Scott Asheton.
I’m sure you know by now that Stooges drummer Scott Asheton has died at 64. Damn, from the perspective of a guy my age, that’s young!
What can I say about the guy other than his intro to “No Fun” is up there with Charlie Watts’ intro to “Get Off My Cloud”? If that wasn’t enough, Scott played those blazing roundhouse fills at the beginning of “Loose.” Fantastic! What I loved most about Scott (and Ron) Asheton (as well as original Stooges bassist Dave Alexander) was his commitment to each song’s animalistic beat. The guy was never showy, never sloppy, yet never predictable. The Stooges’ rhythm section approach even holds my attention through “Dirt,” the kind of long blooz workout I typically skip on most artist’s records.
Few songs have been more fun for me and my bandmates to cover through the years than “No Fun” and “1969.” Unambitious cover guys that we are, we never bothered learning another. What did it matter? We spent countless nights gathered around the turntable, blasting the first 2 Stooges albums (the real ones, with Ron on guitar), soaking up the raw power those records delivered. Now Iggy is all that’s left: Iggy; occasional sax player Steve Mackay; and human hot licks replacement guitarist James Williamson, who was actually kind of great in his own right, just not a personal inspiration to me, as Ron was. The records will long survive all those guys.
I need to crank up Fun House!
Iggy as the last man standing.. no one could have predicted that.
CDM posted what I was going to post. So…
ditto
The first 2 Stooges albums changed me in ways that no other albums could. I’m humbled that I got to see The Stooges in their 75% + Mike Watt form, twice.
One of those times was at an outdoor fest on the small side stage with about 200 people or so.
And shy of Iggy rolling in broken glass or smearing peanut butter, they rocked it like it was…1969. The Asheton’s were awesome!
Mr Mod, you nailed a couple of points that I’ve always held high.
1. “never showy, never sloppy,” The Ashetons were always tight but loose in a way. If you listen to the Fun House session they are always locked in the beat. Usually it was Iggy all over the place being sloppy.
2. I hold Raw Power in a lesser regard because I never felt the lock between James Williamson and Scott like on the first 2 albums.
Too bad. Still, Raw Power kicks the other records’ asses.
In honor, I may have to crank up all 28 takes of “Loose” from the Fun House Sessions
Is this a post-less day on RTH? If so, I will prevent it from happening.
The times, they are a-changin’! Scott Asheton’s death made the Milestones section in the current issue of Time magazine.
Nothing against Asheton but it must have been a slow week, milestones wise. All the entries were deaths, with seven others mentioned in addition to Asheton, including L’Wren Scott (presumably only mentioned because of the Jagger connection) and Philly’s own David Brenner.
My favorite Brenner joke went something like “My nose looks like this because it was broken in 3 places – Broad & Passyunk, 5th & Shunk, & 9th & Jackson!”