Rocktober Album #6: The Stooges – Raw Power (1973)

The Stooges (I refuse to call them Iggy & The Stooges) are proto-punk gods, influencing an entire generation of musicians who would go onto create the genre we know today as punk. Raw Power is their third album, and the title describes exactly what it is.

Admittedly, much like The Velvet Underground, in certain places The Stooges' music can sound, for lack of a better word, like noise. It is loud, and it is gritty, but that's the point. That's exactly the way it's supposed to be. If you've seen Almost Famous, you know Lester Bangs approves. And is there a creepier album cover than this one?

1. Search and Destroy
This is probably The Stooges' most famous song, and with good reason. It's three and a half minutes of fury and chaos. I dare you not to get pumped up listening to this song. "I'm a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm." That makes no sense and perfect sense at the same time.
2. Gimme Danger
This might be my favorite song on the album. It's slow and creepy, especially if you consider that Iggy Pop was probably high on heroin and cutting his own chest with broken glass at multiple points around this time period.
3. Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
What an awesome title. This is another energetic song, with Iggy's vocals a bit raspier than normal.
4. Penetration
As the title indicates, this song is about a point guard driving into the lane. This is probably the dirtiest song ever that features a glockenspiel.
5. Raw Power
The title track is as you would imagine (raw and powerful), from the frantic, choppy guitars to the breakneck beat to Iggy's vocals.
6. I Need Somebody
Another creepy, slower song. Plus, when Iggy shouts "somebody" near the end of the song, it sounds like he's saying "some bull dyke," so that's something.
7. Shake Appeal
I like this song a lot. It's fast and energetic and, in fact, encourages me to shake. Not shake my ass so much as shake like I'm suffering heroin withdrawal symptoms, which I usually am.
8. Death Trip
A fine end to a fine album, "Death Trip" is more gritty guitars, frantic beats, and screaming. It is not on Playlist.com

Interesting tidbits:
1. Before being remastered by Iggy Pop in 1997, Raw Power was originally produced by David Bowie. You may know him as that guy that Jemaine dresses up as in Flight of The Conchords.
2. The remastered version is arguably the loudest CD ever recorded, reaching an average of -4 dBFS in some places (whatever the hell that means). In all honesty, it is a very loud CD. I know when a Raw Power song comes across my iPod because it blares compared to everything else at the same volume level.