Iggy Pop Special: Funtime

Credited to Iggy & The Stooges, Raw Power is, to some ears (usually bleeding), the greatest rock album of the early 70s, sheer sonic violence further enlivened by bids to "search and destroy". More than The Stooges' previous two albums, it captures the puressence of rock'n'roll while setting fire to the rulebook. With a little help from James Williamson, their guitarist, Johnnie Johnstone tells the story of its brief yet volatile making and impact following its release a half-century ago this month. And then, on p88, RC is granted an audience with the mighty Iggy Pop in which he traces his career from the band's 1973 landmark to his new solo album, Every Loser, concluding with a Stooges/Pop discography on p97. All aboard.

“Raw power is more than soul It’s got a son called rock and roll”

No frontman had ever looked quite like that. Sinewy. Golden. A flash of silver pants. Dead eyed. Imperious. Robert Plant may have had his Dionysian locks and tightly laced bell bottoms. Ozzy could look quite demonic. And there had always been showmen like Little Richard. But that portrait by Mick Rock chilled the blood. One could

feel, smell, taste the danger. On the back cover an even more unsettling image of the singer – stood bolt upright like one of the undead – bearing fangs like a wounded beast. Feral. In 1997, Iggy Pop recounted to Arthur Levy his feelings on the eve of the release of Raw Power in February 1973.

“I know this album is doomed,” he said. “I know the relationship with the management company is doomed. I know I’m doomed for putting out music like this. I know no one is going to promote it. I know no one is going to play it on the radio. But this is what I’m gonna do!”

“What he was gonna do” was the greatest rock album of the early 70s. Inside that sleeve was a torrent of energy, pounding at your ribcage, stripping flesh from the bones: a screeching, convulsive, howling, prowling, sonic annihilation. The bona fide primal scream.