The Stooges (album)

The Stooges is the debut studio album by American rock band the Stooges, released on August 5, 1969 by Elektra Records. Considered a landmark proto-punk release, the album peaked at number 106 on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The tracks "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "1969" were released as singles; "1969" was featured on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs" at number 35. In 2020, it was ranked number 488 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Background and recording
For their first album, the Stooges had intended to record seven songs: "I'm Sick", “Asthma Attack”, "Dance Of The Romance" / “Goodbye Bozos”, No Fun", "I Wanna Be Your Dog", and "1969". “I’m Sick” was a bolero that Iggy Pop had written on a Wurlitzer electronic piano and when performed live he would flop around on the stage going, “I’m sick! I’m siiiick! I’m sick! Blah!”. "Asthma Attack" was a completely different composition than the version of the song utilizing the same song title that appears on the album reissue. According to Iggy Pop, "'Asthma Attack' was a structured piece of repetitive descending chording that sounded a lot like Pink Floyd psychedelic space rock song Interstellar Overdrive. He elaborates further, "And it was B major, A major, G major, & E major like a Who thing – and then I would wheeze and say, 'asthma attack.'" "Dance Of The Romance" / "Goodbye Bozos" was an early version of what became known as "Little Doll" without the Ron Asheton guitar audio feedback cacophony known as "Goodbye Bozos" that originally ended the Psychedelic Stooges live performances of 1968.

"No Fun" was inspired by the Johnny Cash country song I Walk The Line and the main guitar riff to "I Wanna Be Your Dog" was inspired by the opening guitar riff to Highway Chile by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Early versions of all seven songs were initially written from mid-late 1968 and early 1969. These seven songs were staples—and essentially the basis—of the Stooges' 1968 and early 1969 live set at the time. A typical Stooges song of the period would involve either two minutes of composed song followed by several minutes of improvisation or avant-garde, free-form workouts. Having assumed that the seven songs as normally performed would cover requirements for the album, the Stooges were told by their record label Elektra that they needed more material. Pop later recalled: "We auditioned [the seven-song version of the album] live in the studio and they refused it. Jac Holzman, head of Elektra Records, is quoted having said, 'Are those three tracks (“1969”, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, “No Fun”) all you have? Do you guys have enough material? Do you have more songs?” After Ron Asheton replied, “Yeah, we just showed you one part of the pie. We’ve got several more songs.” Jac Holzman then is reported to have uttered his famous line to the group, “Good to hear. You fellas have 5 days.” before leaving the control room of The Hit Factory recording studio'

The band wrote three completely new compositions over the course of the five day recording sessions to complete the album. The songs were "We Will Fall" (based upon a musical chant by Dave Alexander), "Real Cool Time", and “Not Right”. “Little Doll" (based upon the previous “The Dance Of Romance” with an additional opening bass guitar riff After producer John Cale informed the band that they needed "one more song to complete the album", Iggy revised "Ann" which was the first song he wrote for The Stooges that was initially discarded by the band in 1968.

Three of the four avant-garde instrumental songs with Iggy Pop improvisatory and rudimentary vocal fragments including chants, howls, screams, and yelps were now properly restructured and edited into pre-existing original songs with only the guitar and bass feedback laden cacophony entitled “Goodbye Bozos” of the two part “Dance Of The Romance” / “Goodbye Bozos” being completely discarded for the revised list repertoire of original songs recorded for the album. "I’m Sick" the three chord composition built upon the Cuban bolero-beat was now subsumed into the composition "Ann" (not “Dance Of The Romance” as mistakingly previously reported) and tacked on as a musical coda after the ballad main song piece. "Dance Of The Romance" also based upon the Bo Diddley beat, with an additional chord sequence and structured lyric now became revised as "Little Doll". Lastly, the Pink Floyd psychedelic instrumental song Interstellar Overdrive structured piece known as "Asthma Attack" was now jettisoned for a more unstructured free-form freak out piece which was newly improvised yet retained the original song title and was recorded during the original album recording sessions.

All restructured and edited compositions were now played and recorded for the first time in the studio. An initial mix by John Cale, apparently resembling ex-Velvet Underground bandmate Lou Reed's "closet mix" of that band's eponymous third album from the same year, was rejected by Elektra. The mix as heard on the final product was done by Iggy Pop and Elektra president Jac Holzman. Four of Cale's original mixes would later appear on the bonus disc of a 2005 reissued version, with pitch correction applied to them. Five years later, all eight Cale mixes were released unaltered on the first disc of a 2010 collector's edition release of the album.

Reception and legacy
According to music historian Denise Sullivan, The Stooges was "disavowed" by most critics; Sullivan nonetheless called it "a rock'n'roll classic". In a contemporary review, Edmund O. Ward of Rolling Stone called it "loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish", while conceding that he "kind of liked it". Robert Christgau gave it a backhanded compliment in his column for The Village Voice, deeming it "stupid-rock at its best", but did give it a "B+" grade overall.

In retrospect, Will Hodgkinson called The Stooges "charged and brutal garage-rock", and Pitchfork critic Joe Tangari said it was one of the essential forerunners to the punk rock movement of the 1970s. It and the Stooges' next two albums were later deemed "proto-punk landmarks", according to Mojo journalist Manish Agarwal. Daryl Easlea, writing for BBC Music, called the album "rock at its most primordial. ... [the] album is the original punk rock rush on record, a long-held well-kept secret by those in the know." Mark Deming of AllMusic commented, "Part of the fun of The Stooges is, then as now, the band managed the difficult feat of sounding ahead of their time and entirely out of their time, all at once."

In 2003, the album was placed at number 185 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the rating in its 2012 revised list, and dropping to number 488 in its 2020 list. The magazine also included "1969" in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". Seth Jacobson, writing in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, said that the album was "a collection of brilliant curios, which were neither full-on garage rock, nor out-and-out dirge." In 2005, Q magazine placed "I Wanna Be Your Dog" at number 13 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks".

Reissues
On August 16, 2005, Elektra and Rhino Records jointly re-issued the album as a specially-priced double CD, with a remastered version of the album on disc one and alternate takes on disc two. On May 7, 2010, Rhino again released the album in their "Handmade" series as a collector's package including two CDs, a 7" record and a 7"x7"-sized booklet. The first disc features the main songs, the single version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog", and all original John Cale mixes of the eight songs. The second disc, and both sides of the 7" single, contain the previously unissued "Asthma Attack", a staple of the group's early live shows.

On November 8, 2019, Rhino released the 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of the album on digital services and streaming platforms. This “2019 Remaster” version mirrors the contents of the 2010 double-disc set and includes John Cale's rejected mix of the original album, released at the correct speed for the first time. In 2020, Vinyl Me, Please reissued the album on vinyl using the rejected John Cale mixes. This was the first time the tracks have ever appeared on a vinyl pressing.

Personnel
The Stooges
 * Iggy Pop (credited as "Iggy Stooge") – vocals, handclaps
 * Dave Alexander – bass guitar, handclaps
 * Ron Asheton – guitar, backing vocals, handclaps
 * Scott Asheton – drums, handclaps

Additional personnel
 * John Cale – piano, sleigh bell on "I Wanna Be Your Dog", viola on "We Will Fall", production

Technical personnel
 * Joel Brodsky – sleeve photography
 * Danny Fields – liner notes (original album and 1989 CD release only)
 * William S. Harvey – sleeve art direction
 * Jac Holzman – production supervisor

2005 reissue personnel
 * Bill Inglot – remastering
 * Ben Edmonds – liner notes
 * Dan Hersch – remastering
 * Alice Cooper – liner notes