172. The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)




















Track Listing

1. 1969
2. I Wanna Be Your Dog
3. We Will Fall
4. No Fun
5. Real Cool Time
6. Ann
7. Not Right
8. Little Doll

Review

Here's punk! Well, proto-punk, but you know what I mean, together with MC5 this was the closest that you could get to punk in 1969. This album is actually closer to what would be punk in the late 70's, particularly due to it's "disaffected youth" lyrics. It is also not strange that his would come from Detroit, the same place that saw the birth of the MC5.

This is a great album, based on quite simple songs and some raw power, it works really well. John Cale was producing this and he might not have understood how loud The Stooges wanted to be, so it is a bit toned down, but the seeds are there for the future of Punk.

This album is populated by very catchy tunes and one big mood track in We Will Fall, which is really not that out of place here. It's dark and depressing like the rest of the album and although not heavy it is quite beautiful, and you can very muich see the hand of Velvet Underground here. The rest of the album is equally as memorable, if much louder, with the spotlight firmly on I Wanna Be Your Dog and 1969.

This is one of those albums you need, so stream it from Napster or Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. I Wanna Be Your Dog
2. 1969
3. We Will Fall
4. No Fun

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

I Wanna Be Your Dog with extra Kitty Goodness (also the only album version I could find):



From Wikipedia:

For their first album, The Stooges had intended to record five songs: "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun", "1969", "Ann", and "We Will Fall". The five songs were staples of - and essentially the basis of - The Stooges' live set at the time. A typical Stooges song of the period would involve two minutes of composed song followed by several minutes of improvisation. Presuming that the five songs as normally performed would cover requirements for the album, the Stooges were told by Elektra that they needed more material. According to Iggy Pop, "We handed (the five-song version of the album) in and they refused it. They said, 'There aren't enough songs!' So we lied and said, 'That's OK, we've got lots more songs.'" (liner notes of 2005 reissue, p.9)

In reality, the Stooges were about a day ahead of themselves when Iggy made that statement to Elektra; overnight, the group wrote three more songs, "Real Cool Time", "Not Right", and "Little Doll", and played them for the first time in the studio.

An initial mix by producer John Cale that resembled fellow ex-Velvet Underground member Lou Reed's "closet mix" of their third album (ironically, Cale had quit the Velvets before that album was recorded) was rejected by Elektra. The mix as heard on the album was done by Iggy Pop and Elektra Records president Jac Holzman. Four of Cale's original mixes, and the full studio versions of "Ann" and "Not Right", appear on the bonus disc of the 2005 reissued version.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 185 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "I Wanna Be Your Dog" at number 13 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.