the single version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog", and all original John Cale mixes of the eight songs. The second disc, and both sides of the 7" single, contain the previously unissued "Asthma Attack", a staple of the group's early live shows.[3]

In 2020, Vinyl Me, Please reissued the album on vinyl using the rejected John Cale mixes. This was the first time the tracks have ever appeared on a vinyl pressing.[23]

All tracks are written by The Stooges (Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton and Iggy Stooge (Iggy Pop)).

The Stooges

• Iggy Pop (credited as "Iggy Stooge") – vocals, handclaps
• Dave Alexander – bass guitar, handclaps
• Ron Asheton – guitar, backing vocals, handclaps
• Scott Asheton – drums, handclaps

Additional personnel

• John Cale – piano, sleigh bell on "I Wanna Be Your Dog", viola on "We Will Fall", production

Technical personnel

• Joel Brodsky – sleeve photography
• Danny Fields – liner notes (original album and 1989 CD release only)
• William S. Harvey – sleeve art direction
• Jac Holzman – production supervisor

2005 reissue personnel

• Bill Inglot – remastering
• Ben Edmonds – liner notes
• Dan Hersch – remastering
• Alice Cooper – liner notes

• The Stooges at Discogs (list of releases)