The Stooges (album)
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The Stooges is the self-titled debut of the rock band The Stooges. It was released in August 1969 and peaked at number 106 on the Billboard album charts. Two songs, "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "1969", were released as singles.
Album history
For their first album, The Stooges had intended to record five songs: "I Wanna Be Your Dog", "No Fun", "1969", "Ann", and "We Will Fall". The five songs were staples of—and essentially the basis of—The Stooges' live set at the time. A typical Stooges song of the period would involve two minutes of composed song followed by several minutes of improvisation. Presuming that the five songs as normally performed would cover requirements for the album, the Stooges were told by Elektra that they needed more material. According to Iggy Pop, "We handed (the five-song version of the album) in and they refused it. They said, 'There aren't enough songs!' So we lied and said, 'That's OK, we've got lots more songs.'" (liner notes of 2005 reissue, p.9)
In reality, the Stooges were about a day ahead of themselves when Iggy made that statement to Elektra; overnight, the group wrote three more songs, "Real Cool Time", "Not Right", and "Little Doll", and played them for the first time in the studio.
An initial mix by producer John Cale that resembled fellow ex-Velvet Underground member Lou Reed's "closet mix" of their third album (ironically, Cale had quit the Velvets before that album was recorded) was rejected by Elektra. The mix as heard on the album was done by Iggy Pop and Elektra Records president Jac Holzman. Four of Cale's original mixes, and the full studio versions of "Ann" and "Not Right", appear on the bonus disc of the 2005 reissued version.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "I Wanna Be Your Dog" at number 13 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
The album is considered to have a wide cult following.[citation needed]
Track listing
All tracks written by the Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton and Iggy Pop.
Side one
- "1969" – 4:05
- "I Wanna Be Your Dog" – 3:09
- "We Will Fall" – 10:18
Side two
- "No Fun" – 5:15
- "Real Cool Time" – 2:32
- "Ann" – 2:59
- "Not Right" – 2:51
- "Little Doll" – 3:20
2005 reissue
- On August 16, 2005, Elektra and Rhino Records jointly reissued the album as a specially-priced double CD, with a remastered version of the album on disc one and the following outtakes on disc two:
- No Fun (Original John Cale mix)
- 1969 (Original John Cale mix)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog (Original John Cale mix)
- Little Doll (Original John Cale mix)
- 1969 (alternate vocal)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog (alternate vocal)
- Not Right (alternate vocal)
- Real Cool Time (alternate mix)
- Ann (full version)
- No Fun (full version)
Musical personnel
- Iggy Pop - vocals (credited as "Iggy Stooge")
- Dave Alexander - bass
- Ron Asheton - guitar, vocals
- Scott Asheton - drums
- John Cale - piano and sleighbell ("I Wanna Be Your Dog"); viola ("We Will Fall")
Recording and artwork personnel
- John Cale, Producer
- Joel Brodsky, Photography
- Danny Fields, Liner Notes (original album and 1989 CD release only)
- William S. Harvey, Art Direction
- Jac Holzman, Production Supervisor
Reissue personnel
- Bill Inglot, Reissue Producer, Remastering
- Ben Edmonds, Reissue Producer, Liner Notes
- Dan Hersch, Remastering
- Alice Cooper, Liner Notes