1
00:00:35,727 --> 00:00:38,163
(Jim) If I hit here,
you'll get all three cameras.

2
00:00:38,197 --> 00:00:39,198
- Right?
- Yeah. Yeah.

3
00:00:39,231 --> 00:00:41,066
- Okay?
- Yeah. Great.

4
00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:42,534
- We're ready?
- Yeah.

5
00:00:43,635 --> 00:00:45,270
(Jim)
It's June 9th.

6
00:00:45,304 --> 00:00:48,307
We are in an undisclosed location.

7
00:00:49,208 --> 00:00:52,344
We are interrogating

8
00:00:52,377 --> 00:00:54,313
Jim Osterberg,

9
00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,182
about "The Stooges",

10
00:00:57,216 --> 00:00:59,851
the greatest rock and roll band ever.

11
00:00:59,884 --> 00:01:02,521
[gong booming]

12
00:01:02,554 --> 00:01:04,055
(male #1) You know,
uh, one of the things

13
00:01:04,089 --> 00:01:05,524
that amazes me, uh

14
00:01:05,557 --> 00:01:07,926
is that, um, they do not go about this

15
00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,529
in a show business way,
for instance, when somebody says

16
00:01:10,562 --> 00:01:12,864
"Here's an act,"
and they announce the act

17
00:01:12,897 --> 00:01:15,534
they may very well tune up
for ten or fifteen minutes

18
00:01:15,567 --> 00:01:17,436
before they ever play the first number

19
00:01:17,469 --> 00:01:18,770
that they're going to play.

20
00:01:18,803 --> 00:01:20,872
Uh, and the kids don't seem
to mind this at all.

21
00:01:20,905 --> 00:01:23,908
They, uh, they watch it all and,
uh, listen to the tune up

22
00:01:23,942 --> 00:01:25,577
and listen to them check the speakers.

23
00:01:25,610 --> 00:01:28,413
And I think we've got
some action coming up now.

24
00:01:28,447 --> 00:01:30,715
Uh, we'll leave Bob Waller
for the moment

25
00:01:30,749 --> 00:01:32,050
and go to the stage and listen

26
00:01:32,083 --> 00:01:33,452
to "Iggy and the Stooges!"

27
00:01:33,485 --> 00:01:36,221
* ...TV eye on me *

28
00:01:36,255 --> 00:01:39,391
* She got a TV eye *

29
00:01:39,424 --> 00:01:43,162
* Oh she had a TV eye on me *

30
00:01:43,195 --> 00:01:44,663
* No *

31
00:01:46,331 --> 00:01:49,468
[instrumental music]

32
00:01:55,774 --> 00:01:57,108
* No! *

33
00:02:02,647 --> 00:02:04,916
[crowd screaming]

34
00:02:04,949 --> 00:02:07,319
(male #1) There goes Iggy
right into the crowd!

35
00:02:07,352 --> 00:02:10,455
- Down!
- We've lost audio on him.

36
00:02:10,489 --> 00:02:13,925
Bob Waller is down
in the field with the crowd.

37
00:02:13,958 --> 00:02:16,361
I don't know just where,
but we'll find him.

38
00:02:16,395 --> 00:02:17,862
[acoustic feedback]

39
00:02:17,896 --> 00:02:18,930
[man growling]

40
00:02:18,963 --> 00:02:20,965
[women whooping]

41
00:02:20,999 --> 00:02:23,134
[people clamoring]

42
00:02:24,303 --> 00:02:25,737
[man yelling]

43
00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:30,475
[man howling]

44
00:02:35,314 --> 00:02:38,149
(Iggy)
Riots in the motor city!

45
00:02:42,354 --> 00:02:43,788
It was tough.

46
00:02:43,822 --> 00:02:45,490
And we were stumbling and bumbling

47
00:02:45,524 --> 00:02:48,059
and finally
the record company didn't even

48
00:02:48,092 --> 00:02:49,694
bother to have anything to do with us

49
00:02:49,728 --> 00:02:53,632
but we, we had agents
and different managers, uh

50
00:02:53,665 --> 00:02:56,801
who tried to see if they could penetrate

51
00:02:56,835 --> 00:02:59,904
the tangled web of our, of our career

52
00:02:59,938 --> 00:03:02,574
and most of them dropped out in horror.

53
00:03:02,607 --> 00:03:06,745
And we bumbled around America
playing raggedly.

54
00:03:06,778 --> 00:03:09,648
We started lookin',
uh, dirtier and dirtier

55
00:03:09,681 --> 00:03:11,983
and skinnier and skinnier

56
00:03:12,016 --> 00:03:13,652
and more and more used.

57
00:03:13,685 --> 00:03:15,554
And we were getting worse and worse.

58
00:03:15,587 --> 00:03:20,225
We're sinkin' fast
into semi-oblivious gigs.

59
00:03:20,259 --> 00:03:22,361
Some people still liked us.

60
00:03:22,394 --> 00:03:25,063
Some gigs I could
get it together to sing

61
00:03:25,096 --> 00:03:26,565
some I couldn't.

62
00:03:26,598 --> 00:03:29,668
Some gigs, I, we'd show up on time

63
00:03:29,701 --> 00:03:31,836
some we didn't.

64
00:03:31,870 --> 00:03:33,572
Up-upsetting people

65
00:03:33,605 --> 00:03:35,940
usually because of me, wherever we went.

66
00:03:35,974 --> 00:03:38,910
[instrumental music]

67
00:03:42,281 --> 00:03:44,048
* Butt fuckers *

68
00:03:44,082 --> 00:03:45,584
* Cock suckers *

69
00:03:45,617 --> 00:03:48,019
* Wanna bang suck and run my world **

70
00:03:48,052 --> 00:03:50,522
(James) The band was
really deteriorating

71
00:03:50,555 --> 00:03:52,357
very rapidly at that point.

72
00:03:52,391 --> 00:03:54,559
So we went out
and played some gigs and stuff

73
00:03:54,593 --> 00:03:56,361
but all kinds of stuff happened.

74
00:03:56,395 --> 00:03:58,196
I mean, we had to play a job

75
00:03:58,229 --> 00:04:00,532
with Steve Mackay on drums.

76
00:04:00,565 --> 00:04:02,867
Which is really wild because, you know

77
00:04:02,901 --> 00:04:05,236
Steve said he could play drums,
but he couldn't.

78
00:04:05,270 --> 00:04:07,038
[laughing]
And s-so, so, we..

79
00:04:07,071 --> 00:04:08,873
We needed the money so bad

80
00:04:08,907 --> 00:04:10,375
we just let him play.

81
00:04:10,409 --> 00:04:12,544
Oh, you want me to tell that story?

82
00:04:12,577 --> 00:04:14,713
Iggy would call a song
and start doing it

83
00:04:14,746 --> 00:04:16,415
and I'd start doing a beat.

84
00:04:16,448 --> 00:04:17,916
And he'd come back and grab

85
00:04:17,949 --> 00:04:19,484
the sticks out of my hand

86
00:04:19,518 --> 00:04:21,052
and go over to the floor tom

87
00:04:21,085 --> 00:04:22,754
and he would beat the beat out.

88
00:04:22,787 --> 00:04:24,389
And then I would know what the beat was

89
00:04:24,423 --> 00:04:26,291
and then I'd finish the song.

90
00:04:26,325 --> 00:04:28,427
And he did that with every single song.

91
00:04:28,460 --> 00:04:30,061
And the crowd's throwing bottles at him

92
00:04:30,094 --> 00:04:31,663
and they're saying, "Come on, Iggy

93
00:04:31,696 --> 00:04:33,498
"let's see you puke, motherfucker!

94
00:04:33,532 --> 00:04:35,066
Ah, fuck you, fuck you."

95
00:04:35,099 --> 00:04:37,336
And, like, you know,
givin' him all the abuse.

96
00:04:37,369 --> 00:04:39,003
(Iggy) Thank you very much to the person

97
00:04:39,037 --> 00:04:41,573
who threw this glass bottle at my head.

98
00:04:41,606 --> 00:04:43,107
Nearly killed me, but you missed again

99
00:04:43,141 --> 00:04:45,844
so you have to keep trying next week.

100
00:04:45,877 --> 00:04:47,245
[glass shattering]

101
00:04:47,278 --> 00:04:49,948
(James) Leading up to
the Michigan Palace job

102
00:04:49,981 --> 00:04:53,418
was, was, what I referred
to it as a death march.

103
00:04:53,452 --> 00:04:54,953
So they decided to book us

104
00:04:54,986 --> 00:04:58,289
in a little club outside of Detroit

105
00:04:58,323 --> 00:05:00,792
uh, called The Rock and Roll Farm.

106
00:05:00,825 --> 00:05:02,827
Turns out it's a biker bar.

107
00:05:02,861 --> 00:05:04,929
Here comes Iggy, out in the audience

108
00:05:04,963 --> 00:05:08,600
confronting people in-the,
uh-as only Iggy can do.

109
00:05:08,633 --> 00:05:10,469
And he comes up to one guy

110
00:05:10,502 --> 00:05:12,937
and the guy just hauls off

111
00:05:12,971 --> 00:05:15,106
and just cold-cocks him.

112
00:05:15,139 --> 00:05:16,274
Just, kaboom!

113
00:05:16,307 --> 00:05:18,943
[audience cheering]

114
00:05:18,977 --> 00:05:20,311
(Iggy)
I don't know how many of you

115
00:05:20,345 --> 00:05:23,382
saw us back in 1967

116
00:05:23,415 --> 00:05:24,783
when we first started, you know

117
00:05:24,816 --> 00:05:27,051
but it isn't too,
it isn't too easy being

118
00:05:27,085 --> 00:05:28,553
"The Stooges" sometimes, you know?

119
00:05:28,587 --> 00:05:29,954
(male #2)
Yeah!

120
00:05:29,988 --> 00:05:31,456
(James)
You know, after that gig

121
00:05:31,490 --> 00:05:32,891
nobody had to say anything.

122
00:05:32,924 --> 00:05:35,494
It was just, like, everybody had had it.

123
00:05:35,527 --> 00:05:37,028
I mean, we couldn't make a living.

124
00:05:37,061 --> 00:05:39,998
People were throwing shit at us
all the time

125
00:05:40,031 --> 00:05:42,467
and everybody was just tired of it.

126
00:05:42,501 --> 00:05:44,736
And so, so, uh..

127
00:05:44,769 --> 00:05:48,006
The-the brothers
moved back to Detroit.

128
00:05:48,039 --> 00:05:52,310
(Scott) Jim never came to
me and said it's over.

129
00:05:52,343 --> 00:05:54,078
I just figured it out myself.

130
00:05:54,112 --> 00:05:56,047
Well, here I am sleepin' on the floor

131
00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,484
I guess it's over.
I was basically homeless.

132
00:05:59,518 --> 00:06:01,252
I had a drum set.

133
00:06:01,285 --> 00:06:05,724
I sold it and bought
a one way ticket to Detroit.

134
00:06:07,526 --> 00:06:10,328
Ended up going over to mom's house

135
00:06:10,361 --> 00:06:12,564
and said, "Mom, I'm homeless

136
00:06:12,597 --> 00:06:15,266
I'm broke, I'm hungry."

137
00:06:15,299 --> 00:06:19,771
(Kathy) When the demise
of "The Stooges" occurred

138
00:06:19,804 --> 00:06:21,172
it wasn't really a surprise.

139
00:06:21,205 --> 00:06:24,342
And it goes back
to that full circle of, like

140
00:06:24,375 --> 00:06:27,211
go home, you know, to mom.

141
00:06:27,245 --> 00:06:28,847
After my brothers came home

142
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,450
I remember feeling relieved

143
00:06:31,483 --> 00:06:33,084
and glad.

144
00:06:33,117 --> 00:06:35,687
It was like, phew. You know?

145
00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:37,956
They're safe.
That was the main thing.

146
00:06:37,989 --> 00:06:39,090
That they came home safe

147
00:06:39,123 --> 00:06:41,359
and they were still alive, you know?

148
00:06:41,392 --> 00:06:45,229
(Iggy) That's when I went
home to my parents' trailer.

149
00:06:45,263 --> 00:06:47,031
I was 24.

150
00:06:47,065 --> 00:06:49,400
And, um..

151
00:06:49,434 --> 00:06:52,971
The group had a... uh

152
00:06:53,004 --> 00:06:56,407
a-sp, a sort of
a sputtering demise.

153
00:07:00,144 --> 00:07:02,080
[indistinct chattering]

154
00:07:03,748 --> 00:07:06,050
"Gimme Danger, Little Stranger."

155
00:07:06,084 --> 00:07:08,987
[instrumental music]

156
00:07:21,866 --> 00:07:26,437
* Oh give me danger little stranger *

157
00:07:26,471 --> 00:07:30,408
* And I'll give you a piece *

158
00:07:30,441 --> 00:07:34,746
* Gimme danger little stranger *

159
00:07:34,779 --> 00:07:37,949
* And I'll feel your disease *

160
00:07:38,950 --> 00:07:42,787
* There's nothing in my dreams *

161
00:07:42,821 --> 00:07:47,458
* Just some ugly memories *

162
00:07:47,492 --> 00:07:51,496
* Kiss me like the ocean breeze *

163
00:07:51,530 --> 00:07:52,997
* Hey *

164
00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:57,869
* Oh *

165
00:08:01,305 --> 00:08:03,542
[indistinct singing]

166
00:08:08,179 --> 00:08:11,149
[music continues]

167
00:08:15,587 --> 00:08:19,624
* Now if you will be my lover *

168
00:08:19,658 --> 00:08:23,161
* Well I will shiver insane *

169
00:08:26,665 --> 00:08:29,834
[crowd cheering]

170
00:08:33,371 --> 00:08:35,674
[children singing]

171
00:08:37,175 --> 00:08:39,043
(Iggy)
When I was about five

172
00:08:39,077 --> 00:08:42,647
we got a TV,
and I'd watch "Howdy Doody."

173
00:08:42,681 --> 00:08:44,983
Buffalo Bob was basically like

174
00:08:45,016 --> 00:08:48,720
uh, Timothy Leary for little kids on TV.

175
00:08:48,753 --> 00:08:50,321
How do you feel long about the middle

176
00:08:50,354 --> 00:08:51,856
of the morning, Clarabell?

177
00:08:51,890 --> 00:08:53,825
Not so good, little dragged down, huh?

178
00:08:53,858 --> 00:08:55,493
Well, then, Clarabell

179
00:08:55,526 --> 00:08:57,762
what you should have is Ovaltine!

180
00:08:57,796 --> 00:09:00,599
(Iggy) And I remember the
sound of the peanut gallery.

181
00:09:00,632 --> 00:09:03,101
[laughter]

182
00:09:03,134 --> 00:09:04,335
[yelling]

183
00:09:04,368 --> 00:09:06,370
Wa-a-ah!

184
00:09:06,404 --> 00:09:08,172
They had, uh, characters

185
00:09:08,206 --> 00:09:10,274
like Clarabell the Clown, you know

186
00:09:10,308 --> 00:09:12,343
and Clarabell the Clown
might do anything.

187
00:09:12,376 --> 00:09:14,512
You didn't know what he was gonna do

188
00:09:14,545 --> 00:09:16,681
and that just fascinated me.

189
00:09:16,715 --> 00:09:20,351
But the big-big one,
it was "Soupy Sales."

190
00:09:20,384 --> 00:09:23,287
[instrumental music]

191
00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,229
It was called
"Lunchtime With Soupy."

192
00:09:31,262 --> 00:09:33,397
He encouraged kids to write to him

193
00:09:33,431 --> 00:09:35,967
but he said, "Always
when you write the letter

194
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,404
please, twenty-five words or less."

195
00:09:40,438 --> 00:09:41,773
...where'd you learn
to sing like that?

196
00:09:41,806 --> 00:09:43,875
At my speech class.

197
00:09:43,908 --> 00:09:45,944
- At your sh.. At your...
- That's right, Bobby.

198
00:09:45,977 --> 00:09:47,211
At your spee..
Who is your teacher?

199
00:09:47,245 --> 00:09:49,113
(Iggy)
And that always stuck with me.

200
00:09:49,147 --> 00:09:53,718
And when I wanted to start
writing songs for our group

201
00:09:53,752 --> 00:09:55,720
I thought, "This is the way to go

202
00:09:55,754 --> 00:09:57,488
"try to make it
twenty-five words

203
00:09:57,521 --> 00:09:59,090
different words or less."

204
00:09:59,123 --> 00:10:01,159
I didn't feel like I was Bob Dylan

205
00:10:01,192 --> 00:10:03,762
blah-blah-blah-blah-blah,
you know?

206
00:10:03,795 --> 00:10:06,898
And, uh, I thought
"Keep it really short,

207
00:10:06,931 --> 00:10:09,734
and none of it will be

208
00:10:09,768 --> 00:10:11,402
the wrong thing."

209
00:10:11,435 --> 00:10:13,304
* But no fun *

210
00:10:13,337 --> 00:10:15,139
* My babe *

211
00:10:15,173 --> 00:10:16,808
* No fun *

212
00:10:17,809 --> 00:10:19,277
[instrumental music]

213
00:10:21,145 --> 00:10:25,349
(Iggy) Yeah, heh, I saw the
movie with my parents.

214
00:10:25,383 --> 00:10:29,353
And it felt great
that we had the same trailer.

215
00:10:29,387 --> 00:10:32,023
Inside, most of the lighting fixtures

216
00:10:32,056 --> 00:10:34,592
and part of the furnishings
were built-in.

217
00:10:34,625 --> 00:10:35,960
I had a little bedroom.

218
00:10:35,994 --> 00:10:39,931
It was maybe, four or five feet wide

219
00:10:39,964 --> 00:10:41,532
by about nine feet long.

220
00:10:41,565 --> 00:10:43,334
There's room for a little palette

221
00:10:43,367 --> 00:10:45,937
and a little mini desk.

222
00:10:45,970 --> 00:10:48,272
So, the only place
I could set up my drums

223
00:10:48,306 --> 00:10:49,440
was in the living room.

224
00:10:49,473 --> 00:10:51,442
All weekend long

225
00:10:51,475 --> 00:10:53,277
and every night after school

226
00:10:53,311 --> 00:10:56,781
my, my drum set took up
the entire living room.

227
00:10:56,815 --> 00:10:59,350
I had a lot of energy,
I'd beat for hours.

228
00:10:59,383 --> 00:11:00,685
Beat, bam, bam, bam, and I'm..

229
00:11:00,719 --> 00:11:02,453
[imitating percussion music]

230
00:11:02,486 --> 00:11:03,654
The whole place is shakin'.

231
00:11:03,688 --> 00:11:06,490
[music continues]

232
00:11:06,524 --> 00:11:08,827
They never complained

233
00:11:08,860 --> 00:11:11,029
but what they finally did do

234
00:11:11,062 --> 00:11:13,698
was after about a year of that

235
00:11:13,732 --> 00:11:16,167
they just gave me the master bedroom.

236
00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:18,169
[laughing]

237
00:11:18,202 --> 00:11:20,138
At the time I thought,
"Wow, this is great!"

238
00:11:20,171 --> 00:11:22,841
but now I realize,
also it was probably a..

239
00:11:22,874 --> 00:11:26,711
Probably a comparable lesser
of two tortures.

240
00:11:26,745 --> 00:11:28,747
And they moved a..

241
00:11:28,780 --> 00:11:31,349
They-they moved
a standard sized bed

242
00:11:31,382 --> 00:11:33,017
into the small room.

243
00:11:33,051 --> 00:11:35,019
No desk,
just-just enough so they could

244
00:11:35,053 --> 00:11:36,855
get in and out of bed.

245
00:11:36,888 --> 00:11:39,690
And I had a...

246
00:11:39,724 --> 00:11:41,325
...single bed and my drum set

247
00:11:41,359 --> 00:11:44,095
set up all the time
in the master bedroom.

248
00:11:44,128 --> 00:11:45,930
I was so lucky...

249
00:11:47,198 --> 00:11:50,101
...to live at close quarters

250
00:11:50,134 --> 00:11:53,604
in a simple environment with my parents.

251
00:11:53,637 --> 00:11:55,840
I got to know my parents.

252
00:11:55,874 --> 00:11:57,408
Uh, that's a..

253
00:11:57,441 --> 00:11:58,943
That's a real treasure.

254
00:11:58,977 --> 00:12:00,812
[instrumental music]

255
00:12:02,213 --> 00:12:06,117
I remember dumping my Tinker toys

256
00:12:06,150 --> 00:12:09,087
and my Lincoln Logs
when I was a little boy

257
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,422
and pickin' up the wood bits.

258
00:12:11,455 --> 00:12:14,959
And I would make a drum out
of the cylinder and beat on it.

259
00:12:14,993 --> 00:12:16,627
And then, when I was in the fourth grade

260
00:12:16,660 --> 00:12:20,131
they took us to
the River Rouge assembly plant

261
00:12:20,164 --> 00:12:22,033
of the Ford Motor Company.

262
00:12:22,066 --> 00:12:24,368
And they had a machine that engineered

263
00:12:24,402 --> 00:12:26,570
a controlled drop of a piece of metal

264
00:12:26,604 --> 00:12:28,039
onto a stamping plate.

265
00:12:28,072 --> 00:12:30,141
And every time that thing hit
the stamping plate

266
00:12:30,174 --> 00:12:33,377
it made... this racket, this..

267
00:12:33,411 --> 00:12:36,314
[imitates banging]
A-a-a mega-clang.

268
00:12:36,347 --> 00:12:38,482
And, uh,
I-I liked the mega-clang.

269
00:12:38,516 --> 00:12:41,452
[instrumental music]

270
00:12:50,494 --> 00:12:53,764
* I walk today *

271
00:12:53,798 --> 00:12:55,566
* Past some old time *

272
00:12:55,599 --> 00:12:58,269
(Iggy) I had a high school
band, "The Iguanas."

273
00:12:58,302 --> 00:13:02,740
We got a job playin' full-time
at a teen club.

274
00:13:02,773 --> 00:13:05,243
A place called The Ponytail.

275
00:13:05,276 --> 00:13:07,946
I kept scheming, thinking of things

276
00:13:07,979 --> 00:13:11,916
to get more attention and,
uh, so I thought

277
00:13:11,950 --> 00:13:15,086
"What if I played
on the biggest drum riser

278
00:13:15,119 --> 00:13:17,221
that anybody has ever had?"

279
00:13:18,890 --> 00:13:20,624
I was about 16 feet up.

280
00:13:20,658 --> 00:13:23,461
[chuckling]
All by myself, you know

281
00:13:23,494 --> 00:13:26,764
and the, and the band
is down there grumbling.

282
00:13:26,797 --> 00:13:29,600
A loser in the biz named Chuck

283
00:13:29,633 --> 00:13:30,768
approached me and he said

284
00:13:30,801 --> 00:13:32,971
"Well, I think you guys are pretty good

285
00:13:33,004 --> 00:13:34,338
"I'd like to be your manager

286
00:13:34,372 --> 00:13:36,474
and I'll help you
promote your own gigs."

287
00:13:36,507 --> 00:13:38,943
So we rented a pier for one night

288
00:13:38,977 --> 00:13:41,012
to throw our own concert.

289
00:13:41,045 --> 00:13:45,483
And we had a huge turnout,
a huge success.

290
00:13:45,516 --> 00:13:47,485
[instrumental music]

291
00:13:49,053 --> 00:13:53,357
Until half-way through
the floor started to give.

292
00:13:53,391 --> 00:13:55,126
[screaming]

293
00:13:55,159 --> 00:13:59,130
Nobody got hurt but basically,
we, we broke the pier.

294
00:13:59,163 --> 00:14:00,464
[Iggy chuckling]

295
00:14:00,498 --> 00:14:04,068
That was the end of the self promotion.

296
00:14:04,102 --> 00:14:06,537
I was "The Iguanas" during high school

297
00:14:06,570 --> 00:14:07,805
and straight out of high school

298
00:14:07,838 --> 00:14:09,807
then a semester in college.

299
00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,542
Then I dropped out of college

300
00:14:11,575 --> 00:14:13,811
and was looking out for
somebody to give me a job.

301
00:14:13,844 --> 00:14:17,581
And the "Prime Movers"
were these school dropout

302
00:14:17,615 --> 00:14:18,716
older guys.

303
00:14:18,749 --> 00:14:20,718
And they knew

304
00:14:20,751 --> 00:14:24,055
about all sorts of blues music.

305
00:14:24,088 --> 00:14:26,490
Butterfield's band came through town

306
00:14:26,524 --> 00:14:29,493
and the "Prime Movers"
tried to establish a connection

307
00:14:29,527 --> 00:14:32,830
to see if our group could get
some work through them.

308
00:14:32,863 --> 00:14:34,565
I asked, uh, Jerome Arnold

309
00:14:34,598 --> 00:14:36,434
the bass player
in Butterfield at the time

310
00:14:36,467 --> 00:14:38,436
if he had any tips for me and my playing

311
00:14:38,469 --> 00:14:42,440
and he said, "When you play,
you play it like you mean it."

312
00:14:43,874 --> 00:14:45,176
I was getting fairly good

313
00:14:45,209 --> 00:14:47,545
and, um, at some point I lost

314
00:14:47,578 --> 00:14:50,381
respect for or faith in the group.

315
00:14:50,414 --> 00:14:53,384
And I thought it wasn't really itself.

316
00:14:53,417 --> 00:14:55,353
So I decided to go where the real..

317
00:14:55,386 --> 00:14:58,589
[chuckles] ...real people
were doing the real deal.

318
00:14:58,622 --> 00:15:01,559
[instrumental music]

319
00:15:09,567 --> 00:15:12,736
Different.
Not like white America.

320
00:15:12,770 --> 00:15:16,975
I sat in with a couple of guys
and, uh, actually got paid

321
00:15:17,008 --> 00:15:21,479
ten bucks a couple of times
to do very unimportant gigs.

322
00:15:21,512 --> 00:15:23,647
Once with a guy named Johnny Young

323
00:15:23,681 --> 00:15:26,817
and once with Big Walter Horton

324
00:15:26,850 --> 00:15:30,388
when they had to go out
and play for white people.

325
00:15:30,421 --> 00:15:33,891
And, uh, and it was a thrill
for me and I learned a lot.

326
00:15:33,924 --> 00:15:37,028
[music continues]

327
00:15:38,929 --> 00:15:40,498
It was more relaxed.

328
00:15:40,531 --> 00:15:42,600
They knew how to have a good time.

329
00:15:42,633 --> 00:15:47,238
And the music
was... very definite.

330
00:15:47,271 --> 00:15:50,408
I saw a little glimpse
of a deeper life of people

331
00:15:50,441 --> 00:15:53,577
who in their adulthood
had not lost their childhood.

332
00:15:53,611 --> 00:15:56,514
[music continues]

333
00:16:00,351 --> 00:16:03,187
I smoked a big joint
one day by the river

334
00:16:03,221 --> 00:16:06,991
and realized that I was not black.

335
00:16:07,025 --> 00:16:09,793
I thought I would like to do

336
00:16:09,827 --> 00:16:12,997
for our generation

337
00:16:13,031 --> 00:16:14,465
what the good black players

338
00:16:14,498 --> 00:16:17,535
that I loved were doing for theirs.

339
00:16:17,568 --> 00:16:20,371
[music continues]

340
00:16:21,705 --> 00:16:23,607
Eventually, I just got tired of looking

341
00:16:23,641 --> 00:16:25,509
at somebody's butt all the time.

342
00:16:25,543 --> 00:16:27,111
[chuckling]

343
00:16:27,145 --> 00:16:30,414
That's your-that's,
that's your curse.

344
00:16:32,083 --> 00:16:33,617
The best butt I ever played

345
00:16:33,651 --> 00:16:36,154
the two best butts I ever played behind

346
00:16:36,187 --> 00:16:39,190
were Abdul Fakir,
in "The Four Tops."

347
00:16:39,223 --> 00:16:41,959
He was the Four Top that would unify

348
00:16:41,992 --> 00:16:44,495
the other in their,
in their dance steps.

349
00:16:44,528 --> 00:16:47,031
He was, he was like
a ba-large bird.

350
00:16:47,065 --> 00:16:48,866
And the other one was Mary Weiss

351
00:16:48,899 --> 00:16:50,368
from "The Shangri-Las."

352
00:16:50,401 --> 00:16:52,503
Wonderful body and face.

353
00:16:52,536 --> 00:16:56,974
Delicious, creamy, female dream thing.

354
00:16:57,007 --> 00:17:01,045
* He don't hang around *

355
00:17:01,079 --> 00:17:02,813
* With the gang no more *

356
00:17:02,846 --> 00:17:05,683
I realized drumming
wasn't what I wanted to do

357
00:17:05,716 --> 00:17:08,419
so I decided to go back to Ann Arbor

358
00:17:08,452 --> 00:17:10,521
but I needed a ride home.

359
00:17:10,554 --> 00:17:12,156
So I called Ron

360
00:17:12,190 --> 00:17:14,592
and somehow Scott Richardson had a car

361
00:17:14,625 --> 00:17:17,728
and, uh, I did talk Ron
into working with me.

362
00:17:17,761 --> 00:17:20,731
* 'Cause I know that he did it for me *

363
00:17:20,764 --> 00:17:23,334
* Can't you see * And I can see *

364
00:17:23,367 --> 00:17:26,404
* It's still in the streets *

365
00:17:26,437 --> 00:17:32,042
* His heart is out in the street **

366
00:17:32,076 --> 00:17:35,213
[instrumental music]

367
00:17:37,915 --> 00:17:40,551
Ron Asheton was a musician.

368
00:17:40,584 --> 00:17:43,954
He was one of the few people
that had longer hair than me.

369
00:17:43,987 --> 00:17:47,925
He was playing bass
occasionally with a band

370
00:17:47,958 --> 00:17:49,793
called "The Chosen Few"

371
00:17:49,827 --> 00:17:54,365
and I really like his style on bass.

372
00:17:54,398 --> 00:17:56,534
I met his brother, Scott, later

373
00:17:56,567 --> 00:17:59,403
when I was working at Discount Records.

374
00:17:59,437 --> 00:18:02,039
Across the street, there was a drugstore

375
00:18:02,072 --> 00:18:03,541
called Marshall's.

376
00:18:03,574 --> 00:18:06,277
And Scott and a couple of guys

377
00:18:06,310 --> 00:18:10,148
hung out inside this drugstore
doing nothing.

378
00:18:10,181 --> 00:18:12,150
One young tough and his friends.

379
00:18:12,183 --> 00:18:14,918
Now Scott looked like Elvis.

380
00:18:14,952 --> 00:18:17,488
Good-looking, athletic-looking

381
00:18:17,521 --> 00:18:20,591
indirect, uncommunicative kid.

382
00:18:20,624 --> 00:18:22,793
Scott left school after the ninth grade.

383
00:18:22,826 --> 00:18:26,164
I think he would put it
to somebody and that was that.

384
00:18:26,197 --> 00:18:28,732
He immediately began pestering me

385
00:18:28,766 --> 00:18:31,769
for about a year to teach him
something on the drums.

386
00:18:31,802 --> 00:18:34,472
I would ask you

387
00:18:34,505 --> 00:18:38,075
do you double stroke on your triplets?

388
00:18:38,108 --> 00:18:39,643
Mm-hmm.

389
00:18:39,677 --> 00:18:42,580
You know, I would think up
things to ask you...

390
00:18:42,613 --> 00:18:45,749
- Oh, I see.. Get it going.
- Just, just to talk to you.

391
00:18:45,783 --> 00:18:49,287
(Iggy) So I taught him,
like, four or five beats.

392
00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,457
Mostly, uh, Stax, Volt
and Bo Diddley stuff.

393
00:18:53,491 --> 00:18:55,693
(Scott) My name is Scotty Asheton.
I go to Garfield School.

394
00:18:55,726 --> 00:18:57,628
I'm eight and a half years old.

395
00:18:57,661 --> 00:19:00,164
(Ron)
Hmm! My name is Ronny Asheton.

396
00:19:00,198 --> 00:19:03,434
I'm nine years old.
My.. I go to Garfield school.

397
00:19:03,467 --> 00:19:06,804
(Iggy) They lost their dad when,
uh, I-I think Ron was 14.

398
00:19:06,837 --> 00:19:10,107
And their father had been
a fighter pilot in the war

399
00:19:10,140 --> 00:19:13,444
and stayed in the military
shortly after the war

400
00:19:13,477 --> 00:19:15,279
was something we all had in common.

401
00:19:15,313 --> 00:19:17,448
(Ron)
...two, one, zero, dive!

402
00:19:17,481 --> 00:19:19,049
[Ron imitating siren wailing]

403
00:19:19,082 --> 00:19:20,984
My dad was a World War II veteran.

404
00:19:21,018 --> 00:19:24,355
On his travels, he would buy
a little something

405
00:19:24,388 --> 00:19:26,224
like a dagger or a medal.

406
00:19:26,257 --> 00:19:27,991
And then I got interested in it.

407
00:19:28,025 --> 00:19:29,527
And we started collecting.

408
00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:31,562
And that was like a father and son..

409
00:19:31,595 --> 00:19:33,697
We found something to bond with.

410
00:19:33,731 --> 00:19:36,033
It had nothing to do with politics

411
00:19:36,066 --> 00:19:37,468
or what it stood for.

412
00:19:37,501 --> 00:19:39,737
That's pretty oddball that you're buying

413
00:19:39,770 --> 00:19:42,540
your eight year old son Nazi stuff.

414
00:19:42,573 --> 00:19:44,208
[laughing]

415
00:19:44,242 --> 00:19:46,210
(Kathy)
My name is Kathy Asheton.

416
00:19:46,244 --> 00:19:47,811
I go to Garfield School.

417
00:19:47,845 --> 00:19:49,813
I'm in second grade.

418
00:19:49,847 --> 00:19:51,415
That's all, folks.

419
00:19:51,449 --> 00:19:54,017
(Kathy)
I-I was standing on our porch

420
00:19:54,051 --> 00:19:55,919
and noticed this guy walking

421
00:19:55,953 --> 00:19:58,822
into the neighborhood with long hair.

422
00:19:58,856 --> 00:20:01,592
And so I said to Scotty,
"Why don't you flag him down

423
00:20:01,625 --> 00:20:03,494
and see who he is," you know?

424
00:20:03,527 --> 00:20:05,996
And he whistled down Dave Alexander

425
00:20:06,029 --> 00:20:07,431
who it turned out to be.

426
00:20:07,465 --> 00:20:09,667
And so Scotty met him

427
00:20:09,700 --> 00:20:12,670
then Ronny ended up meeting with him.

428
00:20:12,703 --> 00:20:16,907
And they were the ones
that gravitated more together

429
00:20:16,940 --> 00:20:20,511
because of the, the commonality
of their interest

430
00:20:20,544 --> 00:20:22,280
in the British music.

431
00:20:23,614 --> 00:20:25,949
(Iggy) Ron cut his
senior year in school.

432
00:20:25,983 --> 00:20:28,586
Dave sold his motorcycle
and flew to England

433
00:20:28,619 --> 00:20:30,688
and they saw "The Who" play.

434
00:20:30,721 --> 00:20:33,691
They went to the Marquee Club in London

435
00:20:33,724 --> 00:20:35,726
and they stayed
until that money ran out.

436
00:20:35,759 --> 00:20:38,562
And that's what really
set me on the path.

437
00:20:38,596 --> 00:20:42,366
Because when I came back,
I tried to go back to school

438
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,935
and I just really didn't fit in.

439
00:20:44,968 --> 00:20:47,037
And Ann Arbor was still frat boys.

440
00:20:47,070 --> 00:20:48,739
There's not a lot of us.

441
00:20:48,772 --> 00:20:51,208
And my counselor even said,
"Well, why don't you just

442
00:20:51,241 --> 00:20:52,976
"take the rest of the year off

443
00:20:53,010 --> 00:20:55,379
and try to come back
next year?"

444
00:20:55,413 --> 00:20:56,747
And I'm going, "Yeah, okay."

445
00:20:56,780 --> 00:20:59,383
But then going back
next year, forget it.

446
00:20:59,417 --> 00:21:02,486
Next year you can plan
for higher success, Bill.

447
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,389
Yes. Thanks, Miss Evans.

448
00:21:05,423 --> 00:21:07,791
Plan for higher success.

449
00:21:07,825 --> 00:21:09,427
[drum roll]

450
00:21:09,460 --> 00:21:11,429
(female #1) Tape is rolling,
any time you're ready

451
00:21:11,462 --> 00:21:13,564
They had had the concept of a band

452
00:21:13,597 --> 00:21:14,998
called "The Dirty Shames"

453
00:21:15,032 --> 00:21:18,402
and that was basically
something they would tell people

454
00:21:18,436 --> 00:21:20,771
when they met people
at a party or something.

455
00:21:20,804 --> 00:21:23,774
"Yeah-yeah, we got a band, we're
called "The Dirty Shames.""

456
00:21:23,807 --> 00:21:25,743
There was a period when "The Stooges"

457
00:21:25,776 --> 00:21:27,244
resembled "The Dirty Shames."

458
00:21:27,277 --> 00:21:29,012
In that we, we decided

459
00:21:29,046 --> 00:21:32,750
we had a band,
we told people we had a band

460
00:21:32,783 --> 00:21:36,587
but we hadn't really done any playing.

461
00:21:36,620 --> 00:21:40,524
At one point, there was a trip
we made to New York

462
00:21:40,558 --> 00:21:44,762
and we met some attractive
girls... teenagers.

463
00:21:44,795 --> 00:21:48,466
Younger than us.
Who said they had a band.

464
00:21:48,499 --> 00:21:51,669
And we-we drove to Princeton,
New Jersey

465
00:21:51,702 --> 00:21:54,037
to see these girls play in a basement.

466
00:21:54,071 --> 00:21:57,708
And they were just...
lived with their parents.

467
00:21:57,741 --> 00:22:00,478
And they were very, very good.

468
00:22:00,511 --> 00:22:02,680
And they were much better than us.

469
00:22:02,713 --> 00:22:05,616
At that point we, we were shamed.

470
00:22:05,649 --> 00:22:08,819
[instrumental music]

471
00:22:10,821 --> 00:22:13,223
We were gonna try a series of rehearsals

472
00:22:13,256 --> 00:22:15,292
at Ron and Scott's house.

473
00:22:15,325 --> 00:22:17,327
It was Ron who let me know

474
00:22:17,361 --> 00:22:20,964
"Look, I gotta feel good playing with..

475
00:22:20,998 --> 00:22:23,233
"It's-it's,
uh-it's a weed thing.

476
00:22:23,266 --> 00:22:24,835
That's when I'm in the mood."

477
00:22:24,868 --> 00:22:27,738
I found a guy who said he would sell me

478
00:22:27,771 --> 00:22:30,007
an entire marijuana plant.

479
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,076
So he brought it to my parents trailer.

480
00:22:33,110 --> 00:22:36,647
He had this-he had this thing,
al-almost four feet of it.

481
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,016
The roots still had dirt on 'em.

482
00:22:39,049 --> 00:22:41,419
I'd seen marijuana, it didn't look like

483
00:22:41,452 --> 00:22:43,086
anything I'd ever seen.

484
00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,723
"Are you sure this is.."
He said, "Yeah, yeah."

485
00:22:45,756 --> 00:22:47,357
He said,
"But you gotta cure it."

486
00:22:47,391 --> 00:22:51,028
There was a communal laundry
at the trailer park.

487
00:22:51,061 --> 00:22:53,664
I put a couple quarters in the dryer

488
00:22:53,697 --> 00:22:57,167
and started it up and sat there

489
00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,069
and it started to stink.

490
00:22:59,102 --> 00:23:03,841
"Oh, no!" I thought, I was
really scared, but nobody came.

491
00:23:03,874 --> 00:23:07,177
I went and buried
the whole bag of marijuana

492
00:23:07,210 --> 00:23:08,679
but when I wanted to rehearse

493
00:23:08,712 --> 00:23:13,183
I'd dig it up and,
uh, catch a 45-minute bus

494
00:23:13,216 --> 00:23:14,852
and it would be about noon.

495
00:23:14,885 --> 00:23:19,122
Usually I could get Ron up
anywhere from five minutes

496
00:23:19,156 --> 00:23:22,693
to a half-hour,
depending on what I had to do

497
00:23:22,726 --> 00:23:26,930
throw rocks, hose and, um, and with luck

498
00:23:26,964 --> 00:23:29,767
we'd actually all get down
in the basement

499
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:31,735
2:30 at the earliest.

500
00:23:31,769 --> 00:23:33,704
But more often or not their mother

501
00:23:33,737 --> 00:23:35,806
would come home just after three.

502
00:23:35,839 --> 00:23:38,742
"I'm home, now shut up that racket!

503
00:23:38,776 --> 00:23:41,479
I want some peace,
and Osterberg's a mental!"

504
00:23:41,512 --> 00:23:43,380
[chuckling]

505
00:23:43,413 --> 00:23:46,584
[rock music]

506
00:23:48,619 --> 00:23:52,089
I was in Ann Arbor,
I never saw those riots of '67

507
00:23:52,122 --> 00:23:54,892
but the way I thought,
must be abandoned houses

508
00:23:54,925 --> 00:23:57,427
all over Detroit where we
could live for free now.

509
00:23:57,461 --> 00:23:59,329
So I heard about one

510
00:23:59,362 --> 00:24:04,568
and I went to Detroit with a tab
of Mescaline and a shovel.

511
00:24:04,602 --> 00:24:07,505
And dropped the Mescaline
and went in that.

512
00:24:07,538 --> 00:24:09,840
I told Ron and Scott,
I'm gonna make a house.

513
00:24:09,873 --> 00:24:12,242
Prepare a house where we can live.

514
00:24:12,275 --> 00:24:13,410
What are your building?

515
00:24:13,443 --> 00:24:15,913
It's our house. Can't you tell?

516
00:24:15,946 --> 00:24:18,749
Yes, but you haven't finished it.

517
00:24:18,782 --> 00:24:22,019
I didn't know
from roofing and plumbing and..

518
00:24:22,052 --> 00:24:26,256
I didn't know from that shit,
you know? But I tired.

519
00:24:26,289 --> 00:24:28,125
This is where we hung out
for the first time

520
00:24:28,158 --> 00:24:31,595
and started being a group of people

521
00:24:31,629 --> 00:24:33,163
that were going to be a band.

522
00:24:33,196 --> 00:24:35,132
Any time day or night, you have an idea

523
00:24:35,165 --> 00:24:38,101
get together, talk about it,
play it out, work on songs.

524
00:24:38,135 --> 00:24:40,337
(Iggy)
In one of our early houses

525
00:24:40,370 --> 00:24:42,439
where we never accomplished
making any music

526
00:24:42,472 --> 00:24:46,109
we had no discipline,
the cops kept shutting us down.

527
00:24:46,143 --> 00:24:48,345
We were real communists.

528
00:24:48,378 --> 00:24:51,181
We were not political at all

529
00:24:51,214 --> 00:24:54,785
but we were true communists.

530
00:24:54,818 --> 00:24:57,821
We lived in a communal house.

531
00:24:57,855 --> 00:25:01,358
We ate the same food at the same time.

532
00:25:01,391 --> 00:25:05,963
We practically shared
all the money pretty equally.

533
00:25:05,996 --> 00:25:09,967
When we began to write
songs... happily

534
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,969
since we were too ignorant to realize

535
00:25:12,002 --> 00:25:14,204
that there was intellectual property.

536
00:25:14,237 --> 00:25:16,506
We shared authorship.

537
00:25:16,540 --> 00:25:19,677
[instrumental music]

538
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,750
Michigan was a key c-crossroads

539
00:25:26,784 --> 00:25:31,254
between San Francisco and New York.

540
00:25:31,288 --> 00:25:33,523
And it was where everybody
stopped on the way

541
00:25:33,557 --> 00:25:35,659
if they were gonna bother to stop at all

542
00:25:35,693 --> 00:25:37,695
in the flyover country.

543
00:25:37,728 --> 00:25:39,863
It was Ann Arbor.

544
00:25:55,879 --> 00:25:58,381
I had actually heard a little bit

545
00:25:58,415 --> 00:25:59,683
or read a little bit

546
00:25:59,717 --> 00:26:03,286
either by or about these people.

547
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,456
I had everything, every sort
of record in the record store.

548
00:26:06,489 --> 00:26:09,292
I was the Stooge
who knew who John Cage was

549
00:26:09,326 --> 00:26:13,030
or knew Sun Ra, Carl Orff,
"The Ventures," Pharaoh Sanders

550
00:26:13,063 --> 00:26:16,266
Wailers, Duane Eddy, Link Wray,
"The Velvet Underground."

551
00:26:16,299 --> 00:26:19,202
"A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane.

552
00:26:19,236 --> 00:26:22,205
We role-played a lot,
and listened to a lot of music

553
00:26:22,239 --> 00:26:24,474
and one thing we would do
was get really stoned

554
00:26:24,507 --> 00:26:27,110
on either marijuana or LSD.

555
00:26:27,144 --> 00:26:31,048
Turn off all the lights
and we'd put on Harry Partch.

556
00:26:31,081 --> 00:26:34,017
[bell ringing]

557
00:26:35,518 --> 00:26:36,720
All these sounds..

558
00:26:36,754 --> 00:26:39,489
[bell ringing]

559
00:26:39,522 --> 00:26:42,425
Harry Partch was huge for me.

560
00:26:42,459 --> 00:26:44,728
You know, it was the idea that he hoboed

561
00:26:44,762 --> 00:26:48,732
he bohemed, he created
his own instruments.

562
00:26:48,766 --> 00:26:50,768
I like to think
of w-what I'm doing

563
00:26:50,801 --> 00:26:52,569
as visual and corporeal

564
00:26:52,602 --> 00:26:55,839
and, uh, I-I want
the instruments on stage

565
00:26:55,873 --> 00:26:57,574
and I want them to be beautiful.

566
00:26:57,607 --> 00:27:02,179
I also want the, the, uh, musicians

567
00:27:02,212 --> 00:27:05,282
to be a-an active part

568
00:27:05,315 --> 00:27:10,120
a, a very active part in the,
the whole production.

569
00:27:10,153 --> 00:27:12,422
(Iggy)
I was making instruments

570
00:27:12,455 --> 00:27:15,859
while we played primitive riffs.

571
00:27:15,893 --> 00:27:18,628
We'd-we'd find
an extremely simple theme

572
00:27:18,662 --> 00:27:20,497
and play it over and over.

573
00:27:20,530 --> 00:27:23,433
Then take a rest, and play another one.

574
00:27:23,466 --> 00:27:27,037
Scott has in the basement
my old set of drums.

575
00:27:27,070 --> 00:27:30,373
And then he also had
the big thing was oil drums.

576
00:27:30,407 --> 00:27:33,977
He was beating on oil drums
with mallets.

577
00:27:35,879 --> 00:27:37,614
Ron had his bass and an amp.

578
00:27:37,647 --> 00:27:39,616
(Ron) Just let a feeling come over you

579
00:27:39,649 --> 00:27:43,220
just kinda go with this
great sound that we're making.

580
00:27:43,253 --> 00:27:45,388
A-and sometimes something
would pop in my head

581
00:27:45,422 --> 00:27:47,190
sometimes, I, to get a sound

582
00:27:47,224 --> 00:27:49,960
I would just hammer on my guitar.

583
00:27:49,993 --> 00:27:52,062
(Iggy) They had this lap
steel and just tuned

584
00:27:52,095 --> 00:27:55,065
every string beat
to the same note, to the E.

585
00:27:55,098 --> 00:27:58,101
Sounded like an airplane taking off.

586
00:28:01,171 --> 00:28:03,874
We had a blender around.

587
00:28:03,907 --> 00:28:06,176
And the Jim-O-Phone,
it was a cone.

588
00:28:06,209 --> 00:28:09,046
It had an opening about four inches

589
00:28:09,079 --> 00:28:12,082
or five inches across at the top.

590
00:28:12,115 --> 00:28:14,852
As soon as you drop the mic
into the opening, you'll get..

591
00:28:14,885 --> 00:28:17,821
[imitates a tone]

592
00:28:17,855 --> 00:28:19,857
You lower it a little bit
and it'll just go..

593
00:28:19,890 --> 00:28:22,425
[imitates a tone]

594
00:28:22,459 --> 00:28:25,262
And it even goes down octaves
until you get..

595
00:28:25,295 --> 00:28:27,330
[imitating a horn]

596
00:28:27,364 --> 00:28:30,667
Dave, he operated
some of these instruments.

597
00:28:30,700 --> 00:28:32,702
One of the first things
I used to love to do

598
00:28:32,736 --> 00:28:35,172
with a mic, I would inhale..

599
00:28:35,205 --> 00:28:37,440
[inhales]

600
00:28:38,976 --> 00:28:42,112
And you listen
to "Asthma Attack."

601
00:28:42,145 --> 00:28:44,081
[rock music]

602
00:28:45,715 --> 00:28:48,051
That's good free-form music.

603
00:29:01,564 --> 00:29:05,402
One night, we'd been up
all night on LSD.

604
00:29:05,435 --> 00:29:08,371
We were all in Ron's room
and I-I said

605
00:29:08,405 --> 00:29:10,407
"What about a name
for our band?"

606
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,376
Ron just said, "Well, let's
just call it "The Stooges"

607
00:29:13,410 --> 00:29:15,078
"'cause we don't do anything wrong

608
00:29:15,112 --> 00:29:17,447
"but everybody's picking on us.

609
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,951
But we'll be
"The Psychedelic Stooges.""

610
00:29:20,984 --> 00:29:24,121
[instrumental music]

611
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,076
(James) Here's a bunch of
guys that couldn't even play.

612
00:29:46,109 --> 00:29:48,111
And they're playing the Grande Ballroom.

613
00:29:48,145 --> 00:29:50,747
And the audience is just mesmerized.

614
00:29:50,780 --> 00:29:55,085
You know, Iggy's in white face
playing his vacuum cleaner.

615
00:29:55,118 --> 00:29:56,786
(Iggy)
I wore white face

616
00:29:56,820 --> 00:29:59,289
and I had an aluminum Afro wig.

617
00:29:59,322 --> 00:30:01,825
I was wearing a maternity smock

618
00:30:01,859 --> 00:30:03,660
and then events would happen.

619
00:30:03,693 --> 00:30:06,429
Like we would throw things
and make a noise.

620
00:30:06,463 --> 00:30:08,131
I would throw a pie.

621
00:30:08,165 --> 00:30:11,101
I actually tired to get the group...

622
00:30:11,134 --> 00:30:13,270
...to work out a cover song.

623
00:30:13,303 --> 00:30:16,606
What's simple enough
for the group to play

624
00:30:16,639 --> 00:30:20,377
simple enough for me to sing,
and has a good beat?

625
00:30:20,410 --> 00:30:23,280
And I-I-I,
this was a terrible experiment

626
00:30:23,313 --> 00:30:26,649
but we tried "She Cried"
by "Jay and the Americans."

627
00:30:26,683 --> 00:30:29,319
[instrumental music]

628
00:30:29,352 --> 00:30:31,621
[humming]

629
00:30:31,654 --> 00:30:33,891
* And when I told her *

630
00:30:33,924 --> 00:30:36,626
* I didn't love her anymore *

631
00:30:36,659 --> 00:30:38,361
* She cried *

632
00:30:38,395 --> 00:30:40,230
That was as far as we could ever get.

633
00:30:40,263 --> 00:30:44,234
It sounded great.
I would, I'd do it right now.

634
00:30:44,267 --> 00:30:46,203
(Iggy) There was a particular rehearsal

635
00:30:46,236 --> 00:30:48,471
where I just handed
Ron a guitar and I just said

636
00:30:48,505 --> 00:30:51,841
"You do it, I'm not that good
at the music part."

637
00:30:51,875 --> 00:30:54,244
And Dave moved over on bass.

638
00:30:54,277 --> 00:30:56,213
Our manager came home

639
00:30:56,246 --> 00:30:59,816
and I improvised an angry song

640
00:30:59,849 --> 00:31:01,351
and began again.

641
00:31:01,384 --> 00:31:04,922
I-I had no way to express
my anger to this guy

642
00:31:04,955 --> 00:31:06,990
who I never liked so much.

643
00:31:07,024 --> 00:31:08,558
I just started jumping up and down

644
00:31:08,591 --> 00:31:12,029
like, kinda the way chimps or baboons do

645
00:31:12,062 --> 00:31:13,496
before they're gonna fight.

646
00:31:13,530 --> 00:31:16,099
Like that, and as soon
as I started doing that

647
00:31:16,133 --> 00:31:19,402
poof, up went the Asheton's.

648
00:31:19,436 --> 00:31:21,604
* All night *

649
00:31:21,638 --> 00:31:23,673
* Till I blow *

650
00:31:23,706 --> 00:31:26,543
* Away *

651
00:31:26,576 --> 00:31:28,845
* I feel alright *

652
00:31:28,878 --> 00:31:31,548
* I feel alright *

653
00:31:31,581 --> 00:31:35,953
That was the first time
I ever saw those two guys...

654
00:31:35,986 --> 00:31:38,788
...powerfully motivated by something

655
00:31:38,821 --> 00:31:42,125
that wasn't an imitation
of somebody else.

656
00:31:42,159 --> 00:31:43,994
Something that was their own.

657
00:31:45,228 --> 00:31:47,965
In the Asheton's I found primitive man.

658
00:31:47,998 --> 00:31:49,632
* So

659
00:31:54,437 --> 00:31:55,605
Wooh!

660
00:31:56,639 --> 00:31:58,108
* So *

661
00:32:00,243 --> 00:32:02,279
[audience applauding]

662
00:32:04,081 --> 00:32:07,217
(Rob Tyner) Brothers and sisters,
it's time to get down with it.

663
00:32:07,250 --> 00:32:10,620
Brothers, it's time to testify,
I want to know

664
00:32:10,653 --> 00:32:12,789
are you ready to testify?

665
00:32:12,822 --> 00:32:14,057
Are you ready?

666
00:32:14,091 --> 00:32:16,659
I give you a testimonial!

667
00:32:16,693 --> 00:32:18,628
The "MC5."

668
00:32:18,661 --> 00:32:21,598
[instrumental music]

669
00:32:31,274 --> 00:32:34,511
* Hey love is like a Ramblin' Rose *

670
00:32:34,544 --> 00:32:37,347
(Iggy) Fred Smith was
dating Kathy Asheton.

671
00:32:37,380 --> 00:32:40,350
Scott and I and Ron went with Kathy

672
00:32:40,383 --> 00:32:45,088
to see "MC5" when they were
still a cover band.

673
00:32:45,122 --> 00:32:47,690
Lot of attitude, they had the look down

674
00:32:47,724 --> 00:32:51,761
they were doing
British influenced R and B

675
00:32:51,794 --> 00:32:53,630
rock and soul.

676
00:32:56,233 --> 00:32:58,368
I remember a night when the three of us

677
00:32:58,401 --> 00:33:01,004
drove into Detroit
to see if we could talk

678
00:33:01,038 --> 00:33:02,805
about getting some opening slots.

679
00:33:02,839 --> 00:33:06,043
And they had a practice space
with a big thick door

680
00:33:06,076 --> 00:33:09,379
and Scott and Ron and I stood
there in the freezing cold

681
00:33:09,412 --> 00:33:11,448
listening through the door

682
00:33:11,481 --> 00:33:14,451
to "Kick Out The Jams"
coming through like..

683
00:33:14,484 --> 00:33:17,587
[imitating guitar music]

684
00:33:20,390 --> 00:33:24,461
It was simple and then,
uh-wow, so powerful.

685
00:33:24,494 --> 00:33:26,996
We should get some of that.

686
00:33:27,030 --> 00:33:29,032
[rock music]

687
00:33:30,567 --> 00:33:34,537
And we would play with them
for nothing in church basements

688
00:33:34,571 --> 00:33:38,641
youth centers, and we would
open some of their shows

689
00:33:38,675 --> 00:33:40,310
at the Ballroom.

690
00:33:40,343 --> 00:33:43,980
We joined their circus in many ways.

691
00:33:44,013 --> 00:33:47,117
[music continues]

692
00:33:50,453 --> 00:33:54,557
The Five were bigger time
commies than we were.

693
00:33:54,591 --> 00:33:58,828
The big poohbah of the area
was John Sinclair.

694
00:33:58,861 --> 00:34:01,564
(John) Total assault on the
culture by any means necessary

695
00:34:01,598 --> 00:34:04,501
including rock and roll, dope,
and fucking in the streets.

696
00:34:04,534 --> 00:34:08,738
We believe that the... general,
uh, social structure...

697
00:34:10,207 --> 00:34:12,842
...of the Western world is crumbling.

698
00:34:12,875 --> 00:34:17,614
And, uh, that, that now is
the time to increase

699
00:34:17,647 --> 00:34:22,219
the assault on this culture, and, uh..

700
00:34:22,252 --> 00:34:25,855
(Iggy) Under Sinclair's
cloud of mega-organization

701
00:34:25,888 --> 00:34:29,192
began to branch into, first,
there was the "MC5" commune

702
00:34:29,226 --> 00:34:32,529
and then there was
Trans-love Energies.

703
00:34:32,562 --> 00:34:35,365
And then they were
becoming more political

704
00:34:35,398 --> 00:34:37,367
and they wanted to be
like Black Panthers

705
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:39,736
and they started this
W-White Panther party

706
00:34:39,769 --> 00:34:43,373
which was, which was honestly,
it was just ridiculous.

707
00:34:43,406 --> 00:34:45,142
We tried to avoid that.

708
00:34:45,175 --> 00:34:47,577
We tried to avoid everything.

709
00:34:47,610 --> 00:34:50,079
I guess that was why you,
you kept hearing

710
00:34:50,113 --> 00:34:51,714
the word "Nihilist" about us.

711
00:34:51,748 --> 00:34:55,918
But finally, at one point,
John put his foot down.

712
00:34:55,952 --> 00:34:59,055
And he wanted us to accompany
the Five to play

713
00:34:59,088 --> 00:35:00,890
at the democratic convention

714
00:35:00,923 --> 00:35:03,960
in Chicago in '68 that culminated

715
00:35:03,993 --> 00:35:06,629
in bloody rioting.

716
00:35:06,663 --> 00:35:08,598
[instrumental music]

717
00:35:10,367 --> 00:35:14,504
* Well I'm sittin' all alone.. **

718
00:35:14,537 --> 00:35:16,273
And I didn't want to.

719
00:35:16,306 --> 00:35:20,177
There was a, you're either
with us or against us, moment

720
00:35:20,210 --> 00:35:23,580
there and I-I wasn't
going for it.

721
00:35:23,613 --> 00:35:25,282
I still didn't say anything.

722
00:35:25,315 --> 00:35:29,486
I started somersaulting around the room.

723
00:35:29,519 --> 00:35:31,988
[chuckles]
That was my reaction.

724
00:35:32,021 --> 00:35:35,692
I-I couldn't think of any..
I don't know, I don't know.

725
00:35:35,725 --> 00:35:38,195
Oh, well, you know, I don't know why.

726
00:35:38,228 --> 00:35:41,097
But I just, I couldn't say no.

727
00:35:41,130 --> 00:35:43,600
And I wasn't gonna say yes.

728
00:35:43,633 --> 00:35:45,435
So finally he just left the room.

729
00:35:45,468 --> 00:35:47,003
I-I remember that moment.

730
00:35:47,036 --> 00:35:50,307
That wasn't who we were,
and that would have come out.

731
00:35:50,340 --> 00:35:53,476
[rock music]

732
00:35:55,678 --> 00:35:57,947
Not long after that, we were playing in

733
00:35:57,980 --> 00:36:01,351
the student union in Michigan

734
00:36:01,384 --> 00:36:04,454
when a record scout
was coming to see them.

735
00:36:04,487 --> 00:36:06,856
He was, it was recommended
by Wayne Kramer

736
00:36:06,889 --> 00:36:09,992
"You should check out
our little brother band."

737
00:36:10,026 --> 00:36:12,495
(Danny) This was Wayne Kramer,
I'll never forget this.

738
00:36:12,529 --> 00:36:16,533
He said, "You know, you'll like
us, but I think if you like us

739
00:36:16,566 --> 00:36:19,369
"there's, we have a little brother band

740
00:36:19,402 --> 00:36:21,971
you will really like them."

741
00:36:22,004 --> 00:36:26,643
Well, he was prescient in his..
I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, who?"

742
00:36:26,676 --> 00:36:28,745
It was "Iggy And The Stooges."

743
00:36:28,778 --> 00:36:30,647
They were, I said,
"Well, when can I see them?"

744
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,549
He said, "They're playing
this afternoon.

745
00:36:32,582 --> 00:36:34,751
On the campus
at the University of Michigan."

746
00:36:34,784 --> 00:36:37,520
I went across the street,
and up the stairs

747
00:36:37,554 --> 00:36:40,390
and heard this incredible music

748
00:36:40,423 --> 00:36:42,492
just booming in the hallways.

749
00:36:42,525 --> 00:36:44,694
I said, "Ah, this is so great."

750
00:36:44,727 --> 00:36:47,997
And I was, I was pulled by the music.

751
00:36:48,030 --> 00:36:50,600
People ask me,
"When did you first see Iggy?"

752
00:36:50,633 --> 00:36:54,170
But I didn't.
I heard them before I saw them.

753
00:36:54,203 --> 00:36:57,307
[rock music]

754
00:37:06,749 --> 00:37:09,519
Then I saw Iggy, he was the front man.

755
00:37:09,552 --> 00:37:12,289
I thought,
"This is just perfection."

756
00:37:13,390 --> 00:37:15,292
We used to get those big amps crankin

757
00:37:15,325 --> 00:37:17,360
and this room just rang.

758
00:37:17,394 --> 00:37:19,362
It was like
the-the sound just bounced

759
00:37:19,396 --> 00:37:20,630
you can hear it from this.

760
00:37:20,663 --> 00:37:23,633
Just imagine Marshall stacks at ten.

761
00:37:23,666 --> 00:37:27,370
This is, uh, where we were
discovered by Danny Fields.

762
00:37:27,404 --> 00:37:29,906
We got done playing,
this is the same stage.

763
00:37:29,939 --> 00:37:32,542
Place was packed,
you know, imagine the late

764
00:37:32,575 --> 00:37:35,712
this was late sixties.
Like 1968.

765
00:37:35,745 --> 00:37:38,381
He was a PR for Elektra Records.

766
00:37:38,415 --> 00:37:41,418
So we get off stage and he goes, uh

767
00:37:41,451 --> 00:37:43,486
"How would you guys
like to be, uh, stars?"

768
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:44,921
"Oh, yeah. Right, sure.

769
00:37:44,954 --> 00:37:46,956
Throw this guy out."
And he was serious.

770
00:37:46,989 --> 00:37:48,425
(Danny) I'm just gonna
call the president

771
00:37:48,458 --> 00:37:49,992
of Elektra Records, and I said

772
00:37:50,026 --> 00:37:51,728
"I just saw two great bands.

773
00:37:51,761 --> 00:37:54,564
"The one band
is really popular around here

774
00:37:54,597 --> 00:37:55,932
"they have a following

775
00:37:55,965 --> 00:37:58,234
"they play to two,
three thousand people.

776
00:37:58,267 --> 00:38:02,071
And the other band is a little
early stages of development."

777
00:38:02,104 --> 00:38:06,409
Jac just said, "See if the big
band will take twenty thousand

778
00:38:06,443 --> 00:38:07,810
and the little band
will take five."

779
00:38:07,844 --> 00:38:09,512
Both bands signed on that day

780
00:38:09,546 --> 00:38:14,250
it was the weekend
of September 22nd, 1968.

781
00:38:14,283 --> 00:38:18,355
(Iggy) Show biz is not a friendly place

782
00:38:18,388 --> 00:38:21,157
and I gotta say, of all the people

783
00:38:21,190 --> 00:38:24,761
that ever extended a hand to our group

784
00:38:24,794 --> 00:38:28,798
the "MC5" were probably
the most genuine about it.

785
00:38:28,831 --> 00:38:31,334
As soon as we got signed,
we started feeling

786
00:38:31,368 --> 00:38:33,336
more professional.

787
00:38:33,370 --> 00:38:35,972
I think we realized we didn't need to be

788
00:38:36,005 --> 00:38:38,107
"The Psychedelic Stooges."

789
00:38:38,140 --> 00:38:39,476
We'll just be "The Stooges."

790
00:38:39,509 --> 00:38:42,445
So Ron actually called up Moe Howard

791
00:38:42,479 --> 00:38:44,847
to see if it would be okay.

792
00:38:44,881 --> 00:38:47,817
[rock music]

793
00:39:11,340 --> 00:39:16,012
That was Ron's finest hour,
when he came up over

794
00:39:16,045 --> 00:39:19,849
the next months with two great riffs.

795
00:39:19,882 --> 00:39:22,685
Uh, "Wanna Be Your Dog,"
and "No Fun."

796
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:24,654
So for a while we just went out
and played it

797
00:39:24,687 --> 00:39:27,323
and-and I remember
on both that one

798
00:39:27,356 --> 00:39:31,160
and "No Fun," the members of
the "MC5" raising an eyebrow

799
00:39:31,193 --> 00:39:34,497
and going, "Uh, you got
a good riff there."

800
00:39:34,531 --> 00:39:37,634
[rock music]

801
00:39:59,489 --> 00:40:01,123
We-we loved it. We loved it.

802
00:40:01,157 --> 00:40:04,193
Every, all, the whole group
loved New York.

803
00:40:04,226 --> 00:40:06,395
There were things in that environment

804
00:40:06,429 --> 00:40:10,967
that didn't really exist for
a young person in the Midwest.

805
00:40:11,734 --> 00:40:13,770
[music continues]

806
00:40:13,803 --> 00:40:18,007
* In my room I want you here **

807
00:40:21,844 --> 00:40:24,313
I'd been listening
to one of Velvet's records.

808
00:40:24,346 --> 00:40:26,549
It's just very, very good.

809
00:40:26,583 --> 00:40:28,718
An-and it was simple.

810
00:40:28,751 --> 00:40:31,253
And the simplicity,
and some of the droning

811
00:40:31,287 --> 00:40:32,989
and some of the moods

812
00:40:33,022 --> 00:40:36,493
had a big influence on us, you know?

813
00:40:41,097 --> 00:40:44,166
So when they suggested
John Cale, we thought

814
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:46,469
it was perfect for us.

815
00:40:46,503 --> 00:40:49,972
That record... wouldn't
have felt the same

816
00:40:50,006 --> 00:40:52,675
if we hadn't brought it to New York

817
00:40:52,709 --> 00:40:55,177
and played it for that person.

818
00:40:55,211 --> 00:40:57,079
We preformed for him.

819
00:40:57,113 --> 00:40:58,648
I-I remember that he

820
00:40:58,681 --> 00:41:00,617
wore a big black cape

821
00:41:00,650 --> 00:41:03,853
like Z-Man in "Beyond
the Valley of the Dolls."

822
00:41:05,154 --> 00:41:07,123
He brought Nico in a few times.

823
00:41:07,156 --> 00:41:11,861
It really looked like,
uh, Morticia and Gomez.

824
00:41:11,894 --> 00:41:12,762
Ready.

825
00:41:12,795 --> 00:41:15,665
When we recorded the record.

826
00:41:15,698 --> 00:41:17,967
They couldn't get a decent band track

827
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,671
of the band unless I danced.

828
00:41:21,704 --> 00:41:24,574
[instrumental music]

829
00:41:26,175 --> 00:41:29,546
I would stand in the band room with them

830
00:41:29,579 --> 00:41:31,180
just with no mic or anything

831
00:41:31,213 --> 00:41:33,349
and just dance and jump around

832
00:41:33,382 --> 00:41:34,884
and roll around.

833
00:41:34,917 --> 00:41:37,486
Do whatever I had to do to get a take.

834
00:41:42,158 --> 00:41:45,962
The studio was, was a tiny little room

835
00:41:45,995 --> 00:41:48,197
above a peep show on Times Square

836
00:41:48,230 --> 00:41:51,634
but it was an R and B studio
run by Jerry Ragovoy

837
00:41:51,668 --> 00:41:53,803
with tiny little amplifiers.

838
00:41:53,836 --> 00:41:56,305
And then we came in
with our Marshall stacks

839
00:41:56,338 --> 00:41:58,307
and everybody freaked out.

840
00:41:58,340 --> 00:41:59,842
[screaming]

841
00:41:59,876 --> 00:42:02,044
The host engineer started saying

842
00:42:02,078 --> 00:42:04,013
"But Jerry Ragovoy
does it this way."

843
00:42:04,046 --> 00:42:07,049
"I don't care about Jerry Ragovoy.

844
00:42:07,083 --> 00:42:09,318
You know,
you don't understand."

845
00:42:09,351 --> 00:42:10,787
[screaming]

846
00:42:13,022 --> 00:42:16,425
Cale finally got us
to turn our amps to nine.

847
00:42:16,458 --> 00:42:17,894
That was the compromise.

848
00:42:17,927 --> 00:42:22,699
* You took my arm *

849
00:42:22,732 --> 00:42:25,267
* And you broke my.. *

850
00:42:25,301 --> 00:42:26,869
We had four songs.

851
00:42:26,903 --> 00:42:31,273
"Dog." "Fun." "69." and "Ann."

852
00:42:31,307 --> 00:42:35,678
And the idea was,
each song had a song part

853
00:42:35,712 --> 00:42:37,413
that lasted about two minutes.

854
00:42:37,446 --> 00:42:41,851
And then there'd be about ten
minutes of improv on the riff.

855
00:42:41,884 --> 00:42:44,854
When we heard it back taped, I thought

856
00:42:44,887 --> 00:42:47,389
these songs are great,
for the first three minutes

857
00:42:47,423 --> 00:42:48,925
this is good.

858
00:42:48,958 --> 00:42:52,528
And then after the three
minutes, I started thinking

859
00:42:52,561 --> 00:42:54,764
I don't know if this is really

860
00:42:54,797 --> 00:42:57,366
so great to listen to
at minute seven here.

861
00:42:57,399 --> 00:42:59,201
But I didn't say anything.

862
00:42:59,235 --> 00:43:03,039
And-and then it took
the very sensible

863
00:43:03,072 --> 00:43:06,175
record store owner
in business, Jac Holzman.

864
00:43:07,009 --> 00:43:08,277
No, no, no, no.

865
00:43:08,310 --> 00:43:09,545
He said, "I can't put this out.

866
00:43:09,578 --> 00:43:11,580
There's not enough songs."

867
00:43:11,614 --> 00:43:13,916
And you know,
I-I knew he was right.

868
00:43:15,351 --> 00:43:18,387
Oh, we got a lot more songs,
just, uh, give

869
00:43:18,420 --> 00:43:19,588
book us another session.

870
00:43:19,622 --> 00:43:21,390
[instrumental music]

871
00:43:21,423 --> 00:43:24,393
* She *

872
00:43:24,426 --> 00:43:26,562
* Not right *

873
00:43:26,595 --> 00:43:28,064
* I want something *

874
00:43:28,097 --> 00:43:30,833
* I want something tonight *

875
00:43:30,867 --> 00:43:33,670
(Scott)
Half or more of the songs

876
00:43:33,703 --> 00:43:37,239
were written in the Chelsea Hotel.

877
00:43:37,273 --> 00:43:40,910
The day before we went into the studio

878
00:43:40,943 --> 00:43:44,781
and the song, "Not Right,"

879
00:43:44,814 --> 00:43:46,849
we had never played.

880
00:43:46,883 --> 00:43:50,987
The first time we'd ever played it

881
00:43:51,020 --> 00:43:53,790
that was it, that was the take.

882
00:43:53,823 --> 00:43:56,625
[instrumental music]

883
00:43:57,393 --> 00:44:00,830
* It's always *

884
00:44:00,863 --> 00:44:03,032
* Well it's always this way *

885
00:44:11,808 --> 00:44:16,312
[chanting]
Shree Ram..

886
00:44:24,253 --> 00:44:25,988
Dave Alexander,

887
00:44:27,824 --> 00:44:29,291
he said...

888
00:44:29,325 --> 00:44:32,194
..."Why don't we do something
with an Om chant?"

889
00:44:39,235 --> 00:44:42,138
I don't know if it was Ron
or me, but one of us

890
00:44:42,171 --> 00:44:44,741
melodicized the chant and then made it..

891
00:44:44,774 --> 00:44:46,709
Om...

892
00:44:46,743 --> 00:44:51,180
...Shree Ram...

893
00:44:51,213 --> 00:44:52,681
...Ja.

894
00:44:54,050 --> 00:44:58,054
Ram, ja, ja, Ram..

895
00:45:00,689 --> 00:45:02,925
* Tonight.. *

896
00:45:02,959 --> 00:45:05,327
If we didn't have that
song on that album

897
00:45:05,361 --> 00:45:08,430
we-we would have had
just a bunch of similar

898
00:45:08,464 --> 00:45:11,100
rock tracks in the party line.

899
00:45:11,133 --> 00:45:16,372
[chanting]
Ram, cha, cha, Ram..

900
00:45:16,405 --> 00:45:21,010
* I hold myself tight *

901
00:45:21,043 --> 00:45:23,946
[chanting]
Shree Ram..

902
00:45:23,980 --> 00:45:26,783
It did make a statement that

903
00:45:26,816 --> 00:45:29,886
we weren't like the other bands.

904
00:45:29,919 --> 00:45:33,422
[chanting]
...cha, cha, Ram.

905
00:45:34,957 --> 00:45:37,193
* I won't fight *

906
00:45:37,226 --> 00:45:39,728
(Iggy)
Dave changed our history.

907
00:45:43,732 --> 00:45:46,268
* I won't fight *

908
00:45:46,302 --> 00:45:50,072
[chanting]
Ram, cha, cha..

909
00:45:50,106 --> 00:45:52,875
That record, I thought it was a..

910
00:45:52,909 --> 00:45:55,144
...myself that it was a...

911
00:45:55,177 --> 00:45:59,448
...sort of neat, petite, well-organized

912
00:45:59,481 --> 00:46:03,719
good, sharp, little poke, and, uh..

913
00:46:03,752 --> 00:46:05,888
I was, I was real proud of the, uh

914
00:46:05,922 --> 00:46:08,657
the clarity of the songs.

915
00:46:08,690 --> 00:46:15,297
* Midnight winds are landing
at the end of time *

916
00:46:16,999 --> 00:46:21,303
(Iggy) Nico's the most culturally
and artistically knowledgeable

917
00:46:21,337 --> 00:46:23,906
beautiful woman that I'd ever met.

918
00:46:23,940 --> 00:46:25,441
She's ten years older than me

919
00:46:25,474 --> 00:46:28,110
and she had an opinion about
almost everything

920
00:46:28,144 --> 00:46:31,347
that had to do with the arts,
and I listened to her.

921
00:46:31,380 --> 00:46:35,151
Now I began being influenced,
probably got a little crazier.

922
00:46:35,184 --> 00:46:38,087
She stayed a couple of weeks, I think.

923
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:41,757
They hated having a girl in the house.

924
00:46:41,790 --> 00:46:44,626
(Ron) And at first we
resented her being there.

925
00:46:44,660 --> 00:46:46,428
It's like.. Dammit!

926
00:46:46,462 --> 00:46:48,764
And they pretty much kept to themselves

927
00:46:48,797 --> 00:46:50,432
so there's no hanging out...

928
00:46:50,466 --> 00:46:52,869
...and then the worst was, uh...

929
00:46:52,902 --> 00:46:54,370
...bringing her in the practice room.

930
00:46:54,403 --> 00:46:57,106
No women or girlfriends
in the practice room.

931
00:46:57,139 --> 00:46:58,674
She'd sit there..

932
00:46:58,707 --> 00:47:01,810
(Iggy) ...watch, and she'd
critique it, you know.

933
00:47:01,844 --> 00:47:03,012
"This one is very good."

934
00:47:03,045 --> 00:47:04,613
I-I think
she was on the rebound

935
00:47:04,646 --> 00:47:07,316
maybe from something
with Lou Reed, perhaps

936
00:47:07,349 --> 00:47:10,152
so she'd, she'd usually
get in a dig at Lou

937
00:47:10,186 --> 00:47:13,189
whenever she liked something
I was doing, she'd say

938
00:47:13,222 --> 00:47:14,790
"You, you are much better

939
00:47:14,823 --> 00:47:17,293
you are much more talented
than Lou."

940
00:47:17,326 --> 00:47:19,962
So we just started hanging out and, uh

941
00:47:19,996 --> 00:47:21,898
gave her a break because she was

942
00:47:21,931 --> 00:47:23,632
an interesting, good person.

943
00:47:23,665 --> 00:47:25,834
[instrumental music]

944
00:47:29,605 --> 00:47:31,707
(Iggy) And we went and
played that material

945
00:47:31,740 --> 00:47:34,343
at the World's Fair Pavilion...

946
00:47:34,376 --> 00:47:37,313
...in Queens, near where
the Ramones grew up...

947
00:47:37,346 --> 00:47:39,882
...as, as an opening act to Joe Cocker.

948
00:47:39,916 --> 00:47:42,251
Well, you know,
Joe Cocker's singing, uh..

949
00:47:42,284 --> 00:47:46,522
* You are so beautiful.. *

950
00:47:46,555 --> 00:47:48,257
And everybody's...

951
00:47:48,290 --> 00:47:52,828
...going nuts. You know,
this is it, and then we're like..

952
00:47:52,861 --> 00:47:55,097
[humming]

953
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:00,669
And just..

954
00:48:00,702 --> 00:48:03,172
[crowd cheering]

955
00:48:03,205 --> 00:48:05,407
In the 50's...

956
00:48:05,441 --> 00:48:08,710
...they figured out how to suck
the life out of rock and roll

957
00:48:08,744 --> 00:48:12,081
on the one hand they replace
Elvis with Fabian

958
00:48:12,114 --> 00:48:14,183
and then also at the same time

959
00:48:14,216 --> 00:48:16,718
we'll run out Perry Como on 'em.

960
00:48:16,752 --> 00:48:19,688
This was happening again.

961
00:48:19,721 --> 00:48:22,424
Rock and roll at the time
was being co-opted

962
00:48:22,458 --> 00:48:27,229
by a political-industrial
complex of corrupt performers

963
00:48:27,263 --> 00:48:31,533
and evil manager-owners,
who were going to create

964
00:48:31,567 --> 00:48:35,271
whatever they thought
was the best product for them.

965
00:48:35,304 --> 00:48:37,273
Whether you want it or not

966
00:48:37,306 --> 00:48:39,808
we're gonna shove this down
your little throats.

967
00:48:39,841 --> 00:48:44,313
They rejected their own
country and their own people.

968
00:48:44,346 --> 00:48:46,582
It's a, it's cultural treason.

969
00:48:48,417 --> 00:48:51,220
There was more "American Idol."

970
00:48:51,253 --> 00:48:54,656
More of the corny talent show

971
00:48:54,690 --> 00:48:58,227
suggested to the American
audience at that time than, uh

972
00:48:58,260 --> 00:48:59,761
than people like to admit.

973
00:48:59,795 --> 00:49:02,464
It was all, you know..

974
00:49:02,498 --> 00:49:04,600
[humming]

975
00:49:04,633 --> 00:49:07,236
* Marrakesh Express *

976
00:49:07,269 --> 00:49:09,071
* Wouldn't you know we're riding *

977
00:49:09,105 --> 00:49:12,308
* On the Marrakesh Express.. *

978
00:49:12,341 --> 00:49:14,610
I mean, somebody needs to say, you know

979
00:49:14,643 --> 00:49:18,280
some of the biggest
peace-love acts

980
00:49:18,314 --> 00:49:20,649
of the California, uh

981
00:49:20,682 --> 00:49:24,120
five years of love, umm...

982
00:49:24,153 --> 00:49:28,957
...were created in m-meetings.

983
00:49:30,059 --> 00:49:33,029
And stuff... smells.

984
00:49:34,663 --> 00:49:36,665
I say it s-still smells.

985
00:49:36,698 --> 00:49:39,635
[instrumental music]

986
00:49:43,139 --> 00:49:45,307
[man screaming]

987
00:49:49,878 --> 00:49:52,148
[screaming continues]

988
00:50:01,157 --> 00:50:03,259
[music continues]

989
00:50:12,834 --> 00:50:14,203
We crossed the Mississippi

990
00:50:14,236 --> 00:50:17,139
for the first time in, uh, 1970

991
00:50:17,173 --> 00:50:18,807
to record Fun House and

992
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:20,476
every day, around noon

993
00:50:20,509 --> 00:50:25,081
we would all go into the studio
and, uh, record for the day.

994
00:50:25,114 --> 00:50:27,049
Each day was always, it was

995
00:50:27,083 --> 00:50:29,818
this is the day of loose

996
00:50:29,851 --> 00:50:31,987
and that's all we
were gonna do that day.

997
00:50:32,020 --> 00:50:33,489
And there was the day of

998
00:50:33,522 --> 00:50:35,391
down on the street,
et cetera, et cetera.

999
00:50:35,424 --> 00:50:37,659
And then a couple of days mixing.

1000
00:50:37,693 --> 00:50:39,728
It was under two weeks.

1001
00:50:39,761 --> 00:50:42,498
We were experimenting
after "The Stooges"

1002
00:50:42,531 --> 00:50:46,602
with more aggressive music,
with more space

1003
00:50:46,635 --> 00:50:50,539
a la Bitches Brew by Miles Davis

1004
00:50:50,572 --> 00:50:52,541
we hoped...

1005
00:50:52,574 --> 00:50:55,111
...and everything that
James Brown was doing

1006
00:50:55,144 --> 00:50:57,746
with Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker.

1007
00:50:57,779 --> 00:51:02,351
And I saw Steve playing with
his band "The Carnal Kitchen."

1008
00:51:02,384 --> 00:51:05,887
Oh, my God, this guy
can really blow a horn.

1009
00:51:05,921 --> 00:51:09,091
He had "1970" and "Fun House"
already written

1010
00:51:09,125 --> 00:51:10,526
just waiting for me.

1011
00:51:10,559 --> 00:51:14,563
And we got to "Fun House" and he said

1012
00:51:14,596 --> 00:51:16,965
"Play like Maceo Parker
on acid."

1013
00:51:16,998 --> 00:51:19,468
[saxophone music]

1014
00:51:22,838 --> 00:51:25,774
(Iggy) And we did some
interesting things with space.

1015
00:51:25,807 --> 00:51:30,112
Things like, uh, very minimal...

1016
00:51:30,146 --> 00:51:31,747
...drum, uh

1017
00:51:31,780 --> 00:51:33,649
four-four drum beats

1018
00:51:33,682 --> 00:51:37,119
but with, uh, syncopations on the top.

1019
00:51:37,153 --> 00:51:40,289
[instrumental music]

1020
00:51:45,961 --> 00:51:48,797
And double tracking leads sometimes

1021
00:51:48,830 --> 00:51:50,299
but with no rhythm guitar.

1022
00:51:50,332 --> 00:51:52,634
That's not usually done in rock and roll

1023
00:51:52,668 --> 00:51:55,771
it's not very.. It's supposed
to be very commercial.

1024
00:52:04,780 --> 00:52:08,350
Elektra studio was just marvelous.

1025
00:52:08,384 --> 00:52:11,787
It was just one room,
there were no choices.

1026
00:52:11,820 --> 00:52:13,789
It was intimate, but big enough

1027
00:52:13,822 --> 00:52:15,924
that you could
spread things a little bit.

1028
00:52:15,957 --> 00:52:18,260
It had a, it had a nice throw rug.

1029
00:52:18,294 --> 00:52:21,463
I was using my own PA stack in there.

1030
00:52:21,497 --> 00:52:24,700
I didn't want
the studio-made sound

1031
00:52:24,733 --> 00:52:26,935
that the vocals had on the first album.

1032
00:52:26,968 --> 00:52:29,505
- Would you like a music stand?
- Say what?

1033
00:52:29,538 --> 00:52:31,973
- Would you like a music stand?
- No, that's okay.

1034
00:52:32,007 --> 00:52:33,542
Ron says he needs the bass up again.

1035
00:52:33,575 --> 00:52:35,211
(Ron)
He-he turned it up.

1036
00:52:35,244 --> 00:52:37,879
(Don) We got the red lights,
anytime you're ready.

1037
00:52:37,913 --> 00:52:39,181
[Iggy laughing]

1038
00:52:40,582 --> 00:52:43,885
(Iggy) We were housed
in the Tropicana Motel.

1039
00:52:43,919 --> 00:52:48,023
And Warhol had the d-door
to his room ajar one day

1040
00:52:48,056 --> 00:52:49,791
I went in to say hi.

1041
00:52:49,825 --> 00:52:53,161
He suggested, he said,
"Why don't you do some songs..

1042
00:52:53,195 --> 00:52:56,332
"Just sing the newspaper.

1043
00:52:56,365 --> 00:52:59,668
Just sing what it says
in the newspaper."

1044
00:52:59,701 --> 00:53:02,137
I haven't gotten around to it yet but

1045
00:53:02,170 --> 00:53:04,540
that was his, that was his idea.

1046
00:53:04,573 --> 00:53:07,543
While we stayed there,
the suite next to mine

1047
00:53:07,576 --> 00:53:10,145
it was occupied by Ed Sanders

1048
00:53:10,178 --> 00:53:12,981
who was writing "The Family."

1049
00:53:13,014 --> 00:53:17,586
I was, int.. Always interested
in new looks, too.

1050
00:53:17,619 --> 00:53:19,521
There was a pet store catered to dogs

1051
00:53:19,555 --> 00:53:21,490
called The Bowser Boutique

1052
00:53:21,523 --> 00:53:24,326
down the street on Santa Monica
and I walked by one day...

1053
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:27,763
And I saw this
red dog collar and I thought..

1054
00:53:27,796 --> 00:53:31,533
"I would look so cool if
I had that dog collar," right?

1055
00:53:31,567 --> 00:53:33,001
So I bought the dog collar

1056
00:53:33,034 --> 00:53:35,271
and I started wearing it every day

1057
00:53:35,304 --> 00:53:37,339
to go to the studio,
and Ed Sanders would

1058
00:53:37,373 --> 00:53:39,074
look at me and he'd say..

1059
00:53:39,107 --> 00:53:41,343
"You don't know
what that means, do you?"

1060
00:53:41,377 --> 00:53:44,680
You know, I still, I-I still
don't know what it means!

1061
00:53:44,713 --> 00:53:46,915
- You know, but he was like..
- It was cool.

1062
00:53:46,948 --> 00:53:48,717
(Iggy)
One day, I was out for a walk

1063
00:53:48,750 --> 00:53:51,019
and I was walking
in the opposite direction

1064
00:53:51,052 --> 00:53:52,521
from the Tropicana.

1065
00:53:52,554 --> 00:53:54,523
It was on, uh, Santa Monica

1066
00:53:54,556 --> 00:53:56,692
I think it was the corner of Westmont

1067
00:53:56,725 --> 00:54:01,697
and a black caddy came tearing
assin' down, down the hill..

1068
00:54:01,730 --> 00:54:03,299
He had to slam on the brakes

1069
00:54:03,332 --> 00:54:06,201
because I was
stepping off the curb. I..

1070
00:54:06,234 --> 00:54:10,238
He looked at me and he says,
I was sure it was John Wayne.

1071
00:54:10,272 --> 00:54:12,441
"Goddamn it!"

1072
00:54:12,474 --> 00:54:14,910
I haven't lost my temper in 40 years

1073
00:54:14,943 --> 00:54:17,379
but, Pilgrim, you caused
a lot of trouble this morning

1074
00:54:17,413 --> 00:54:18,780
mighta got somebody killed.

1075
00:54:18,814 --> 00:54:20,215
(Iggy)
And then he swerved

1076
00:54:20,248 --> 00:54:22,083
he swerved around me

1077
00:54:22,117 --> 00:54:24,152
and sped off in the

1078
00:54:24,185 --> 00:54:27,289
general direction of Dan Tana's.

1079
00:54:27,323 --> 00:54:30,091
(Mondo) And here's the world-famous
Whisky A Go-Go on the strip.

1080
00:54:30,125 --> 00:54:32,461
A favorite dancing spot
for both the mods and

1081
00:54:32,494 --> 00:54:34,630
movie stars who want to get it on.

1082
00:54:34,663 --> 00:54:36,465
Let's drop in and see
what's happening tonight.

1083
00:54:36,498 --> 00:54:38,667
[instrumental music]

1084
00:54:40,101 --> 00:54:42,804
(Iggy)
It was really a California experience

1085
00:54:42,838 --> 00:54:46,308
and then to pay for it,
we were bidden to do two

1086
00:54:46,342 --> 00:54:48,410
two nights at the Whiskey.

1087
00:54:48,444 --> 00:54:50,145
And the Whiskey a Go-Go in LA

1088
00:54:50,178 --> 00:54:53,114
and two nights in San Francisco
at the Fillmore.

1089
00:54:53,148 --> 00:54:55,351
(Scott)
Which freaked everybody out.

1090
00:54:55,384 --> 00:54:57,252
Every time, every place we played...

1091
00:54:57,285 --> 00:54:59,087
(Iggy) Nobody had ever
seen anything like

1092
00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:01,457
what we did, you know..

1093
00:55:01,490 --> 00:55:06,728
* I took a record of pretty music *

1094
00:55:08,864 --> 00:55:13,268
* Now I'm putting it to you
straight from hell *

1095
00:55:13,301 --> 00:55:14,870
Upon our return to the Midwest

1096
00:55:14,903 --> 00:55:18,607
we were playing larger festivals...

1097
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:20,942
...larger events and we were getting

1098
00:55:20,976 --> 00:55:26,114
pretty good life
because the stuff on Fun House

1099
00:55:26,147 --> 00:55:29,851
was pretty damn rocking live.

1100
00:55:29,885 --> 00:55:35,323
* I feel fine to be dancin', baby *

1101
00:55:36,992 --> 00:55:42,398
* I feel fine I'm a shakin' leaf *

1102
00:55:44,032 --> 00:55:47,135
* I feel fine to be dancin', baby **

1103
00:55:47,168 --> 00:55:50,639
(Iggy) Festivals that, that
became bigger and where we..

1104
00:55:50,672 --> 00:55:53,475
Where we were stating to get more notice

1105
00:55:53,509 --> 00:55:57,245
happened in the summer of '70

1106
00:55:57,278 --> 00:55:59,381
after we completed Fun House

1107
00:55:59,415 --> 00:56:01,149
and, uh, and we would generally go out

1108
00:56:01,182 --> 00:56:04,820
and a-a-as people often do,
play that whole work

1109
00:56:04,853 --> 00:56:09,558
and we were pretty much ignoring
the stuff from the first album.

1110
00:56:09,591 --> 00:56:12,260
And, uh, I remembered

1111
00:56:12,293 --> 00:56:15,096
I read a q-quote
from Johnny Ramone once

1112
00:56:15,130 --> 00:56:18,834
he went to see us and apparently
there were too many new songs

1113
00:56:18,867 --> 00:56:21,369
that he didn't know
and he was disgusted.

1114
00:56:21,403 --> 00:56:24,105
[rock music]

1115
00:56:24,139 --> 00:56:26,508
(male #1) Since we broke
away for our message

1116
00:56:26,542 --> 00:56:28,276
Iggy has been in the crowd

1117
00:56:28,309 --> 00:56:31,513
and out again three different times.

1118
00:56:31,547 --> 00:56:34,916
They seem to be enjoying it
and so does he.

1119
00:56:44,225 --> 00:56:49,465
(Iggy) The group was always very aware

1120
00:56:49,498 --> 00:56:52,367
of the theatrics of the moment.

1121
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:54,736
And they never moved, ever.

1122
00:56:54,770 --> 00:56:59,040
In 40 minutes, the drummer
would never look up

1123
00:56:59,074 --> 00:57:03,645
and, uh, the other two
might move a foot or two.

1124
00:57:03,679 --> 00:57:05,747
(James)
We never knew what would happen

1125
00:57:05,781 --> 00:57:08,049
and so, in the old days, you know

1126
00:57:08,083 --> 00:57:10,652
we just literally, I mean, it could be

1127
00:57:10,686 --> 00:57:12,153
we'd be out there, you know..

1128
00:57:12,187 --> 00:57:14,289
[guitar music]

1129
00:57:14,322 --> 00:57:15,824
You know, and there's no vocals.

1130
00:57:15,857 --> 00:57:17,659
You know, the guy's out in the crowd.

1131
00:57:17,693 --> 00:57:19,828
He's down on the floor
somewhere, you know

1132
00:57:19,861 --> 00:57:21,630
there's no vocal, so we're still going..

1133
00:57:21,663 --> 00:57:23,264
[guitar music]

1134
00:57:23,298 --> 00:57:26,067
So until he starts singing,
we don't do anything.

1135
00:57:26,101 --> 00:57:29,605
And, uh, and then, you know
eventually he'll climb back up

1136
00:57:29,638 --> 00:57:31,740
and start singing and that's, you know

1137
00:57:31,773 --> 00:57:33,675
it's all about,
you know, working together

1138
00:57:33,709 --> 00:57:35,176
to, to make a show.

1139
00:57:35,210 --> 00:57:37,245
(Mike) You know, the way he works a gig

1140
00:57:37,278 --> 00:57:41,116
it reminds you that life,
big time, is in the moment.

1141
00:57:41,149 --> 00:57:42,751
M-maybe most of it.

1142
00:57:42,784 --> 00:57:45,487
But the moment is really intense about

1143
00:57:45,521 --> 00:57:46,855
what's going down because

1144
00:57:46,888 --> 00:57:48,790
you know, "I feel like
a short-order cook.

1145
00:57:48,824 --> 00:57:50,959
"I gotta get everybody's order.

1146
00:57:50,992 --> 00:57:52,961
You want fries?
You want a shake?"

1147
00:57:52,994 --> 00:57:54,763
You know, he's going out, in his mind

1148
00:57:54,796 --> 00:57:56,732
he says, he's going to the crowd.

1149
00:57:59,501 --> 00:58:03,138
(Iggy) It was important to make contact

1150
00:58:03,171 --> 00:58:05,941
I felt at every show.

1151
00:58:05,974 --> 00:58:08,777
And we were opening for
"The Mothers of Invention"

1152
00:58:08,810 --> 00:58:11,379
that was the best group,
in my estimation

1153
00:58:11,412 --> 00:58:13,281
that we'd ever opened for.

1154
00:58:13,314 --> 00:58:16,217
So, near the end of our set

1155
00:58:16,251 --> 00:58:20,288
I was not sure we'd really
reached across.

1156
00:58:20,321 --> 00:58:24,059
And there were
a couple of girls, big ones.

1157
00:58:24,092 --> 00:58:26,628
They'd moved up
right in front of the stage

1158
00:58:26,662 --> 00:58:29,064
and they just were laying there
on their backs

1159
00:58:29,097 --> 00:58:31,667
making themselves
very comfortable, relaxing.

1160
00:58:31,700 --> 00:58:33,635
And I got to the edge of the stage

1161
00:58:33,669 --> 00:58:36,037
and I did what I'd seen little kids do

1162
00:58:36,071 --> 00:58:38,874
sometimes when they want
attention from their parents.

1163
00:58:38,907 --> 00:58:42,811
I thought, I'm just gonna fall forward

1164
00:58:42,844 --> 00:58:45,914
they'll catch me, and, uh

1165
00:58:45,947 --> 00:58:47,883
they moved. I..

1166
00:58:47,916 --> 00:58:51,653
My, uh, my front teeth
which I've since had repaired

1167
00:58:51,687 --> 00:58:53,755
went straight through one of my lips.

1168
00:58:53,789 --> 00:58:57,593
Sometimes it was eventful,
sometimes it was, listen..

1169
00:58:57,626 --> 00:59:01,663
I-I-I was a guy,
very young, in a rock band

1170
00:59:01,697 --> 00:59:03,832
and having beautiful summers
in the Midwest.

1171
00:59:03,865 --> 00:59:06,835
So, so-sometimes I'd just
go down there, and, you know

1172
00:59:06,868 --> 00:59:09,705
see some chick and go,
"Hey, what's your number?"

1173
00:59:09,738 --> 00:59:12,240
You will come to me
whenever I call you...

1174
00:59:13,742 --> 00:59:16,578
...and I will enjoy that very much.

1175
00:59:16,612 --> 00:59:18,747
(Iggy)
I had seen a lot of pictures

1176
00:59:18,780 --> 00:59:21,750
of the, the Pharaohs and, um

1177
00:59:21,783 --> 00:59:23,619
and some of their
a-atttendants.

1178
00:59:23,652 --> 00:59:27,222
Egyptian iconography
I guess you'd call it.

1179
00:59:27,255 --> 00:59:29,591
And it impressed me that the Pharaohs

1180
00:59:29,625 --> 00:59:31,526
seldom wore shirts.

1181
00:59:31,559 --> 00:59:33,028
Here in a minute

1182
00:59:33,061 --> 00:59:35,530
end of all these announcements
we're gonna...

1183
00:59:35,563 --> 00:59:37,432
...we're gonna have a big ceremony

1184
00:59:37,465 --> 00:59:39,067
and we're gonna plant the seeds

1185
00:59:39,100 --> 00:59:42,270
and then we're gonna
light the joint and celebrate.

1186
00:59:42,303 --> 00:59:44,840
[instrumental music]

1187
00:59:47,676 --> 00:59:50,311
* Hey hey mama tell you now *

1188
00:59:50,345 --> 00:59:52,247
* I was gonna die.. *

1189
00:59:55,416 --> 00:59:57,886
That particular festival

1190
00:59:57,919 --> 00:59:59,554
came along at a time

1191
00:59:59,587 --> 01:00:01,556
when all the different
free-love

1192
01:00:01,589 --> 01:00:05,393
free-wheeling, free-roaming
social groups in Detroit

1193
01:00:05,426 --> 01:00:08,096
were all starting to sizzle up

1194
01:00:08,129 --> 01:00:10,231
in the frying pan of drugs.

1195
01:00:10,265 --> 01:00:12,233
We all got so stoned.

1196
01:00:12,267 --> 01:00:15,170
[indistinct chatter]

1197
01:00:16,504 --> 01:00:21,009
I was in a tent with some wild people

1198
01:00:21,042 --> 01:00:24,412
and I took so much of

1199
01:00:24,445 --> 01:00:26,114
what I thought was coke

1200
01:00:26,147 --> 01:00:29,751
before the thing that I had amnesia

1201
01:00:29,785 --> 01:00:31,853
accompanied by

1202
01:00:31,887 --> 01:00:34,756
a vertical malfunction with my vision.

1203
01:00:34,790 --> 01:00:36,992
Like the sort of thing
that used to happen

1204
01:00:37,025 --> 01:00:39,795
with televisions of that era
when the picture

1205
01:00:39,828 --> 01:00:41,863
would keep flipping over and over.

1206
01:00:41,897 --> 01:00:43,498
Couldn't remember who I was

1207
01:00:43,531 --> 01:00:46,034
and then finally I remembered
there was something

1208
01:00:46,067 --> 01:00:47,635
I had to do.

1209
01:00:49,470 --> 01:00:52,373
[rock music]

1210
01:01:08,990 --> 01:01:12,694
* Out of my mind on Saturday night *

1211
01:01:12,728 --> 01:01:16,631
* 1970 rollin' in sight *

1212
01:01:16,664 --> 01:01:19,634
Dave, he just went
all the way out that night.

1213
01:01:19,667 --> 01:01:23,038
(Scott) He got extremely
drunk before the show

1214
01:01:23,071 --> 01:01:24,672
and he couldn't play the songs.

1215
01:01:24,706 --> 01:01:26,307
One of the road crew went out

1216
01:01:26,341 --> 01:01:28,476
and turned his volume
all the way off on his amp

1217
01:01:28,509 --> 01:01:30,746
and he kept playing
he didn't even realize

1218
01:01:30,779 --> 01:01:32,748
that his amp wasn't on.

1219
01:01:32,781 --> 01:01:34,249
(Iggy)
We had a good billing

1220
01:01:34,282 --> 01:01:37,052
Danny had brought important people

1221
01:01:37,085 --> 01:01:39,354
from New York to see us.

1222
01:01:39,387 --> 01:01:43,224
We were on the same bill with,
uh, Rod Stewart and the "Faces"

1223
01:01:43,258 --> 01:01:45,426
we wanted to do well, we got out there

1224
01:01:45,460 --> 01:01:46,862
there's no bass.

1225
01:01:46,895 --> 01:01:49,697
So, I was extra aggressive.

1226
01:01:49,731 --> 01:01:52,400
I did try to get to the fence.

1227
01:01:54,702 --> 01:01:57,005
Um, I was prevented.

1228
01:01:57,038 --> 01:02:00,008
There was an actual trench dug

1229
01:02:00,041 --> 01:02:02,110
and there were horse police.

1230
01:02:03,378 --> 01:02:06,047
And so I started calling, "Come on!

1231
01:02:06,081 --> 01:02:07,849
[chuckles]
Tear that fence."

1232
01:02:07,883 --> 01:02:10,585
I think I mentioned
"Tear the fence down."

1233
01:02:10,618 --> 01:02:12,453
[indistinct chatters]

1234
01:02:12,487 --> 01:02:15,390
(male #3)
Lead Stooge is freaked out.

1235
01:02:15,423 --> 01:02:17,926
(Iggy) I think the fence
took a couple of hits.

1236
01:02:17,959 --> 01:02:19,861
(male #3)
He jumped over the fence

1237
01:02:19,895 --> 01:02:22,463
and we've lost power on the amp.

1238
01:02:22,497 --> 01:02:25,100
(Iggy) I don't remember being arrested.

1239
01:02:25,133 --> 01:02:28,436
I remember just sitting
after the gig, really like

1240
01:02:28,469 --> 01:02:31,139
still whacked out,
and watching Ronnie Wood

1241
01:02:31,172 --> 01:02:33,909
and Rod Stewart drinking Mateus

1242
01:02:33,942 --> 01:02:36,111
to get ready for their show.

1243
01:02:36,144 --> 01:02:38,780
That was their, uh,
intoxicant of choice.

1244
01:02:38,814 --> 01:02:41,950
[rock music]

1245
01:02:48,423 --> 01:02:52,460
(Scott)
Iggy fired him, but not really

1246
01:02:52,493 --> 01:02:55,931
cause Dave wanted to be let go.

1247
01:02:55,964 --> 01:02:59,334
Yeah, I felt bad but, um...

1248
01:02:59,367 --> 01:03:02,403
...I also felt there's no sense
in having someone in the band

1249
01:03:02,437 --> 01:03:06,441
that's not serious, who doesn't
really want to be in the band.

1250
01:03:07,843 --> 01:03:10,378
We remained friends after.

1251
01:03:11,712 --> 01:03:13,114
* Damn *

1252
01:03:15,516 --> 01:03:16,885
[vocalizing]

1253
01:03:18,453 --> 01:03:21,789
His parents called me up,
said he was in the hospital.

1254
01:03:21,823 --> 01:03:25,493
What it was was an inflamed pancreas

1255
01:03:26,794 --> 01:03:29,197
which he could have survived

1256
01:03:29,230 --> 01:03:31,799
but they had an IV in him...

1257
01:03:33,301 --> 01:03:36,104
...and he wanted it out,
and he wanted to go home

1258
01:03:36,137 --> 01:03:37,839
and he wanted a beer.

1259
01:03:39,307 --> 01:03:41,977
So they sedated him to a point

1260
01:03:42,010 --> 01:03:44,112
to where he was unconscious

1261
01:03:44,145 --> 01:03:47,548
and when he was unconscious,
he got pneumonia

1262
01:03:47,582 --> 01:03:49,817
and the pneumonia killed him.

1263
01:03:53,654 --> 01:03:55,556
He'd recorded two albums

1264
01:03:55,590 --> 01:03:59,560
he, um, became to be in a

1265
01:03:59,594 --> 01:04:02,630
famous rock and roll band.

1266
01:04:02,663 --> 01:04:07,135
He had accomplished
what he wanted to do.

1267
01:04:07,168 --> 01:04:09,004
He was ready to go.

1268
01:04:09,037 --> 01:04:11,706
* ...do you feel it? *

1269
01:04:11,739 --> 01:04:16,544
* Said do you feel it
when you touch me? *

1270
01:04:18,679 --> 01:04:23,384
* And do you feel it
when you touch me? *

1271
01:04:24,852 --> 01:04:26,854
* There's a fire *

1272
01:04:28,189 --> 01:04:30,558
* There's a fire *

1273
01:04:34,029 --> 01:04:40,301
* Oh it's just a dreaming *

1274
01:04:41,402 --> 01:04:47,542
* I just wanna be dreaming *

1275
01:04:51,146 --> 01:04:53,614
(Iggy)
I'd been using psychedelics.

1276
01:04:55,550 --> 01:04:56,851
[yelping]

1277
01:04:56,884 --> 01:04:59,587
They were probably
cut with a lot of speed.

1278
01:04:59,620 --> 01:05:01,889
[screams]

1279
01:05:01,923 --> 01:05:05,226
God, no! No! No! No!

1280
01:05:05,260 --> 01:05:07,762
I began to have problems
controlling my nerves.

1281
01:05:07,795 --> 01:05:09,864
Get me out of this terrible place!

1282
01:05:09,897 --> 01:05:12,267
(Iggy) That was about
the time that one guy

1283
01:05:12,300 --> 01:05:15,036
who lived in our house,
a guy named John Adams

1284
01:05:15,070 --> 01:05:17,872
didn't have much to do in his life..

1285
01:05:17,905 --> 01:05:19,975
Here. Lookey here.

1286
01:05:20,008 --> 01:05:22,210
(Iggy)
Decided he wanted to take up

1287
01:05:22,243 --> 01:05:24,379
an old heroin addiction.

1288
01:05:24,412 --> 01:05:26,914
- What's H?
- Shh! Not so loud.

1289
01:05:26,948 --> 01:05:30,418
And uh... I fell into that.

1290
01:05:33,021 --> 01:05:35,490
As did other members of the group.

1291
01:05:37,492 --> 01:05:39,560
Everything just decayed.

1292
01:05:39,594 --> 01:05:40,761
And to see those guys

1293
01:05:40,795 --> 01:05:43,164
just to see everyone hit rock bottom

1294
01:05:43,198 --> 01:05:44,599
to see your whole world crumble

1295
01:05:44,632 --> 01:05:46,601
when it's not really your fault.

1296
01:05:46,634 --> 01:05:49,404
And I never did it, and never wanted to.

1297
01:05:49,437 --> 01:05:52,740
Aside from us just being
flat out unreliable

1298
01:05:52,773 --> 01:05:55,443
uh, we, we had Scotty Asheton

1299
01:05:55,476 --> 01:05:57,678
was driving the equipment truck one day.

1300
01:05:57,712 --> 01:06:00,815
It's like a-a bridge
with whatever, ten feet or

1301
01:06:00,848 --> 01:06:05,286
eleven feet clearance, and
truck's twelve feet, you know?

1302
01:06:05,320 --> 01:06:09,157
(Danny) That's the metaphor of
the early Stooges, that's it.

1303
01:06:09,190 --> 01:06:10,691
The van's destroyed

1304
01:06:10,725 --> 01:06:14,195
the instruments that
they rented are destroyed.

1305
01:06:14,229 --> 01:06:15,863
The bridge is destroyed.

1306
01:06:15,896 --> 01:06:19,034
[rock music]

1307
01:06:23,838 --> 01:06:26,641
They were victims of their own, um...

1308
01:06:28,143 --> 01:06:30,645
...lack of professionalism.

1309
01:06:30,678 --> 01:06:35,216
* Down on the street
where the faces shine *

1310
01:06:35,250 --> 01:06:38,386
But they were also
the victims of other forces

1311
01:06:38,419 --> 01:06:41,722
that we could call anti-art.

1312
01:06:41,756 --> 01:06:44,725
[music continues]

1313
01:06:44,759 --> 01:06:47,628
"The Stooges" record Fun House

1314
01:06:47,662 --> 01:06:50,531
so we're at the point
where Elektra has to decide

1315
01:06:50,565 --> 01:06:55,136
whether or not to pick up
the option for a third album.

1316
01:06:55,170 --> 01:06:58,473
William S. Harvey and I
went out to Ann Arbor

1317
01:06:58,506 --> 01:07:00,808
went to Stooge Hall, and they played

1318
01:07:00,841 --> 01:07:02,510
what were the songs

1319
01:07:02,543 --> 01:07:04,345
that were going to be their new songs

1320
01:07:04,379 --> 01:07:06,414
and I just thought "Yes.

1321
01:07:06,447 --> 01:07:08,983
"The music is what I loved

1322
01:07:09,016 --> 01:07:11,219
and there's more of it."

1323
01:07:11,252 --> 01:07:14,389
They were accelerating
from where they started

1324
01:07:14,422 --> 01:07:17,092
they were better, but
that made no difference to him.

1325
01:07:17,125 --> 01:07:19,427
And we got into our rental car

1326
01:07:19,460 --> 01:07:23,331
went back to the hotel,
we got in the elevator and..

1327
01:07:23,364 --> 01:07:26,834
"So, Bill, what'd you think?"

1328
01:07:26,867 --> 01:07:29,104
And he said
"I didn't hear a thing."

1329
01:07:29,137 --> 01:07:31,406
Got out of the elevator,
the elevator door closed

1330
01:07:31,439 --> 01:07:34,242
I called them up, and I said
"You're being dropped."

1331
01:07:35,276 --> 01:07:37,712
"I didn't hear a thing."

1332
01:07:37,745 --> 01:07:40,014
That says it all.

1333
01:07:40,047 --> 01:07:43,151
[music continues]

1334
01:08:01,236 --> 01:08:03,738
They didn't hear a thing from day one.

1335
01:08:03,771 --> 01:08:06,107
They had the world's
greatest band sitting there

1336
01:08:06,141 --> 01:08:07,875
they didn't hear a thing.

1337
01:08:07,908 --> 01:08:11,412
And that's kind of what the world said.

1338
01:08:13,481 --> 01:08:16,451
I don't think they formally
dropped me, but they said

1339
01:08:16,484 --> 01:08:21,289
"Look here's a, here's a
Nikon camera, as a gift.

1340
01:08:21,322 --> 01:08:23,224
[chuckles]
Go away for awhile."

1341
01:08:23,258 --> 01:08:26,727
And so I scurried off to clean up

1342
01:08:26,761 --> 01:08:30,598
and shut down the band for a while.

1343
01:08:30,631 --> 01:08:35,570
My parents were very friendly
with a pharmacist

1344
01:08:35,603 --> 01:08:39,174
who completely illegally,
without a prescription

1345
01:08:39,207 --> 01:08:41,976
ordered, uh, a bottle

1346
01:08:42,009 --> 01:08:44,912
of liquid methadone

1347
01:08:44,945 --> 01:08:47,615
for my exclusive daily use.

1348
01:08:47,648 --> 01:08:51,085
This was a few miles,
couple of miles from our trailer

1349
01:08:51,118 --> 01:08:53,087
on the edge-edge of Ann Arbor.

1350
01:08:53,120 --> 01:08:55,256
And I would usually walk

1351
01:08:55,290 --> 01:08:57,692
in the morning over there

1352
01:08:57,725 --> 01:08:59,960
to take a small dose

1353
01:08:59,994 --> 01:09:01,962
that he would personally give me

1354
01:09:01,996 --> 01:09:03,764
from this family pharmacist.

1355
01:09:03,798 --> 01:09:06,501
I got to the point,
I could go a few days

1356
01:09:07,202 --> 01:09:09,003
without anything.

1357
01:09:09,036 --> 01:09:10,505
[siren blaring]

1358
01:09:12,340 --> 01:09:17,044
And that was
when I... went to New York.

1359
01:09:17,077 --> 01:09:18,613
Iggy and I were sitting on my bed

1360
01:09:18,646 --> 01:09:22,817
we'd fallen asleep to some
black and white Western

1361
01:09:22,850 --> 01:09:25,653
and Lisa called me and she said

1362
01:09:25,686 --> 01:09:28,989
"Oh, is-is Iggy with you?"
I said, "Oh yeah."

1363
01:09:29,023 --> 01:09:32,227
She said "Well, I'm with
David Bowie, we're at Max's

1364
01:09:32,260 --> 01:09:33,894
he really wants to meet Iggy."

1365
01:09:33,928 --> 01:09:36,964
I went down there and met this

1366
01:09:36,997 --> 01:09:40,901
th-this manager, Tony Defries.

1367
01:09:40,935 --> 01:09:45,473
I met David, who was... cool.

1368
01:09:45,506 --> 01:09:48,643
They were going back to England,
I went back to Detroit

1369
01:09:48,676 --> 01:09:50,811
and there an, there was an understanding

1370
01:09:50,845 --> 01:09:53,481
that at a later date

1371
01:09:53,514 --> 01:09:57,552
um, they would arrange,
uh, for me to go to London

1372
01:09:57,585 --> 01:09:59,320
and make some sort of a recording.

1373
01:09:59,354 --> 01:10:02,457
[bells chiming]

1374
01:10:06,761 --> 01:10:11,165
They had somehow and someway
signed me to something

1375
01:10:11,198 --> 01:10:14,602
and, uh, using that in turn, uh

1376
01:10:14,635 --> 01:10:19,073
uh, s-signed a deal
whereby they got some money

1377
01:10:19,106 --> 01:10:21,442
from Columbia for my services.

1378
01:10:21,476 --> 01:10:25,012
Like that chick Pebbles
that signed up TLC

1379
01:10:25,045 --> 01:10:30,050
or, uh, Lou Pearlman
with the boy band "NSYNC."

1380
01:10:30,084 --> 01:10:31,919
It was one of those contracts.

1381
01:10:31,952 --> 01:10:35,356
It was in-insane work demands

1382
01:10:35,390 --> 01:10:39,126
uh, ridiculous splits
of money. Uh..

1383
01:10:39,159 --> 01:10:42,229
I didn't really understand...

1384
01:10:42,263 --> 01:10:46,601
...who owned what, with who I,
with whom I was signed.

1385
01:10:46,634 --> 01:10:50,070
I was in the big bad world now,
I was not..

1386
01:10:50,104 --> 01:10:51,872
I-I-I was not the, uh, uh..

1387
01:10:51,906 --> 01:10:55,476
I wasn-I wasn't
a teenage communist anymore.

1388
01:10:55,510 --> 01:10:58,279
This fella, Tony Defries, what I thought

1389
01:10:58,313 --> 01:11:02,417
was gonna be an effective,
and was an effective flamboyant

1390
01:11:02,450 --> 01:11:04,585
theatrical management style

1391
01:11:04,619 --> 01:11:07,054
based on Colonel Tom Parker

1392
01:11:07,087 --> 01:11:08,923
with the big cigar

1393
01:11:08,956 --> 01:11:12,627
big Afro hair,
and a great big mink coat.

1394
01:11:12,660 --> 01:11:15,396
But in the interim I decided

1395
01:11:15,430 --> 01:11:19,233
I wanted to re-retain
my Detroit identity

1396
01:11:19,266 --> 01:11:22,437
and, uh, told them in advance

1397
01:11:22,470 --> 01:11:25,673
"You gotta bring
James Williamson with me."

1398
01:11:25,706 --> 01:11:27,975
[rock music]

1399
01:11:28,008 --> 01:11:29,510
* Alright *

1400
01:11:31,111 --> 01:11:32,947
* Whoo *

1401
01:11:35,049 --> 01:11:38,686
(James) I guess he was trying
to capture the attitude

1402
01:11:38,719 --> 01:11:41,656
that I had, which I did
have quite a bit of attitude

1403
01:11:41,689 --> 01:11:44,191
when I first started, uh, out.

1404
01:11:44,224 --> 01:11:47,027
You know, I didn't really
have any framework for anything

1405
01:11:47,061 --> 01:11:50,598
I was, what? You know,
not even twenty years old yet.

1406
01:11:50,631 --> 01:11:54,001
And I, um, I didn't have any skills.

1407
01:11:54,034 --> 01:11:56,937
And so, all I could do
was play the guitar.

1408
01:11:56,971 --> 01:11:58,939
I went from living

1409
01:11:58,973 --> 01:12:01,842
on my sisters couch

1410
01:12:01,876 --> 01:12:06,814
literally, to getting
a phone call from Ig and saying

1411
01:12:06,847 --> 01:12:09,717
"You know, tomorrow,
we have a plane ticket for you

1412
01:12:09,750 --> 01:12:12,553
and you're going to London."
Right?

1413
01:12:12,587 --> 01:12:15,490
And so I-I just, I-I

1414
01:12:15,523 --> 01:12:18,459
I got my guitar and I left

1415
01:12:18,493 --> 01:12:20,795
and my sister didn't
even know where I was.

1416
01:12:20,828 --> 01:12:24,131
You know, I mean, my girlfriend
called and-and she goes

1417
01:12:24,164 --> 01:12:26,734
"Well, I don't know where
he is" and-and the girl goes

1418
01:12:26,767 --> 01:12:28,803
"Well, is his guitar there?"

1419
01:12:28,836 --> 01:12:31,005
And she said, "No" And she goes

1420
01:12:31,038 --> 01:12:33,007
"Alright, he's gone."

1421
01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:36,744
(Iggy) So James and I got to
Heathrow, and, uh, you know

1422
01:12:36,777 --> 01:12:40,881
and the cops took
one look at us and thought..

1423
01:12:40,915 --> 01:12:44,719
"Undesirable, no money.
What are you doing?

1424
01:12:44,752 --> 01:12:46,887
"What do you mean, you think
you're not going anywhere.

1425
01:12:46,921 --> 01:12:49,356
You're-you're going
into this holding tank."

1426
01:12:49,390 --> 01:12:52,226
And, uh, it took us a while
to contact Defries

1427
01:12:52,259 --> 01:12:56,597
on the phone and he came down
and signed for us.

1428
01:12:56,631 --> 01:12:58,999
I don't think he ever really wanted us.

1429
01:12:59,033 --> 01:13:01,769
I think David Bowie was interested

1430
01:13:01,802 --> 01:13:04,171
in working with American artists

1431
01:13:04,204 --> 01:13:05,840
who he admired at the time.

1432
01:13:05,873 --> 01:13:09,510
I also think there was a bit of
an American invasion planned.

1433
01:13:09,544 --> 01:13:13,347
Ultimately, they were hoping
to probably have us produced

1434
01:13:13,380 --> 01:13:18,118
by David Bowie who had
a parallel career in production

1435
01:13:18,152 --> 01:13:21,856
and he was producing Lou Reed's
album around the same time.

1436
01:13:21,889 --> 01:13:23,758
It wasn't what I wanted to do.

1437
01:13:23,791 --> 01:13:28,062
I would've been polite
about the, uh, backup musicians

1438
01:13:28,095 --> 01:13:31,432
but the-the names
bandied about were people

1439
01:13:31,466 --> 01:13:33,434
who had already been
in the "Pink Fairies."

1440
01:13:33,468 --> 01:13:36,604
[rock music]

1441
01:13:38,739 --> 01:13:40,941
When I investigated the "Pink Fairies"

1442
01:13:40,975 --> 01:13:43,878
it sorta looked to me like an amalgam

1443
01:13:43,911 --> 01:13:46,781
of the ideas that had
already been thrashed out

1444
01:13:46,814 --> 01:13:48,816
by the "MC5" and Alice Cooper.

1445
01:13:48,849 --> 01:13:51,385
It wasn't right for us, I thought.

1446
01:13:51,418 --> 01:13:55,456
I talked them into, uh, bringing

1447
01:13:55,490 --> 01:13:57,391
two more Stooges

1448
01:13:57,424 --> 01:13:59,059
over from America.

1449
01:13:59,093 --> 01:14:01,996
[rock music]

1450
01:14:11,706 --> 01:14:13,641
* I'm hungry *

1451
01:14:18,145 --> 01:14:20,180
* I'm hungry *

1452
01:14:20,214 --> 01:14:21,616
We had a vision

1453
01:14:21,649 --> 01:14:23,250
and we started rehearsing in earnest

1454
01:14:23,283 --> 01:14:27,855
in a filthy basement,
and, uh, started getting tight.

1455
01:14:27,888 --> 01:14:31,358
The song-writing
wasn't really there yet

1456
01:14:31,391 --> 01:14:34,762
but the... the grooves

1457
01:14:34,795 --> 01:14:36,997
the, um, the force was.

1458
01:14:37,031 --> 01:14:39,366
Some of the songs we had already written

1459
01:14:39,399 --> 01:14:40,768
and brought in at that time

1460
01:14:40,801 --> 01:14:42,102
were "I Got A Right"

1461
01:14:42,136 --> 01:14:43,538
"Gimme Some Skin"

1462
01:14:43,571 --> 01:14:44,639
"Tight Pants."

1463
01:14:44,672 --> 01:14:46,774
Which later showed up as

1464
01:14:46,807 --> 01:14:49,677
"Shake Appeal on Raw Power."

1465
01:14:49,710 --> 01:14:51,679
We did some demo sessions

1466
01:14:51,712 --> 01:14:54,181
w-a, at a little eight track

1467
01:14:54,214 --> 01:14:57,151
called R.G. Jones in Wimbledon

1468
01:14:57,184 --> 01:14:59,319
and those were good demo sessions.

1469
01:14:59,353 --> 01:15:01,589
[rock music]

1470
01:15:03,658 --> 01:15:06,761
[indistinct singing]

1471
01:15:09,997 --> 01:15:11,732
Then later...

1472
01:15:11,766 --> 01:15:14,301
...we did, uh, we did a little

1473
01:15:14,334 --> 01:15:16,537
little more formal session in

1474
01:15:16,571 --> 01:15:19,406
Olympic Studios with Keith Harwood

1475
01:15:19,439 --> 01:15:22,342
who was The Stones engineer at that time

1476
01:15:22,376 --> 01:15:25,079
and that's the recording
of "I Got A Right"

1477
01:15:25,112 --> 01:15:27,815
that's become so popular, since it's

1478
01:15:27,848 --> 01:15:31,151
fast as lightning and kicks like a mule.

1479
01:15:31,185 --> 01:15:34,121
[rock music]

1480
01:15:38,559 --> 01:15:41,495
* Anytime I want I got a right to move *

1481
01:15:41,528 --> 01:15:43,798
* No matter what they say *

1482
01:15:45,800 --> 01:15:48,836
* Anytime I want I got a right to move *

1483
01:15:48,869 --> 01:15:51,038
* No matter what they say *

1484
01:15:53,040 --> 01:15:56,443
* I got a right I got a right to move *

1485
01:15:56,476 --> 01:15:59,714
* Anywhere I want anywhere *

1486
01:15:59,747 --> 01:16:02,917
It was our best effort, uh, to, to..

1487
01:16:02,950 --> 01:16:04,919
To make hit records, basically.

1488
01:16:04,952 --> 01:16:07,622
We wanted-we wanted
to make a good record

1489
01:16:07,655 --> 01:16:11,626
um, but the, the thing about us is that

1490
01:16:11,659 --> 01:16:13,694
w-we're so delusional about

1491
01:16:13,728 --> 01:16:15,763
what is popular, you know

1492
01:16:15,796 --> 01:16:19,033
because all we really care about
is what we like.

1493
01:16:19,066 --> 01:16:21,535
Sometime, I don't know
if it was late fall

1494
01:16:21,568 --> 01:16:23,570
somebody knows.

1495
01:16:23,604 --> 01:16:25,205
We, uh..

1496
01:16:25,239 --> 01:16:28,709
We had-we had written
the second batch of material

1497
01:16:28,743 --> 01:16:30,377
that was gonna be "Raw Power."

1498
01:16:30,410 --> 01:16:33,614
And eventually, they just
all got busy with Bowie

1499
01:16:33,648 --> 01:16:34,915
and left us in the studio

1500
01:16:34,949 --> 01:16:37,051
cause we owed a record to CBS

1501
01:16:37,084 --> 01:16:39,787
and that's where "Raw Power"
came out of and

1502
01:16:39,820 --> 01:16:42,823
and we really, you know,
I-I've said this before

1503
01:16:42,857 --> 01:16:45,993
we were just left
without any adult supervision

1504
01:16:46,026 --> 01:16:47,762
I mean, we just did our thing.

1505
01:16:47,795 --> 01:16:49,930
[rock music]

1506
01:17:06,013 --> 01:17:07,748
* I'm a street walking cheetah *

1507
01:17:07,782 --> 01:17:10,785
* With a heart full of napalm *

1508
01:17:12,219 --> 01:17:16,356
* I'm a runaway son
of the nuclear A-bomb *

1509
01:17:18,859 --> 01:17:21,762
* I am a world's forgotten boy *

1510
01:17:21,796 --> 01:17:25,599
* The one who searches and destroys *

1511
01:17:25,632 --> 01:17:29,203
(Iggy) As a guitarist,
James fills the space

1512
01:17:29,236 --> 01:17:33,207
as if somebody's just let
a drug dog into your house

1513
01:17:33,240 --> 01:17:34,842
and it's big.

1514
01:17:34,875 --> 01:17:38,746
And he-he finds every corner...

1515
01:17:40,214 --> 01:17:43,650
...of a musical premise

1516
01:17:43,684 --> 01:17:47,321
and of a piece of space and time

1517
01:17:47,354 --> 01:17:49,990
and fills it up with detail.

1518
01:17:50,024 --> 01:17:52,960
It's a very detailed approach

1519
01:17:52,993 --> 01:17:57,064
and it's really hard to find
a space to say something

1520
01:17:57,097 --> 01:17:59,466
that he hasn't thought of or occupied.

1521
01:17:59,499 --> 01:18:00,968
[music continues]

1522
01:18:01,001 --> 01:18:04,504
* Somebody gotta save my soul *

1523
01:18:04,538 --> 01:18:07,274
* Baby penetrates my mind *

1524
01:18:11,078 --> 01:18:15,182
* And I'm the world's forgotten boy *

1525
01:18:16,751 --> 01:18:21,655
* The one who's searchin'
searchin' to destroy oh *

1526
01:18:21,688 --> 01:18:24,925
(Iggy) And so Ron plays a
sort of a nimble bass style

1527
01:18:24,959 --> 01:18:27,828
and it really-really helps

1528
01:18:27,862 --> 01:18:29,997
lift James, my vocals

1529
01:18:30,030 --> 01:18:31,665
I had to go way up high

1530
01:18:31,698 --> 01:18:34,701
I'm-I'm an octave above

1531
01:18:34,735 --> 01:18:38,005
Fun House to find a space

1532
01:18:38,038 --> 01:18:41,075
that James isn't occupying.

1533
01:18:41,108 --> 01:18:44,178
Uh, Scott solved the problem
by-by just beating

1534
01:18:44,211 --> 01:18:46,580
the living shit out of his drums.

1535
01:18:46,613 --> 01:18:49,083
[music continues]

1536
01:18:49,116 --> 01:18:54,121
* Look out honey 'cause
I'm using technology **

1537
01:18:54,154 --> 01:18:56,390
(James) The bass player
and the drummer are

1538
01:18:56,423 --> 01:18:59,593
the most important thing in
the band, other than the songs.

1539
01:18:59,626 --> 01:19:01,528
You know, when those guys were together

1540
01:19:01,561 --> 01:19:03,764
they were just like
this unit and, you know

1541
01:19:03,798 --> 01:19:05,966
and it just was rock solid.

1542
01:19:06,000 --> 01:19:08,602
It was so good,
it was really, really good.

1543
01:19:08,635 --> 01:19:11,205
And that's what, uh,
unfortunately on Raw Power

1544
01:19:11,238 --> 01:19:13,607
you don't actually hear the bass
that much

1545
01:19:13,640 --> 01:19:15,609
but it was there, it was good.

1546
01:19:15,642 --> 01:19:18,245
[music continues]

1547
01:19:29,756 --> 01:19:31,425
[crowd cheering]

1548
01:19:34,862 --> 01:19:37,297
(Iggy)
The band from late 1971

1549
01:19:37,331 --> 01:19:39,266
when we were signed with Main Man

1550
01:19:39,299 --> 01:19:43,170
to early '72 or whenever
we went to London and began

1551
01:19:43,203 --> 01:19:46,740
working with them, to early '73

1552
01:19:46,773 --> 01:19:49,343
when they publically dropped us

1553
01:19:49,376 --> 01:19:52,512
but privately told me
that I was suspended

1554
01:19:52,546 --> 01:19:54,414
for moral turpitude

1555
01:19:54,448 --> 01:19:56,616
and embarrassing their company

1556
01:19:56,650 --> 01:20:00,154
they consistently refused

1557
01:20:00,187 --> 01:20:03,157
to allow us to play a gig.

1558
01:20:03,190 --> 01:20:05,525
And we were...
we were popular enough

1559
01:20:05,559 --> 01:20:09,096
that we could have gone out
and earned most of our bacon.

1560
01:20:09,129 --> 01:20:11,431
They wouldn't let us play.

1561
01:20:11,465 --> 01:20:14,969
The situation brought out
our old weaknesses

1562
01:20:15,002 --> 01:20:16,470
and we were told

1563
01:20:16,503 --> 01:20:19,039
that we were gonna go live in Hollywood

1564
01:20:19,073 --> 01:20:22,943
in this firm Main Man house there.

1565
01:20:22,977 --> 01:20:24,845
And it was oil and water

1566
01:20:24,879 --> 01:20:27,614
James Williamson behaved badly

1567
01:20:27,647 --> 01:20:30,117
Iggy Pop behaved badly

1568
01:20:30,150 --> 01:20:33,320
Scott Asheton just looked at the floor

1569
01:20:33,353 --> 01:20:34,855
and let it roll

1570
01:20:34,889 --> 01:20:37,958
and Ron Asheton was embittered

1571
01:20:37,992 --> 01:20:40,527
and powerless and threw up his hands

1572
01:20:40,560 --> 01:20:43,998
and the group drifted into drugs.

1573
01:20:44,031 --> 01:20:47,167
Again, this embarrassed these people.

1574
01:20:47,201 --> 01:20:51,205
Defries came through town
one day in a limo.

1575
01:20:51,238 --> 01:20:54,208
I think he was gonna talk to me
about something

1576
01:20:54,241 --> 01:20:57,978
they could do with me
that didn't involve these guys

1577
01:20:58,012 --> 01:20:59,880
that would

1578
01:20:59,914 --> 01:21:01,815
put a positive spin

1579
01:21:01,848 --> 01:21:04,418
on his investment with me.

1580
01:21:04,451 --> 01:21:07,421
And he got me into his limo
and he said, "James..

1581
01:21:08,956 --> 01:21:12,726
"...I want to tell you
what we're going to do.

1582
01:21:12,759 --> 01:21:14,494
"We're going to take you to New York

1583
01:21:14,528 --> 01:21:16,830
"to Broadway

1584
01:21:16,863 --> 01:21:20,234
and you're going to be
Peter Pan."

1585
01:21:20,267 --> 01:21:23,670
* If I'm pleased with myself *

1586
01:21:23,703 --> 01:21:26,040
* I have every good reason to be **

1587
01:21:27,541 --> 01:21:30,010
And I, with deep sincerity

1588
01:21:30,044 --> 01:21:32,246
an-and I mean this.

1589
01:21:32,279 --> 01:21:36,483
I said, "No, no, no, Tony.

1590
01:21:39,819 --> 01:21:42,089
"I've gotta be Manson.

1591
01:21:42,122 --> 01:21:44,358
We've gotta make a movie."

1592
01:21:44,391 --> 01:21:47,027
He dropped me off and it was

1593
01:21:47,061 --> 01:21:48,695
just a couple days after that

1594
01:21:48,728 --> 01:21:52,532
that the rest of us
got thrown out of the house.

1595
01:21:52,566 --> 01:21:54,701
(Williamson) The brothers
moved back to Detroit.

1596
01:21:54,734 --> 01:21:57,371
Later on, Iggy and I

1597
01:21:57,404 --> 01:21:58,738
decided we would

1598
01:21:58,772 --> 01:22:01,108
give it another whirl.

1599
01:22:01,141 --> 01:22:03,710
And so we, uh, we created

1600
01:22:03,743 --> 01:22:06,646
what later became "Kill City."

1601
01:22:06,680 --> 01:22:09,916
We lucked out,
we-we had a friend, Jimmy Webb

1602
01:22:09,950 --> 01:22:12,286
he had a studio in his house.

1603
01:22:12,319 --> 01:22:14,154
It was funny, I mean,
you know, you'd have guys like

1604
01:22:14,188 --> 01:22:16,656
Art Garfunkel come in to the session

1605
01:22:16,690 --> 01:22:18,158
he'd listen to play backs

1606
01:22:18,192 --> 01:22:20,227
and then they would just leave,
you know?

1607
01:22:20,260 --> 01:22:23,964
And without anybody,
any takers for the album

1608
01:22:23,998 --> 01:22:26,933
we-we, we just called it quits.

1609
01:22:28,168 --> 01:22:31,371
Jim went off with Bowie to Europe...

1610
01:22:33,140 --> 01:22:36,676
...and I went to work
for a recording studio

1611
01:22:36,710 --> 01:22:40,647
but I, um, quickly realized
that there's only one thing

1612
01:22:40,680 --> 01:22:43,150
worse than playing in a band
you don't like

1613
01:22:43,183 --> 01:22:47,587
and that's recording
five or ten bands every day

1614
01:22:47,621 --> 01:22:48,922
that you can't stand.

1615
01:22:48,955 --> 01:22:51,758
So, I-I really wasn't
very cut out for that

1616
01:22:51,791 --> 01:22:54,428
but I did learn a lot,
and it stimulated, uh

1617
01:22:54,461 --> 01:22:57,431
an interest in electronics,
and at that time

1618
01:22:57,464 --> 01:23:00,667
it was the very, very beginning
of the personal computer

1619
01:23:00,700 --> 01:23:02,869
and so I went off and I learned

1620
01:23:02,902 --> 01:23:05,339
how to do all that stuff.

1621
01:23:05,372 --> 01:23:07,707
I'll tell ya, uh, when I was

1622
01:23:07,741 --> 01:23:09,609
uh, studying engineering

1623
01:23:09,643 --> 01:23:12,946
to go from "The Stooges" to calculus

1624
01:23:12,979 --> 01:23:15,615
was a huge existential gap.

1625
01:23:15,649 --> 01:23:17,584
[man screaming]

1626
01:23:19,353 --> 01:23:21,788
So I went and moved
to the Silicon Valley

1627
01:23:21,821 --> 01:23:24,724
and started working
in the electronics industry

1628
01:23:24,758 --> 01:23:27,961
so, and I've been there ever
since, I mean, that's been

1629
01:23:27,994 --> 01:23:30,664
uh, 27 year career.

1630
01:23:30,697 --> 01:23:33,667
[rock music]

1631
01:23:42,376 --> 01:23:44,010
(Iggy)
After "The Stooges" collapsed

1632
01:23:44,044 --> 01:23:45,812
Ron first joined "New Order"

1633
01:23:45,845 --> 01:23:49,883
and then he did "Destroy
All Monsters" with Niagara.

1634
01:23:49,916 --> 01:23:53,019
[indistinct singing]

1635
01:24:08,235 --> 01:24:11,371
[rock music]

1636
01:24:16,743 --> 01:24:19,846
(Scott) I played five years in
the "Sonic Rendezvous Band"

1637
01:24:19,879 --> 01:24:22,282
with Fred Smith, and, um..

1638
01:24:22,316 --> 01:24:24,518
He married Patty Smith.

1639
01:24:24,551 --> 01:24:28,455
And once he did that was
the end of the band.

1640
01:24:28,488 --> 01:24:30,224
Went on another five years

1641
01:24:30,257 --> 01:24:34,394
playing with Scott Morgan without Fred

1642
01:24:34,428 --> 01:24:37,797
making $30, $40 a night.

1643
01:24:37,831 --> 01:24:41,701
Three sets a night.

1644
01:24:41,735 --> 01:24:44,338
I'd have day jobs.

1645
01:24:45,639 --> 01:24:47,874
Warehousing

1646
01:24:47,907 --> 01:24:50,377
landscaping

1647
01:24:50,410 --> 01:24:53,680
for two years I drove a taxi cab.

1648
01:24:55,249 --> 01:24:57,451
Just crummy jobs.

1649
01:25:02,356 --> 01:25:05,058
(Danny)
I think that "The Stooges"

1650
01:25:05,091 --> 01:25:08,061
reinvented music as we know it.

1651
01:25:08,094 --> 01:25:12,632
If I say that "The Stooges"
music is-is point zero

1652
01:25:12,666 --> 01:25:16,670
The "Ramones,"
who were a great love of mine

1653
01:25:16,703 --> 01:25:18,672
after that

1654
01:25:18,705 --> 01:25:22,242
knew each other not because
they liked each other

1655
01:25:22,276 --> 01:25:23,743
because they were the only four people

1656
01:25:23,777 --> 01:25:26,780
at their school
who liked "The Stooges."

1657
01:25:26,813 --> 01:25:31,785
* I'm a street walking cheetah
with a heart full of napalm *

1658
01:25:31,818 --> 01:25:35,389
* I'm a runaway son
of the nuclear A-bomb *

1659
01:25:37,291 --> 01:25:39,459
* I am a world's forgotten boy *

1660
01:25:39,493 --> 01:25:42,262
* The one who searches and destroys **

1661
01:25:42,296 --> 01:25:44,164
[rock music]

1662
01:25:44,198 --> 01:25:46,700
[indistinct singing]

1663
01:25:55,008 --> 01:25:58,278
(Dinah) Do you feel you've
influenced anybody in the..

1664
01:25:58,312 --> 01:26:00,780
I think I helped wipe out the sixties

1665
01:26:00,814 --> 01:26:02,716
[crowd laughing]

1666
01:26:05,219 --> 01:26:07,454
You'll get one number
and one number only

1667
01:26:07,487 --> 01:26:09,823
because I'm a lazy bastard.

1668
01:26:12,826 --> 01:26:14,661
This is "No Fun."

1669
01:26:15,262 --> 01:26:18,398
[rock music]

1670
01:26:28,442 --> 01:26:31,811
* No fun my babe *

1671
01:26:31,845 --> 01:26:35,014
* No fun *

1672
01:26:35,048 --> 01:26:38,352
* No fun my babe *

1673
01:26:38,385 --> 01:26:40,520
* No fun *

1674
01:26:42,188 --> 01:26:45,425
* ...want to be alone *

1675
01:26:45,459 --> 01:26:48,528
* I'm out here by myself *

1676
01:26:48,562 --> 01:26:52,165
* I don't want to be alone *

1677
01:26:52,198 --> 01:26:55,168
* In love *

1678
01:26:55,201 --> 01:26:57,604
* Nobody else *

1679
01:26:59,205 --> 01:27:00,740
It's-it's Dionysiac.

1680
01:27:00,774 --> 01:27:02,409
If you know the difference
between Dionysiac

1681
01:27:02,442 --> 01:27:04,244
and Appolonian art.

1682
01:27:08,648 --> 01:27:11,585
[rock music]

1683
01:27:15,455 --> 01:27:18,592
[indistinct singing]

1684
01:27:27,401 --> 01:27:31,605
* Now I want to be your dog *

1685
01:27:31,638 --> 01:27:35,809
* Now I want to be your dog *

1686
01:27:44,418 --> 01:27:46,520
* Come on *

1687
01:27:49,323 --> 01:27:52,459
[instrumental music]

1688
01:28:18,652 --> 01:28:22,255
* Yeah I do mean you

1689
01:28:22,288 --> 01:28:25,091
* She got TV eye on me *

1690
01:28:25,124 --> 01:28:27,527
(Mike Watt) There was
a movie "Velvet Goldmine"

1691
01:28:27,561 --> 01:28:30,096
in which one of the dudes
is a composite of

1692
01:28:30,129 --> 01:28:32,799
Ig and they wanted like some kind of

1693
01:28:32,832 --> 01:28:35,268
music coming from somebody
called "The Rats."

1694
01:28:35,301 --> 01:28:36,836
They put Steve Shelley out

1695
01:28:36,870 --> 01:28:38,705
because he's from Midland, Michigan

1696
01:28:38,738 --> 01:28:41,274
to go with Ronny and he'd write songs

1697
01:28:41,307 --> 01:28:42,776
and he comes to New York

1698
01:28:42,809 --> 01:28:44,844
and we get to record with him, yeah.

1699
01:28:44,878 --> 01:28:47,381
And here I got to sit across
and Thrust, too, you know.

1700
01:28:47,414 --> 01:28:49,649
There's the guy doing the "TV Eye"

1701
01:28:49,683 --> 01:28:52,285
we could see his hands and play along.

1702
01:28:52,318 --> 01:28:53,753
It was a trip.

1703
01:28:54,521 --> 01:28:56,523
Uh, I got sick

1704
01:28:56,556 --> 01:28:58,825
when I was, uh, 42

1705
01:28:58,858 --> 01:29:01,495
and it almost killed me, this infection.

1706
01:29:01,528 --> 01:29:03,697
They had to put tubes in me

1707
01:29:03,730 --> 01:29:05,865
and I couldn't work bass,
so it was the first time

1708
01:29:05,899 --> 01:29:08,668
I stopped since I was thirteen
and when I came back

1709
01:29:08,702 --> 01:29:11,871
I was all atrophied and really lame.

1710
01:29:11,905 --> 01:29:14,674
I thought you were not supposed
to lose that kinda stuff.

1711
01:29:14,708 --> 01:29:16,576
So I panicked and then started doing

1712
01:29:16,610 --> 01:29:19,145
Stooges songs to get strong

1713
01:29:19,178 --> 01:29:22,816
and I put together some bands
just to do this.

1714
01:29:22,849 --> 01:29:26,386
There's not chord changes
but it's a lot about the feel.

1715
01:29:26,420 --> 01:29:27,587
So, "Little Doll," "Little Doll"

1716
01:29:27,621 --> 01:29:29,188
"Little Doll," "Little Doll."

1717
01:29:29,222 --> 01:29:31,357
On the West Coast I did one
with Perk and Peter

1718
01:29:31,391 --> 01:29:33,427
from "Porno for Pyros," and on the East

1719
01:29:33,460 --> 01:29:36,162
I did it with J and Murph from Dinosaur.

1720
01:29:36,195 --> 01:29:38,998
Well J gets his solo album

1721
01:29:39,032 --> 01:29:41,835
and he asks me to tour.

1722
01:29:41,868 --> 01:29:44,003
He says, "Man, it's hard for me
to sing every song every night

1723
01:29:44,037 --> 01:29:45,439
"so why don't you do some Stooges

1724
01:29:45,472 --> 01:29:48,007
like we did with those gigs."

1725
01:29:48,041 --> 01:29:49,576
And when we come through
Ann Arbor, he says

1726
01:29:49,609 --> 01:29:52,579
"You know Ronny" because of the..

1727
01:29:52,612 --> 01:29:54,681
Now I got his, uh, phone number.

1728
01:29:54,714 --> 01:29:57,083
I call him and he comes to the Blind Pig

1729
01:29:57,116 --> 01:29:58,384
and he jams Stooges with us.

1730
01:29:58,418 --> 01:30:01,020
So J says, "Come on tour!

1731
01:30:01,054 --> 01:30:03,022
"First two thirds will be mine, and then

1732
01:30:03,056 --> 01:30:05,191
the last third
we'll do Stooges."

1733
01:30:05,224 --> 01:30:07,561
Then 2002 comes and, uh..

1734
01:30:07,594 --> 01:30:10,129
Thurston is curating
a All Tomorrow Party

1735
01:30:10,163 --> 01:30:11,598
at UCLA and he says

1736
01:30:11,631 --> 01:30:13,132
"Why don't we get Scotty?"
You know.

1737
01:30:13,166 --> 01:30:14,468
He was living in his truck.

1738
01:30:14,501 --> 01:30:15,969
And so rent him a drum set and he comes

1739
01:30:16,002 --> 01:30:18,772
so me and J are playing
with both Asheton brothers

1740
01:30:18,805 --> 01:30:21,741
and we do some gigs in Europe...

1741
01:30:21,775 --> 01:30:24,377
...and that's where I think
Ig heard about it.

1742
01:30:24,410 --> 01:30:26,880
It was time for me to record again

1743
01:30:26,913 --> 01:30:28,582
and, um..

1744
01:30:28,615 --> 01:30:31,084
I'd run out of things to say.

1745
01:30:32,185 --> 01:30:34,788
And my record label had, um...

1746
01:30:34,821 --> 01:30:37,390
...run out of patience with, uh

1747
01:30:37,423 --> 01:30:39,826
my middling sales

1748
01:30:39,859 --> 01:30:42,395
on the last couple of albums.

1749
01:30:42,428 --> 01:30:45,599
To pre-empt, uh, being produced

1750
01:30:45,632 --> 01:30:48,401
which was, is,
was the kiss of death to me

1751
01:30:48,434 --> 01:30:52,238
I offered to do a-a guest..

1752
01:30:52,271 --> 01:30:53,473
A guest star album.

1753
01:30:53,507 --> 01:30:55,408
I started listing everything

1754
01:30:55,441 --> 01:30:57,911
everybody I thought of who was cool

1755
01:30:57,944 --> 01:31:00,413
and then I realized
none of them are any as cool

1756
01:31:00,446 --> 01:31:01,981
as "The Stooges."

1757
01:31:02,015 --> 01:31:04,718
[rock music]

1758
01:31:10,624 --> 01:31:14,127
Sometimes just a,
a hop or two in front of me

1759
01:31:14,160 --> 01:31:16,696
playing with J. Masci
from Dinosaur Jr.

1760
01:31:16,730 --> 01:31:20,099
I got a phone call oneday
from Ron Asheton...

1761
01:31:20,133 --> 01:31:21,801
...and he was saying,
"Well, we're playing

1762
01:31:21,835 --> 01:31:23,503
this thing with J. Mascis."

1763
01:31:23,537 --> 01:31:26,439
J. Mascis

1764
01:31:26,472 --> 01:31:28,207
pulled the whole thing together.

1765
01:31:28,241 --> 01:31:29,442
J. Mascis.

1766
01:31:29,475 --> 01:31:31,144
[rock music]

1767
01:31:39,052 --> 01:31:41,320
(Scott) Then we did the Asheton, Asheton

1768
01:31:41,354 --> 01:31:43,489
Mascis Watt thing

1769
01:31:43,523 --> 01:31:45,959
which Jim got ear of

1770
01:31:45,992 --> 01:31:48,662
cause people wanted to hear those songs

1771
01:31:48,695 --> 01:31:50,864
and we were playing the old Stooge songs

1772
01:31:50,897 --> 01:31:52,666
and getting good reviews

1773
01:31:52,699 --> 01:31:56,169
so that sparked Jim...

1774
01:31:56,202 --> 01:31:58,504
...to want to get the band
back together.

1775
01:31:58,538 --> 01:32:02,375
I gave Ron a call, I still knew
the phone number was the same

1776
01:32:02,408 --> 01:32:05,645
at his home from, uh, 1966

1777
01:32:05,679 --> 01:32:08,682
and, uh, he said
"Yeah! I'll do it."

1778
01:32:08,715 --> 01:32:11,484
I remember going to my mom's house

1779
01:32:11,517 --> 01:32:14,220
Ronny was there

1780
01:32:14,253 --> 01:32:17,223
and, uh, my mom's, you know

1781
01:32:17,256 --> 01:32:19,593
I walk in and she's going

1782
01:32:19,626 --> 01:32:22,662
[whispers]
"Guess who just called?"

1783
01:32:22,696 --> 01:32:25,699
And I'm like, she goes "Iggy."

1784
01:32:25,732 --> 01:32:27,834
And she was so excited, you know

1785
01:32:27,867 --> 01:32:29,569
cause she was like..

1786
01:32:29,603 --> 01:32:31,705
Thought it was the coolest thing
that Iggy called

1787
01:32:31,738 --> 01:32:34,340
and the band's getting back together.

1788
01:32:34,373 --> 01:32:38,011
So in a weird way, it was
the cats Don Fleming and Jimbo

1789
01:32:38,044 --> 01:32:42,081
Dunbar who asked Ronny,
I mean, this is my guess

1790
01:32:42,115 --> 01:32:44,383
to do that "Velvet Goldmine"
that kinda started

1791
01:32:44,417 --> 01:32:46,219
the whole ball rolling.

1792
01:32:46,252 --> 01:32:48,354
And then that sickness in a weird way

1793
01:32:48,387 --> 01:32:51,090
and J saying "Come on aboard."

1794
01:32:51,124 --> 01:32:54,027
He had... somehow, you know,
I don't know exactly

1795
01:32:54,060 --> 01:32:57,631
but I think this was the dynamic
that led to the...

1796
01:32:57,664 --> 01:32:59,265
...2003 Coachella.

1797
01:32:59,298 --> 01:33:02,301
Before we left
the st-left the studio

1798
01:33:02,335 --> 01:33:05,772
we got a call from Coachella

1799
01:33:05,805 --> 01:33:07,641
and they offered us a show.

1800
01:33:07,674 --> 01:33:10,376
To be honest

1801
01:33:10,409 --> 01:33:12,378
at what would be a good price

1802
01:33:12,411 --> 01:33:15,882
for a Iggy Pop show, but, um..

1803
01:33:15,915 --> 01:33:18,217
If I was gonna work with "The Stooges"

1804
01:33:18,251 --> 01:33:21,921
we're communists!
We split all the money.

1805
01:33:21,955 --> 01:33:25,258
So I had, uh, only way
I could do it was say

1806
01:33:25,291 --> 01:33:27,761
"Well, you'd have to give us

1807
01:33:27,794 --> 01:33:30,897
three times that,"
and I thought they'd go away

1808
01:33:30,930 --> 01:33:34,734
and they came back
and said "Okay."

1809
01:33:34,768 --> 01:33:36,936
[instrumental music]

1810
01:33:38,037 --> 01:33:40,974
[crowd cheering]

1811
01:33:44,610 --> 01:33:46,112
Woo!

1812
01:33:48,614 --> 01:33:50,183
Ah!

1813
01:33:51,484 --> 01:33:53,252
Everybody!

1814
01:33:53,286 --> 01:33:54,954
Now look out!

1815
01:33:56,622 --> 01:33:59,793
[rock music]

1816
01:34:02,829 --> 01:34:04,831
(Scott)
When the band got back together

1817
01:34:04,864 --> 01:34:06,866
I was so happy.

1818
01:34:06,900 --> 01:34:10,469
It was a dream come true, it was just..

1819
01:34:10,503 --> 01:34:13,272
Oh, my God, finally!

1820
01:34:13,306 --> 01:34:15,775
I'm back with the band.

1821
01:34:15,809 --> 01:34:17,376
[indistinct singing]

1822
01:34:19,145 --> 01:34:20,980
(Mike) I could tell that
they really enjoyed

1823
01:34:21,014 --> 01:34:23,116
playing with each other,
I could really tell

1824
01:34:23,149 --> 01:34:25,151
that they were glad to be doing this

1825
01:34:25,184 --> 01:34:27,553
even with all those years in between.

1826
01:34:27,586 --> 01:34:29,723
[rock music]

1827
01:34:31,424 --> 01:34:32,892
Yeah!

1828
01:34:37,163 --> 01:34:41,234
* I'm so messed up I want you here *

1829
01:34:44,503 --> 01:34:45,839
* In my room *

1830
01:34:45,872 --> 01:34:49,175
* I want you here *

1831
01:34:49,208 --> 01:34:51,644
(Iggy)
Certain parts of history

1832
01:34:51,677 --> 01:34:53,679
have repeated themselves

1833
01:34:53,713 --> 01:34:55,548
both in the history of this

1834
01:34:55,581 --> 01:34:57,483
reunification of our group

1835
01:34:57,516 --> 01:35:00,419
which, I prefer to call it
that rather than a reunion

1836
01:35:00,453 --> 01:35:02,321
and one thing that

1837
01:35:02,355 --> 01:35:05,158
happened was, uh, you know, we..

1838
01:35:05,191 --> 01:35:09,495
We did a substantial period with

1839
01:35:09,528 --> 01:35:11,197
with Ron doing the guitar.

1840
01:35:11,230 --> 01:35:14,868
* Now I wanna be your dog *

1841
01:35:20,740 --> 01:35:22,308
* Well come on *

1842
01:35:27,981 --> 01:35:32,285
(Iggy) The last time I saw
him was, uh, after the show.

1843
01:35:32,318 --> 01:35:34,187
I opened the door

1844
01:35:34,220 --> 01:35:37,356
and-and he and Scotty
were sitting in profile

1845
01:35:37,390 --> 01:35:39,859
at the end of the room
and they were surrounded

1846
01:35:39,893 --> 01:35:44,030
by young Slovenian musicians.

1847
01:35:44,063 --> 01:35:46,866
So I just saw that they were busy

1848
01:35:46,900 --> 01:35:49,368
and, um, split.

1849
01:35:49,402 --> 01:35:52,705
I last saw him in profile.

1850
01:35:52,738 --> 01:35:54,473
He popped up in my dreams

1851
01:35:54,507 --> 01:35:56,309
a few times since then...

1852
01:35:57,476 --> 01:36:00,780
...and he never spoke or looked at me.

1853
01:36:00,814 --> 01:36:03,216
It was always sort of

1854
01:36:03,249 --> 01:36:06,552
more something like,
uh... you know.

1855
01:36:06,585 --> 01:36:08,121
The guy in "The Third Man" or

1856
01:36:08,154 --> 01:36:10,323
the guy in "The French Connection"

1857
01:36:10,356 --> 01:36:12,125
always walking by

1858
01:36:12,158 --> 01:36:15,761
and you can't quite catch him.

1859
01:36:15,795 --> 01:36:17,763
He was a lot like that.

1860
01:36:20,934 --> 01:36:22,735
When he passed away

1861
01:36:22,768 --> 01:36:24,770
it coincided with James

1862
01:36:24,804 --> 01:36:27,473
retirement as a Sony Executive

1863
01:36:27,506 --> 01:36:28,808
and...

1864
01:36:28,842 --> 01:36:31,610
...he wanted to rock

1865
01:36:31,644 --> 01:36:34,080
and...

1866
01:36:34,113 --> 01:36:37,683
...I was sure that there
was nothing else meaningful

1867
01:36:37,716 --> 01:36:40,319
that the group could do other than

1868
01:36:40,353 --> 01:36:44,323
do his,
do-do some things with him

1869
01:36:44,357 --> 01:36:46,325
doing his material.

1870
01:36:46,359 --> 01:36:50,296
And having just finally
done the right thing

1871
01:36:50,329 --> 01:36:52,698
thirty years,
thirty-five years later

1872
01:36:52,731 --> 01:36:54,600
with Ron's material

1873
01:36:54,633 --> 01:36:57,303
to do the same thing for his
and complete the job.

1874
01:36:57,336 --> 01:37:01,607
Iggy's talking to me about,
"Well, you wanna play guitar?"

1875
01:37:01,640 --> 01:37:04,377
and I'm going, "Well..

1876
01:37:04,410 --> 01:37:06,445
"I don't know,
I mean, I haven't played guitar

1877
01:37:06,479 --> 01:37:08,514
in thirty years, so.."

1878
01:37:08,547 --> 01:37:11,851
Uh, but I, but I felt like that, uh..

1879
01:37:11,885 --> 01:37:13,887
And this is the truth, is I felt

1880
01:37:13,920 --> 01:37:16,622
like that these guys were

1881
01:37:16,655 --> 01:37:17,991
you know, they're my buddies

1882
01:37:18,024 --> 01:37:20,226
I mean, I know these
guys from my twenties.

1883
01:37:20,259 --> 01:37:23,629
And so, they needed me,
you know, to do this

1884
01:37:23,662 --> 01:37:27,000
and I, I felt like
I needed to step up and do it.

1885
01:37:27,033 --> 01:37:29,969
* Raw power it's a more than soul *

1886
01:37:30,003 --> 01:37:32,471
* Got a son called rock and roll *

1887
01:37:32,505 --> 01:37:35,641
* Raw power honey just won't quit *

1888
01:37:35,674 --> 01:37:38,244
* Raw power I can feel it *

1889
01:37:38,277 --> 01:37:41,214
* Raw power honey can't be beat *

1890
01:37:41,247 --> 01:37:44,317
* Get down and a kiss my feet *

1891
01:37:44,350 --> 01:37:47,153
* Everybody's always
tryin to tell me what to do *

1892
01:37:47,186 --> 01:37:49,755
(James)
I really had no intention

1893
01:37:49,788 --> 01:37:52,158
idea or wildest dream

1894
01:37:52,191 --> 01:37:54,093
that I would be playing, you know

1895
01:37:54,127 --> 01:37:55,828
guitar again for "The Stooges."

1896
01:37:55,861 --> 01:37:59,265
I mean, it was really the
furthest thing from my mind.

1897
01:38:00,566 --> 01:38:03,536
[rock music]

1898
01:38:15,314 --> 01:38:17,850
(Iggy)
They were a group of the

1899
01:38:17,883 --> 01:38:19,953
slightly more popular

1900
01:38:19,986 --> 01:38:22,521
slightly more physically aggressive

1901
01:38:22,555 --> 01:38:24,523
guys in my class.

1902
01:38:24,557 --> 01:38:27,760
And there were about four
or five of them at the time.

1903
01:38:27,793 --> 01:38:30,930
I'd been to one or two
of their homes, used to eat

1904
01:38:30,964 --> 01:38:33,732
French fries with them across
the street from school.

1905
01:38:33,766 --> 01:38:36,702
So one of them had a car
his dad had given him.

1906
01:38:36,735 --> 01:38:38,104
They came out

1907
01:38:38,137 --> 01:38:39,738
they did three things, one of them said

1908
01:38:39,772 --> 01:38:43,109
"Yeah, look, his dad drives a Cadillac

1909
01:38:43,142 --> 01:38:44,978
"and he lives in a trailer.

1910
01:38:45,011 --> 01:38:46,912
Car's bigger than his house!"

1911
01:38:46,946 --> 01:38:49,148
Few of 'em got together

1912
01:38:49,182 --> 01:38:51,317
"Let's see if it shakes."

1913
01:38:51,350 --> 01:38:55,221
And they started pushing it
and trying to shake

1914
01:38:55,254 --> 01:38:57,490
the trailer on its foundations

1915
01:38:57,523 --> 01:38:59,425
which it would not.

1916
01:38:59,458 --> 01:39:01,894
Uh, but you did feel, you could feel it.

1917
01:39:01,927 --> 01:39:05,131
Uh, yeah, I want to be friends
with these guys and, uh

1918
01:39:05,164 --> 01:39:07,300
I admired certain things about them.

1919
01:39:07,333 --> 01:39:10,236
One of them jumped in the bathtub and

1920
01:39:10,269 --> 01:39:12,005
made some sort of remark

1921
01:39:12,038 --> 01:39:15,408
about the size of the, the bathroom.

1922
01:39:15,441 --> 01:39:18,044
Ever since I've been out to get 'em.

1923
01:39:19,645 --> 01:39:22,115
Ever since, you know.

1924
01:39:22,148 --> 01:39:23,949
I'll bury those guys.

1925
01:39:23,983 --> 01:39:26,285
[crowd cheering]

1926
01:39:31,290 --> 01:39:33,426
Uh!

1927
01:39:33,459 --> 01:39:38,331
We three here are the surviving Stooges.

1928
01:39:38,364 --> 01:39:40,166
[cheering]

1929
01:39:42,135 --> 01:39:45,171
Ron and Dave woulda gotten
a big kick outta this

1930
01:39:45,204 --> 01:39:48,774
and, uh, Ron was pissed off

1931
01:39:48,807 --> 01:39:52,278
that it didn't happen
while he was alive.

1932
01:39:52,311 --> 01:39:54,147
I don't know how he feels about it now

1933
01:39:54,180 --> 01:39:56,815
he's probably sitting up there in heaven

1934
01:39:56,849 --> 01:39:59,385
having martinis with Brian Jones

1935
01:39:59,418 --> 01:40:02,488
trying to flick ashes on our head.

1936
01:40:04,190 --> 01:40:08,227
Music is life
and life is not a business.

1937
01:40:09,762 --> 01:40:11,864
Ron Asheton knew this

1938
01:40:11,897 --> 01:40:14,367
and Ron was cool.

1939
01:40:14,400 --> 01:40:17,636
The "MC5" are cool.

1940
01:40:17,670 --> 01:40:19,638
[crowd cheering]

1941
01:40:19,672 --> 01:40:23,676
My friend, Danny,
who discovered the band is cool

1942
01:40:23,709 --> 01:40:25,844
and Nina, my beautiful wife

1943
01:40:25,878 --> 01:40:27,513
you're cool!

1944
01:40:29,014 --> 01:40:31,150
All the poor people

1945
01:40:31,184 --> 01:40:33,486
who actually started

1946
01:40:33,519 --> 01:40:35,921
rock and roll music are cool.

1947
01:40:35,954 --> 01:40:37,156
(female #2) Yeah!

1948
01:40:37,190 --> 01:40:40,025
[cheering]

1949
01:40:40,059 --> 01:40:41,494
Thank you Stooge fans!

1950
01:40:41,527 --> 01:40:43,196
There may be three of ya up there

1951
01:40:43,229 --> 01:40:46,532
and I'll bet there's a couple
in the fancy seats.

1952
01:40:47,533 --> 01:40:51,437
So thanks for being so... cool.

1953
01:40:51,470 --> 01:40:54,207
[rock music]

1954
01:40:56,709 --> 01:40:58,211
Yeow!

1955
01:41:17,563 --> 01:41:21,434
* I'm so messed up I want you here *

1956
01:41:24,137 --> 01:41:27,806
* And in my room I want you here *

1957
01:41:31,076 --> 01:41:34,580
* And now we're gonna be face to face *

1958
01:41:37,015 --> 01:41:41,120
* And I'll lay right down
in my favorite place *

1959
01:41:43,922 --> 01:41:47,393
* And now I wanna *

1960
01:41:47,426 --> 01:41:50,763
* Now I wanna *

1961
01:41:50,796 --> 01:41:53,966
* Now I wanna *

1962
01:41:53,999 --> 01:41:57,470
* And now I wanna be a dog *

1963
01:42:03,942 --> 01:42:05,944
* Now come on *

1964
01:42:05,978 --> 01:42:09,114
[music continues]

1965
01:42:22,161 --> 01:42:24,397
[barking]

1966
01:42:26,131 --> 01:42:29,134
Uh! Yeah!

1967
01:42:29,168 --> 01:42:30,869
Come on, Ron!

1968
01:42:30,903 --> 01:42:33,472
Play! Play!

1969
01:42:37,075 --> 01:42:39,144
[indistinct singing]

1970
01:42:43,382 --> 01:42:46,185
* I'm in fucking Detroit *

1971
01:42:47,820 --> 01:42:50,823
* I salute you now *

1972
01:42:50,856 --> 01:42:55,528
* Now I'm ready to close my eyes *

1973
01:42:57,930 --> 01:43:01,667
* Now I'm ready to feel your hand *

1974
01:43:04,570 --> 01:43:08,307
* Lose my heart on the burning sand *

1975
01:43:08,341 --> 01:43:11,577
(Iggy)
Come on! Do it, Michigan!

1976
01:43:11,610 --> 01:43:15,147
* Now I want to be your dog *

1977
01:43:15,180 --> 01:43:18,484
* Now I want to be your dog *

1978
01:43:18,517 --> 01:43:21,920
* Now I want to be your dog *

1979
01:43:29,762 --> 01:43:31,430
* Well come on *

1980
01:43:42,207 --> 01:43:44,577
* Now.. *

1981
01:43:45,878 --> 01:43:48,514
I don't want to belong
to the glam people

1982
01:43:48,547 --> 01:43:51,717
I don't want to belong
to the hip, hip-hop people

1983
01:43:51,750 --> 01:43:55,621
I don't want to belong
to the, to any of it.

1984
01:43:55,654 --> 01:43:59,558
I don't want to belong
to the TV people...

1985
01:43:59,592 --> 01:44:01,394
...alternative people, none of it.

1986
01:44:01,427 --> 01:44:02,795
I don't want to be a punk.

1987
01:44:02,828 --> 01:44:04,897
I just want to be.

1988
01:44:25,098 --> 01:44:32,875
Synchronized and corrected from
retail by H@w-to-kiLL @subscene

1989
01:44:33,426 --> 01:44:35,428
[gong booming]

1990
01:44:37,029 --> 01:44:39,965
[guitar music]

1991
01:44:54,813 --> 01:44:58,651
* Gimme danger little stranger *

1992
01:44:58,684 --> 01:45:02,254
* And I'll give you a piece *

1993
01:45:02,287 --> 01:45:05,791
* Gimme danger little stranger *

1994
01:45:05,824 --> 01:45:09,528
* And I'll feel your disease *

1995
01:45:09,562 --> 01:45:12,698
* There's nothing in my dreams *

1996
01:45:12,731 --> 01:45:16,969
* Just some ugly memories *

1997
01:45:17,002 --> 01:45:21,306
* Kiss me like the ocean breeze *

1998
01:45:22,408 --> 01:45:23,976
(Iggy)
Hey!

1999
01:45:27,713 --> 01:45:31,484
* Now if you will be my lover *

2000
01:45:31,517 --> 01:45:35,187
* I will shiver insane *

2001
01:45:35,220 --> 01:45:39,024
* But if you can be my master *

2002
01:45:39,057 --> 01:45:42,495
* I will do anything *

2003
01:45:42,528 --> 01:45:45,698
* There's nothing left to life *

2004
01:45:45,731 --> 01:45:49,968
* But a pair glassy eyes *

2005
01:45:50,002 --> 01:45:54,507
* Raze my feelings one more time **

2006
01:46:01,246 --> 01:46:04,383
[rock music]

2007
01:46:10,188 --> 01:46:12,357
* Alright *

2008
01:46:21,400 --> 01:46:24,770
* Well it's 1969 okay *

2009
01:46:26,138 --> 01:46:29,041
* All across the USA *

2010
01:46:30,443 --> 01:46:33,712
* It's another year for me and you *

2011
01:46:35,080 --> 01:46:39,452
* Another year with nothing to do *

2012
01:46:39,485 --> 01:46:42,521
* It's another year for me and you *

2013
01:46:42,555 --> 01:46:44,823
* Another year with nothing to do *

2014
01:46:53,165 --> 01:46:56,101
* Now last year I was 21 *

2015
01:46:57,836 --> 01:47:00,573
* I didn't have a lot of fun *

2016
01:47:01,974 --> 01:47:05,077
* And now I'm gonna be 22 *

2017
01:47:06,645 --> 01:47:09,815
* I say oh my and a boo-hoo *

2018
01:47:11,016 --> 01:47:14,052
* And now I'm going to be 22 *

2019
01:47:14,086 --> 01:47:16,489
* Oh my and a boo-hoo *

2020
01:47:20,092 --> 01:47:23,161
* Well it's 1969 okay *

2021
01:47:24,763 --> 01:47:27,833
* All across the USA *

2022
01:47:29,101 --> 01:47:32,471
* It's another year for me and you *

2023
01:47:33,806 --> 01:47:36,609
* Another year with nothing to do *

2024
01:47:42,548 --> 01:47:45,618
* It's 1969 *

2025
01:47:47,152 --> 01:47:50,022
* It's 1969 *

2026
01:47:51,456 --> 01:47:55,160
* It's 1969 baby *

2027
01:48:04,803 --> 01:48:11,910
* It's 1969 baby-y-y *

2028
01:48:25,190 --> 01:48:27,526
* Baby *