Iggy and the Stooges

The Stooges came crawling out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Iggy Pop howling, Ron Asheton on guitar, his brother Scott Asheton on drums and Dave Alexander on bass, playing rock and roll so raw and primitive it barely held together. They sold few records the first time round, but their shows were the stuff of legend for all the wrong reasons: confrontational, dangerous, with Iggy sometimes cutting himself up on stage.

After The Stooges, in 1969, and Fun House, in 1970, the band fell apart, then came back with Ron Asheton moved to bass and James Williamson on guitar for Raw Power in 1973, a scorched-earth record if ever there was one. They broke up for good in 1974, or so it seemed. The 1981 EP I'm Sick of You! carried "Gimme Some Skin", and "Search and Destroy" is still the song rock radio reaches for first.

History caught up with them. Widely regarded as the seed that punk grew from, they reunited in 2003 with Ron Asheton back on guitar, Mike Watt on bass and Fun House saxophonist Steve Mackay in tow, and won Mojo's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2010, a year after Ron Asheton died and Williamson came back. Ready to Die was the last album, in 2013, and after Scott Asheton and Mackay died, the Stooges called it quits for good in 2016.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.