Early metal came from a mix of elements — proto-punk, dark progressive, and heavy rock — fused with soundtrack-style epic song structures, which along with the phrasal riffs that went along with power chords, made a new type of music that escaped the vocal-driven harmony-based tedium of Boomer rock.
That “proto-punk” itself evolved out of garage rock that simplified the basic song format but introduced chromatic fills, stepping halfway toward narrative riffs. As Iggy Pop says in this documentary, he wanted to create a new blues for the (white) middle America.
Ramones guitarist Johnny said something similar about wanting to produce a white blues, but Iggy added another dimension: “I singlehandly ended the 1960s,” he says with a laugh in this film that aims to be unsettling as it tells the Stooges story by emphasizing the complete alienation from modernity these musicians experienced.
Its centerpiece comes from the assembled interviews with Iggy, who is strikingly articulate and forthright as he talks about his reactions (more than “thinking” or “emotions”) to what is around him, and the choices he made in response, even if these were more gestures than strategies.
Since the late-1960s convergence of the Stooges, Jethro Tull, and Cream produced a vision of music that was both melodic and structuralist, growing out of its origins in rhythm and harmony, these insights reveal how proto-punk ditched the consumerist and demotism worldview for one of its own.
Interviews with the remaining Stooges (and some from when all were alive) bring out how much these men understood each other and a desire for a different type of rock music, having seen the money people already wreck everything good and turn it into advertising jingles.
Simultaneously it shows how unstudied the Stooges were, partially explaining their uneven output. As pioneers leaving the herd behind, they faced more questions than answers, and got enough to contribute to the birth of two new genres.
Tags: garage rock, iggy pop, jim jarmusch, johnny ramone, metal history, proto-metal, proto-punk, punk, the stooges
Raw Power is fucking brilliant and more gut-punchingly visceral than any metal of its time. The song of this name is just about the greatest ballad ever, if you can even call it that. I personally don’t because there’s something altogether gnarlier underneath.
Iggy and the Stooges were awesome. Thanks for writing about how important they were.
If any claim they are hard rockers/metalheads, and do not like them, they are fucking posers.
never heard of this band! but i bet they’re “rad”, especially since the singer seems to be named iggy, short for igor? i’ll check them out when i am done