I’ve never really been a fan of punk. Although that said, well… it’ll become clear.
My first point of contact with Iggy and The Stooges was a Sixth-Form band I was in. The guitarist was into Sonic Youth, and he wanted us to include I Wanna Be Your Dog in our set. Or at least… that’s a memory I have!?
Actually, no… come to think of it, my very first encounter with Iggy was via David Bowie, and his album Tonight. Bowie and Pop had a very long and mutually fruitful friendship, which started around the time of Raw Power. Iggy was heavily involved on Tonight, supplying several songs, co-writing others, and guesting on a number of tracks.
As the years rolled by I would occasionally encounter Iggy or The Stooges again, like when his song Lust For Life suddenly re-entered the national zeitgeist, thanks to its inclusion on the Trainspotting soundtrack.
Another encounter was watching Tom Waits and Iggy in a Jim Jarmusch Coffee & Cigarettes short film. And my illustrator buddy Tim Oliver would sometimes play Iggy’s Lust For Life album as we worked in his shed studio.
I’ve been a big fan of Jarmusch for a long long time now, since fairly soon after discovering Tom Waits, in my mid-teens (or slightly later; poss’ late teens/early twenties?), and subsequently discovering and exploring the Jarmusch/Waits connection, via Down By Law, and suchlike.
I remember seeing trailers for Gimme Danger, back in 2016, when it came out, and wanting to go see it on the big screen. I didn’t! More’s the pity. Well, tonight I finally put that right, and watched it. And I loved it. It’s a loving portrait or homage, to both Iggy and The Stooges.
As a drummer myself I loved discovering that Jim Osterberg, aka Iggy Pop, started out himself on this most primal of instruments. But, as he so beautifully puts it, he got fed up of ‘looking at the singer’s ass’! It’s also very interesting hearing about his early influences, from TV and movies, to black American music.
His Damascene revelation – ‘Hey, I’m not black!’ – as funny as it sounds, especially delivered in Pop’s eloquently laconic basso profundo drawl, is, as mark Kermode points out, a really crucial moment.
Another thing I loved about this film and it’s subjects is the whole art vs business, or life vs the machine vibe. As Jarmusch says, very early on in the Vice thing, Iggy and The Stooges are Art! And they paid quite dearly for such a stance.
All in all, this is an affectionate and very charming portrait of both Iggy himself, and The Stooges. Most of the rest of The Stooges – all three of the original line up outside of the Igster – have passed: bassist Dave Alexander in 1975, guitarist Ron Asheton in 2009, and, most recently, drummer Scott Asheton, in 2019. Only Iggy remains.
Seeing Pop performing with later iterations of the group – the latter day lineup of Iggy, Mike Watt (bass), James Williamson (guitar), and Scott Asheton features heavily in the movie – is a bit odd. He still looks pretty amazing. And he still favours shirtless contortionist cavorting.
Although Iggy still looks surprisingly good (or at least surprisingly’rock n’ roll; esp’ for his age), his bandmates do admittedly look a bit less cool, and overerall the sound is a little more lethargic than ‘back in the day’. Naturally and understandably so, given the passage of time.
Obviously drugs played a part in the group’s less than smooth history. And it’s only really been with the benefit of hindsight that The Stooges are or have been steadily becoming more respected. Their role as creators or instigators of proto-punk in particular, along with fellow Michiganites MC5, is a theme much harped on in the music press and online.
Ironically, claims that they’re the greatest rock n roll band ever, which are made several times in this movie, don’t in my view really hold up, leastways not if you just shut your eyes and listen to the music. I like the music. Or at least some of it. But it’s hardly blisteringly original or innovative.
I think a very large part of The Stooges attraction – although as youngsters they all looked pretty good – is, inescapably, the Igster! His energy, charisma, stage presence, etc, all meant that for those who saw The Stooges perform, such was the energy, that they truly were ‘the greatest rock n roll band of all time’, for any such spellbound acolytes.
Iggy puts it with sublime and succinct precision when he says that their art was Dionysian, and not Apollonian; it was orgiastic, sensual and physical. And, at their best, they have a terrifically pure and simple and enormously powerful energy, that is really very seductive.
I enjoyed this film so much I’ve ordered The Stooges’ first three albums. And I look forward to enjoying them!
