Iggy & The Stooges

Raw Power is the third studio album by American rock band the Stooges (credited as Iggy and the Stooges), released on February 7, 1973 by Columbia Records. The album departed from the "groove-ridden, feel-based songs" of the band's first two records in favor of a more anthemic hard rock approach inspired by new guitarist James Williamson, who co-wrote the album's eight songs with singer Iggy Pop. Though not initially commercially successful, Raw Power gained a cult following in the years following its release and, like its predecessors The Stooges (1969) and Fun House (1970), is considered a forerunner of punk rock. The Guardian wrote that "it has since been acknowledged as one of the most influential records in rock history". The raw guitar sound of Williamson deeply influenced acts of different music genres such as the Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr of the Smiths and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

Raw Power is the third studio album by American rock band the Stooges (credited as Iggy and the Stooges), released on February 7, 1973 by Columbia Records. The album departed from the "groove-ridden, feel-based songs" of the band's first two records in favor of a more anthemic hard rock approach inspired by new guitarist James Williamson, who co-wrote the album's eight songs with singer Iggy Pop. Though not initially commercially successful, Raw Power gained a cult following in the years following its release and, like its predecessors The Stooges (1969) and Fun House (1970), is considered a forerunner of punk rock. The Guardian wrote that "it has since been acknowledged as one of the most influential records in rock history". The raw guitar sound of Williamson deeply influenced acts of different music genres such as the Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr of the Smiths and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.

The Stooges led by Iggy Pop defined the US garage band genre and went on to become one of the most influential bands of the late 1960s and early '70s. The band were formed by brothers Ron and Scott Asheton on guitar and drums alongside bass player Dave Alexander and with Iggy Pop on vocals. The two Asheton brothers came and went at various times from The Stooges line-up but most fans agree they were pivotal to the band's raw sound and when Ron Asheton died in 2009 at the age of 60 many believe that The Stooges died with him.

2013 release, the first studio album to bear the name 'Iggy & The Stooges' since Raw Power was released in 1973! Ready To Die finds Iggy Pop, guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott "Rock Action" Asheton reunited for a full album of all-new material with Mike Watt filling in for the late Ron Asheton on bass. The results are the closest thing to a time capsule to 1973 - or at least to Iggy's subsequent efforts with Williamson, including 1977's Kill City and 1979's New Values - that rock 'n' roll is likely to proffer in this millennium. The new album's opening one-two of 'Burn' and 'Sex & Money' pair sublimely blunt and self-explanatory subject matter with back alley razor-blade guitars and a troglodytic rhythmic stomp as intensely single-minded as Iggy's lyrical statements of intent. Elsewhere on the album, anthems abound in the form of the most dead-on rallying cry for the lower-working-class dispossessed to date–the succinctly and aptly titled 'Job' - as well as a title track that mixes a signature Iggy Pop mission statement of angry desperation with guitar pyrotechnics that recall those halcyon opening salvos of 'Search & Destroy'.

Telluric Chaos is a live album by the reunited Iggy Pop & The Stooges. The album chronicles the closing date of the band's first ever Japanese tour, which took place on March 22, 2004, at the Shibuya AX in Tokyo. The album documents a typical reunited Stooges set, primarily drawn from the band's first two albums (including all of Fun House) with no material from the James Williamson era (Raw Power, Kill City). The album/live set also includes some of the first live performances of three of the four Stooges reunion tracks from Iggy Pop's 2003 solo album Skull Ring plus one brand new song, "My Idea Of Fun" (a finalized version appears on their 2007 studio album The Weirdness).

Metallic K.O. is a live recording by American rock band The Stooges. In its original form, the album was purported to contain the last half of a performance at the Michigan Palace in Detroit, on February 9, 1974—the band's final live performance until their reformation in 2003. The performance was notable for the level of audience hostility, with the band being constantly pelted with pieces of ice, eggs, beer bottles and jelly beans, among other things, in response to Iggy Pop's audience-baiting. Subsequent investigation of the master tapes and the May 1988 release of the double album Metallic 2X K.O. reveals that the original album contained the last half of the February 9, 1974 show, but opened with the first half of an earlier show (from October 6, 1973) at the same venue. The 2X K.O. version features the full shows from both dates.

Long before the raw power of punk icon Iggy Pop became legend, his first incarnation as Iggy Stooge of proto-punk trailblazers The Stooges roared into being. The essence of punk years before the genre existed, The Stooges' furious music was a howling, visceral, fuzztone-drenched, and unprecedented vortex of sound, as evidenced on their revolutionary self-titled, John Cale-produced 1969 debut album. Their bracing follow-up, Fun House portrayed their evolution into a fiercer, stronger band with Iggy's primal vocals and mad brilliance more potent than ever. Each immortal album is now remastered and twice as amazing with a second disc of rarities and previously unreleased tracks.

The untamed energy of Iggy & The Stooges comes to vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday on Rare Power, a collection of rare tracks from the sessions that produced their landmark 1973 album Raw Power. Eight of these nine outtakes and alternate mixes are available on vinyl for the first time, and composer Josh Mobley's remix of ''Gimme Danger'' (heard in the bestselling video game Watch Dogs) is commercially available for the first time ever.

This four-CD box documents as many live shows by an otherwise unrecorded lineup of Iggy and the Stooges, circa 1971. In the wake of the commercial failure of their magnum opus Funhouse, the group's original lineup split up. Some members would stick around for 1973's Raw Power, at which point the story ended for real. But in between, there were some really lean years, as captured here. It's worth bearing in mind that the Stooges were not a popular band during their original lifespan.