Music Lounge: August

Iggy and The Stooges



The Stooges were formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The original line up was Ron Asheton (guitar) and his brother Scott (drums), their friend Dave Alexander (bass guitar) and vocalist Iggy Pop. The Band played their first concert in 1967 and were originally known as The Psychedelic Stooges.


Early in the band's career they were keen to experiment with new kinds of music. Iggy Pop used a blender and a vacuum cleaner to create feedback on stage. Iggy also became famous for his strange behaviour on stage. He would sometimes rub raw hamburger meat and peanut butter on his bare chest and also cut himself with broken glass.


In 1969 The Stooges released their debut album, The Stooges, but the album was not very successful and most music critics were unimpressed. A year later the band fired Dave Alexander because he arrived at a music festival too drunk to play his instrument. The band hired a new bass player and also added a saxophonist to the group. Around this time all of the band members except Ron Asheton had started using drugs. This led to The Stooges being dropped by their record label and the break up of the band.


In 1972, Iggy met David Bowie and the two became friends. Bowie helped The Stooges get a new record deal and they reformed as Iggy and The Stooges. Using this new name the band released their third album Raw Power, which became one of the major influences in early punk rock. Unfortunately, by 1974, Pop's drug problem had again become uncontrollable and the band broke up for the second time.


Following the break up of the band, Iggy began a solo career while the other band members played or worked with various other bands. In 2003 Iggy reunited with the Asheton brothers to play a series of live shows across the United States and Europe. In 2007 the band released a new album, The Weirdness, and continued touring until 2008. In 2009, Ron Asheton died in his home of a heart attack. He was sixty years old.


August's music lounge will be on Saturday the 29th of August at 16:00.


See you there,


Gavin.

Music Lounge

Good Evening,

After the success of the last few special lounge sessions, we have decided to make them a regular part of the lounge schedule.

Starting from August, the last Saturday of every month will have music lounge at four o' clock. The first will be on Saturday the 29th of August.

Every week I'll choose a different artist or band to discuss. We'll talk about the history of the band/artist and their impact on popular culture. We'll also listen to a couple of songs.

I'm also going to start a new feature on the blog to give you more information about Music Lounge. Every month I'm going to write a 'primer' to give you some information about the featured artist of that months lounge. I'll tell you a little about the artist and post some links to some interesting websites.

See you there,

Gavin.