This new version is not a meager update but essentially a rewrite of the first edition, adding the interview with Scott and dropping Callwood’s own personal adventure as an Englishman prowling Detroit for info about his subject.Īs much as Callwood’s interviews are a victory, as a writer they are also a defeat. Sad to say, it was Ron’s death in 2009 that spurred his equally reclusive brother to speak. in 2007 under a similar title) but outdid himself in getting the most extensive Q & A sessions ever with Scott for this new edition. There are countless Iggy Pop bios (Paul Trynka’s Open Up and Bleed is my favorite) but these tend to treat the brothers as mere sidemen, something even Iggy himself did with alarming frequency.Ĭallwood managed to interview the reclusive Ron for the first version of this book (published in the U.K. Giving credit to the Ashetons is Brett Callwood’s goal in The Stooges: Head On-A Journey Through the Michigan Underground, released this month. Although his style could be like severe tachycardia, he was deceptively simplistic and economic: hard hitting with no wasted moves. As neighbors and mentors of The Stooges, these ax slingers played tough riffs in the midst of a waning peace and love culture characterized by the tender harmonies of outfits like Crosby, Stills & Nash.īrother Scott was also at odds with the current drum styles headed toward extended solos and “musicianship” at the expense of the steady heartbeat a good rock and roll drummer must provide. Ron’s innovative guitar attack was more dissonant and distorted than any of his contemporaries, including Fred “Sonic” Smith and Wayne Kramer of the MC5.

Iggy was just part of a chaotic ensemble and not the main attraction. The Stooges’ earliest gigs were considered adventurous, dangerous and fun- but- you- had- to- be- there affairs that veered toward the experimental and psychedelic.

Iggy’s confident, go-getter personality would have inevitably led to some sort of stardom or acclaim, but it was the Ashetons’ musical fury that gave him the opportunity to pull out the stops. Those few who appreciated the ferocious music stuck around to see what brothers Scott (drums) and Ron (guitar) Asheton were doing. They drifted off when the bleeding stopped and the ambulance pulled away. His self-destructive persona (onstage and off) attracted an audience like a crowd of onlookers at a horrific traffic accident. Mention The Stooges, and Iggy Pop-the brash and charismatic streetwalking cheetah himself-immediately comes to mind.

MC5 by Brett Callwood