Even the ballads, ‘Gimme Danger’ and ‘I Need Somebody’, are unrelenting. With amplifiers cranked to their highest settings and Pop at his most unhinged, the album has the kind of energy and belligerence that would become essential to punk rock music just a few years later. By September 1972, the band had eight tracks (including their two ballads) ready to record.īlasting off with the unrelenting ‘Seach and Destroy’, Raw Power is 33 minutes of unfiltered and unadorned lo-fi chaos. Not known for their delicate side, The Stooges holed themselves up in the studio and rehearsed diligently. One of them was that the band had to record a ballad on each side of their album. ![]() The new working method made the Ashetons feel like second-class citizens in the band that they had originally founded, and the already volatile personalities within the band began to clash almost immediately.Įven worse, the group’s record contract (which favoured Pop over the other band members) had strict stipulations. To go along with the titular demotion, Ron Asheton was asked to switch from his former role as lead guitarist to bassist in order to accommodate Williamson. For one, they weren’t The Stooges anymore: they were Iggy and the Stooges. Some changes had to be made once the Ashetons agreed to reform The Stooges. When Pop and Williamson failed to find musicians who suited their highly aggressive style, it was decided that only two people could help make bring the new music to life: former Stooges band members Ron and Scott Asheton. The pair hit it off, and Bowie convinced Pop to sign with his management team, MainMan.Īfter securing a record deal from Columbia Records, Bowie recruited Williamson to fly over to London and record what was meant to be Pop’s debut solo album. Just two months after their official dissolution, Pop ran into up-and-coming British singer David Bowie at Max’s Kansas City in New York. ![]() Original bassist Dave Alexander had been fired due to his excessive alcohol use, and Pop’s childhood friend James Williamson had been added as a second guitar player for a few months before the group was dropped by Elektra Records. The original Stooges lineup flamed out after releasing just two studio albums, 1969’s The Stooges and 1970’s Fun House. ![]() But there was no allure or warm feelings when Raw Power bombed hard in the crowded scene of early 1970s hard rock. For later generations, tales of muddy mixes, horrendous heroin habits, label-mandated ballads, and bong-assisted special effects have all added a certain mystique to Raw Power. The final record from urtext proto-punks The Stooges had notorious stories that followed its production from the second it was released in early 1973. In the decades since its release, Raw Power hasn’t become popular, but it has become legendarily infamous.
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