Back in the days when punk was only just beginning to thrive, these guys were at the forefront of the American garage scene and were among the first to experiment with the very idea of punk rock. Thanks to Iggy Pop’s extreme stage antics and The Stooges’ brutally raw musical style, their influence spread throughout the world and saw not only the rise of American garage-punk, but also the birth of the ‘70s punk movement in the UK.
If there was ever a band that wasn’t appreciated in their own time, then The Stooges would definitely fit the bill. Fun House, their second studio album, was released in 1970 to pretty dismal commercial success. It didn’t sell, but The Stooges didn’t let a little thing like that bother them- and it’s just as well, because Fun House has since gained a devoted cult following and is highly regarded as a front runner of punk rock. The short seven-track album is brimming with chaos, yet there are shining moments of brilliance that are obvious to even the harshest of critics; the jazz-punk influences in ‘L.A. Blues’ and the exhausting vocals of ‘Loose’ showed just what The Stooges were capable of. They may have been later overshadowed by the more iconic punk bands that really propelled the movement towards the mid-‘70s, but it’s important to remember where it all started…
Listen to: Loose, Dirt, L.A. Blues
