Formation (1967–1968) Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg) played drums in several Ann Arbor–area bands as a teenager, including the Iguanas and, later,
the Prime Movers. The Prime Movers nicknamed Osterberg "Iggy" in reference to his earlier band. Osterberg was first inspired to form the Stooges after meeting
blues drummer
Sam Lay during a visit to Chicago. Upon returning to
Detroit, Osterberg sought to create a new form of blues music that was not derivative of historical precedents, with influence from garage rock bands
The Sonics and
The Kinks.
Ron Asheton (guitar) and
Scott Asheton (drums), and
Dave Alexander (bass guitar) comprised the rest of the band, with Osterberg as the main singer. Osterberg became interested in Ron Asheton after seeing him perform in a cover band called the Chosen Few, believing, "I've never met a convincing musician that didn't look kind of ill and kind of dirty, and Ron had those two things covered!" The three nicknamed Osterberg "Pop" after a local character whom he resembled. Shortly after witnessing an
MC5 concert in Ann Arbor, Osterberg began using the stage name Iggy Pop, a name that he has used ever since. Though the Stooges had formed, Iggy Pop attributes two key motivating influences to move the band forward. The first was seeing
the Doors perform at a homecoming dance for the University of Michigan. The second was seeing an all-girls rock band from Princeton, New Jersey, called the Untouchable perform in the summer of 1967. In a 1995 interview with
Bust Magazine, he relates: The band's 1967 debut was at their communal State Street house on
Halloween night, followed by their next live gig in January 1968. The group's early sound differed from their later music, wrote critic Edwin Pouncey: In 1968,
Elektra Records sent DJ/publicist
Danny Fields to scout the MC5, resulting in contracts for both that band and the Stooges. The contracts were at different pay rates: MC5 $20,000, the Stooges $5,000, as revealed in the 2016
Jim Jarmusch film,
Gimme Danger.
The Stooges, Fun House, and first breakup (1969–1971) '' advertisement, August 30, 1969 In 1969, the band released their
self-titled debut album; sales were low and it was not well received by critics at the time. The Stooges soon gained a reputation for their wild, primitive live performances. Pop, especially, became known for his outrageous onstage behavior: smearing his bare chest with hamburger meat and peanut butter, cutting himself with shards of glass, and flashing his genitalia to the audience. Pop is sometimes credited with the invention or popularization of
stage diving. In 1970, their second album,
Fun House, was released, featuring the addition of saxophonist
Steve Mackay. On June 13 of that year, television recorded the band at the
Cincinnati Pop Festival. While performing the songs "T.V. Eye" and "1970", Pop leaped into the crowd, where he was hoisted up on people's hands, and proceeded to smear peanut butter all over his chest. In a broadcast interview at
WNUR Northwestern University radio station in Evanston, Illinois, in 1984,
Stiv Bators of
the Lords of the New Church and
the Dead Boys confirmed the long-standing rumor that it was he who had provided the peanut butter, having carried a large tub from his home in Youngstown, Ohio, and handing it up to Iggy from the audience.
Fun House was also poorly received by critics and the general public. Alexander was dismissed in August 1970 after arriving at the
Goose Lake International Music Festival too drunk to play. He was replaced by a succession of new bass players, including former roadie
Zeke Zettner and
James Recca. Around this time, the band expanded their lineup by adding a second guitar player, roadie
Bill Cheatham, had all become serious
heroin users. The drug was introduced to the band by new manager John Adams. With the band having broken up, Pop met
David Bowie on September 7, 1971, at
Max's Kansas City, (In subsequent years, various unofficial fan recordings were assembled and released as the album
Rough Power; With the addition of a piano player (briefly
Bob Sheff and then
Scott Thurston), but Williamson soon returned to the group. The Stooges disbanded in February 1974 as a result of dwindling professional opportunities; this factor was compounded by Pop's ever-present heroin addiction and erratic off-stage behavior. and
Fun House–era saxophonist Steve Mackay. Their Detroit homecoming show, postponed by the
2003 North America blackout, was released as the DVD
Live in Detroit.
The Weirdness, Ron Asheton's death, and James Williamson's return (2004–2009) On August 16, 2005,
Elektra Records and
Rhino Records issued newly remastered two-CD editions of the first two Stooges albums, featuring the original album on disc one and outtakes (including alternate mixes, single versions, etc.) on disc two. Unlike the 1997
Raw Power reissue, which was a total remix from the original multitracks, these remasters are faithful to the original mixes. In 2007, the band released an album of all-new material,
The Weirdness, with
Steve Albini recording, and mastering done at
Abbey Road Studios in
London, England. The album received mixed reviews from the press. The band also contributed a cover of
Junior Kimbrough's "You Better Run" to a tribute album for the late blues artist. The Stooges were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2008. The Stooges spent the years between 2003 and 2008 touring extensively, playing shows on five different continents. Highlights included performances at several events involved with the
All Tomorrow's Parties concert series, Pop's 60th birthday on the stage of
San Francisco's Warfield Theater, touring with the
Lollapalooza festival, and a performance of two
Madonna covers at the Michigan-born singer's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in protest of the Stooges' failure to receive an induction into said institution despite six nominations. (Two years later, the band was successfully inducted.) A low of this touring era occurred in August 2008 when the band's equipment was stolen in
Montreal,
Quebec. Initially, the reunited band's sets consisted solely of material from
The Stooges,
Fun House,
Skull Ring and
The Weirdness. By 2008, they had added "
Search and Destroy", "I Got a Right" and "Raw Power" to its set lists. The band's final show with Ron Asheton was on September 29, 2008, in
Ljubljana, Slovenia. On January 6, 2009, Ron Asheton was found dead in his home, having reportedly suffered a heart attack several days earlier. He was 60 years old. In their official statement, the group called Asheton "irreplaceable". On October 1, 2009,
The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story by Robert Matheu and
Jeffrey Morgan (authorized biographer of
Alice Cooper) was published in hardcover by
Abrams. In a May 2009 interview, Pop announced the band's plans to continue performing with James Williamson returning as guitarist. Pop stated that "although 'the Stooges' died with Ron Asheton, there was still 'Iggy and the Stooges'". Their first concert occurred on November 7, 2009, in
São Paulo, Brazil. The band added material from
Raw Power and several of Pop's early solo albums to its repertoire.
Ready to Die and final breakup (2010–2016) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the band in its Class of 2010, with Williamson, Pop, Alexander, Scott Asheton, and Ron Asheton as the inducted members. The band had previously been nominated for election seven times, each unsuccessful. Their performance for the event included a guest appearance by former keyboardist Scott Thurston. Performances with Williamson continued, including the 2010 All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Monticello, New York, where they performed
Raw Power in its entirety. A re-release of
Raw Power was released on April 10, 2010, including the first remastering of the David Bowie mix and a live 1973 performance. The following year, Detroit author
Brett Callwood published
The Stooges – Head On: A Journey Through The Michigan Underground, a book that focuses heavily on the Asheton brothers' activities after the initial decline of the Stooges. On February 25, 2013, the band released what would become their last album,
Ready to Die. The album was released on April 30 on
Fat Possum. Iggy and the Stooges played the final date of their 25-city 2013 world tour with a performance at the C2SV Festival in San Jose on September 28, 2013. On March 15, 2014,
Scott Asheton died of a heart attack, aged 64. Saxophonist
Steve Mackay died in October 2015 at the age of 66. In 2016,
Jim Jarmusch directed
Gimme Danger, a documentary film about the band. On June 22, 2016, guitarist Williamson made an official statement for the band saying that the Stooges are no more: "The Stooges is over. Basically, everybody's dead except Iggy and I. So it would be sort of ludicrous to try and tour as Iggy and the Stooges when there's only one Stooge in the band and then you have side guys. That doesn't make any sense to me." Williamson also expressed a desire to stop touring. ==Musical style==