Fun House | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 7, 1970 | |||
Recorded | May 11–25, 1970 | |||
Studio | Elektra, Los Angeles, California [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 36:35 | |||
Label | Elektra | |||
Producer | Don Gallucci | |||
The Stooges chronology | ||||
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Fun House is the second studio album by American rock band the Stooges. It was released on July 7, 1970, by Elektra Records. [3] Though initially commercially unsuccessful, Fun House has since developed a strong cult following. Like its predecessor (1969's The Stooges ) and successor (1973's Raw Power ), it is considered an integral work in the development of punk rock. [4] [5] [6]
In 1969, Elektra Records had released the Stooges' debut album to mixed reviews and limited commercial success. Elektra head Jac Holzman believed that the MC5, another Michigan-based band, had more commercial potential than the Stooges. [7] Holzman asked former Kingsmen keyboardist Don Gallucci to produce the Stooges' second album. [7]
Having seen the group live, Gallucci told Holzman that the Stooges were an "interesting group, but I don't think you can get this feeling on tape"; Holzman, however, had already reserved recording time for him with the band in Los Angeles. The album was recorded at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles from May 11 to 25 of 1970. [8] Gallucci's plan as a producer was to use each day to record about a dozen takes of a particular song and then pick the one that would appear on the album. The first day consisted of soundchecks and run-throughs of all songs, with baffles between the amplifiers and drums and Iggy Pop singing his vocals through a studio-style microphone on a boom stand. [9]
The band was not pleased with the resulting sound, and subsequently they and Gallucci stripped the entire studio of its usual equipment and soundproofing to emulate their live performances as closely as possible. Gallucci arranged the band in studio in the way they normally played at a concert, with Pop singing through a handheld dynamic microphone and no baffles between the amplifiers. The results were very raw when compared to contemporary records; for example, without the normal isolation baffles the vibrations from the bass amplifier cause audible rattling of the snare drum on several songs.
Pop indicated that iconic blues singer Howlin' Wolf "was really pertinent for me on Fun House. That stuff is Wolfy, at least as I could do it." [10]
The Stooges intended for "Loose" to be the album's first track; Elektra, however, felt that "Down on the Street" would be the stronger opener. [11] An alternate version of "Down on the Street", featuring a Doors-style organ overdub by Gallucci, was released as a single. [11]
At the time of its release, Billboard magazine regarded Fun House as being a hard rock album. [12] Music critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice characterized the album as "genuinely 'avant-garde' rock" because of the music's apt "repetitiveness", "solitary new-thing saxophone", and the closing track, "L.A. Blues", "trying to make art about chaos by reproducing same." [13] Author Greg Kot has called Fun House a "punk jazz opus". [14]
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005), music journalist Stevie Chick wrote that the sleazy tales of hedonism and reckless abandon on the album's first half are followed by "the comedown" on the second side, as evoked by looser song structures, Steve Mackay's saxophone, and "Iggy sounding like a scared, lost child, warning from bitter experience that 'The Fun House will steal your heart away.'" [15] "L.A. Blues" concludes the album with a flurry of noise and disoriented dual drumming, which Stylus Magazine 's Patrick McNally interpreted as the Stooges being "lost culturally and spiritually in the smoke and riots and confusion of Detroit and America at the dawn of the seventies, but also in the overwhelming squall and clatter of the sound that they—from nothing, from nowhere—managed to create." [16]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [17] |
Chicago Tribune | [18] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A− [13] |
Entertainment Weekly | A+ [19] |
Mojo | [20] |
Pitchfork | 9.4/10 [21] |
Q | [22] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [23] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 10/10 [24] |
Uncut | [25] |
In contemporaneous reviews, Charles Burton from Rolling Stone found Fun House to be "much more sophisticated" than the Stooges' debut album, writing that they sounded "so exquisitely horrible and down and out that they are the ultimate psychedelic rock band in 1970". [26] Roy Hollingworth of Melody Maker was unimpressed however, calling it the worst record of the year and "a muddy load of sluggish, unimaginative rubbish heavily disguised by electricity and called American rock". [27] Robert Christgau wrote in his original review for The Village Voice that the Stooges' successful use of repetition and incorporation of saxophone had intellectual appeal, but questioned whether it was healthy as a listener for "[me] to have to be in a certain mood of desperate abandon before I can get on with them musically". [28] He later said his criticism had been based on the album's "inaccessibility" as popular music, and wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981):
Now I regret all the times I've used words like 'power' and 'energy' to describe rock and roll, because this is what such rhetoric should have been saved for. Shall I compare it to an atom bomb? a wrecker's ball? a hydroelectric plant? Language wasn't designed for the job. [29]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Mark Deming hailed Fun House as "the ideal document of the Stooges at their raw, sweaty, howling peak", and wrote that it features better songs than their debut, significant improvement from each member, and Don Gallucci's energetic and immediate production. [17] Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the "radical" album sounded "primal, unpredictable, dangerous". [19] Pitchfork critic Joe Tangari felt that the music's aggression has rarely been matched. He recommended it to "any rock fan with a sense of history" and asserted that, along with the Stooges' debut, Fun House is one of the most important predecessors to the punk rock movement. [21] Barney Hoskyns called it a "proto-punk classic", [30] and Jon Young of Spin hailed it as a "proto-punk landmark" that possessed a "magnificent chaos". [31] According to Cleveland.com writer Troy L. Smith, "What was once dismissed as something too raw and primal, now sits as a work of unparalleled hard-rock genius", [32] while music historian Simon Reynolds says "it clearly stands out as the most powerful hard-rock album of all time." [33]
In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Fun House number 191 on their list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, [34] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revision, and moving it up to number 94 in the 2020 reboot of the list. [35] [36] Melody Maker said that it is, "no contest, the greatest rock n' roll album of all time". [37] Lenny Kaye, writing for eMusic, called it a "rock and roll classic" and "one of the most frontal, aggressive, and joyously manic records ever". [38] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Scott Seward claimed that, although saying so "risks hyperbole", Fun House is "one of the greatest rock & roll records of all time" and that, "as great as they were, the Stones never went so deep, the Beatles never sounded so alive, and anyone would have a hard time matching Iggy Pop's ferocity as a vocalist." [23] Commenting on the initial poor reception the record received from critics, radio and Elektra themselves, Reynolds explained: "Fun House was fatally out of synch with 1970, the downbeat year it came out, a year of singer-songwriters and tasty, bluesy licks. Only a few people then had any time for the sound of absolute abandon that The Stooges were making, or unleashing." [39]
Australian band Radio Birdman chose their name based on mishearing the line "radio burnin' up above" in the song "1970". They also named their Oxford Street performance venue The Oxford Funhouse and covered "TV Eye" on their 1977 album Radios Appear .[ citation needed ]
John Zorn covered "T.V. Eye" for the compilation Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary : the same song was also covered for the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine by a supergroup featuring Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, members of Sonic Youth, and Ewan McGregor. The Birthday Party covered "Loose" on their 1982 live album Drunk on the Pope's Blood and, also live, the song "Funhouse": a version with sax played by J.G. Thirlwell appears on the 1999 CD The Birthday Party Live 81–82. the Damned's 1977 debut album, Damned Damned Damned , features a cover of "1970", entitled "I Feel Alright". Depeche Mode covered "Dirt" on their I Feel Loved single. GBH covered "1970" (as "I Feel Alright") on their third album City Babys Revenge. A live version of "1970" appears on Mission of Burma's posthumous live album The Horrible Truth About Burma . Hanoi Rocks cover "1970" (titled "I Feel Alright") on their 1984 live album All Those Wasted Years. Spacemen 3 adapted "T.V. Eye" into the near-cover "OD Catastrophe" on their debut album Sound of Confusion . Michael Monroe also covered the song for his Another Night in the Sun live album in 2010. In 1989 indie rock band Blake Babies covered "Loose" for their album Earwig . They sampled Pop's voice into the song. Rage Against the Machine recorded "Down on the Street" for their 2000 covers album Renegades , and the main riff from their song "Sleep Now in the Fire" was inspired by the one in "T.V. Eye." A cover of "Dirt" appears on disc one of Screeching Weasel's 1999 double CD compilation Thank You Very Little.
In 2010, Nigerian songwriter Billy Bao and his band went into the studio exactly 40 years after the recording of the album and recorded their album Buildings from Bilbao using all titles and song times for their own songs (except "1970", which is updated as "2010", and "L.A. Blues", which is called "LAGOS Blues").[ citation needed ] "Down on the Street" briefly appears on the song "Maggot Death (Live at Brighton)" off of the Throbbing Gristle album The Second Annual Report , as a field recording of a club playing the song over the P.A. system.
Joey Ramone, Mark E. Smith, Jack White, Nick Cave, Michael Gira, Buzz Osborne, Aaron North, Henry Rollins [40] and Steve Albini.[ citation needed ] are among the artists who cited Fun House as a favourite album. "The greatest rock 'n' roll record ever made," enthused White. "It is a brilliant, brilliant record. I don't think it'll ever be topped." [41]
In 1999, Rhino Records released a limited edition box set, 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions , featuring every take of every song from every day of the recording sessions, plus the single versions of "Down on the Street" and "1970". On August 16, 2005, the album was reissued by Elektra and Rhino as a two-CD set featuring a newly remastered version of the album on disc one and outtakes (essentially highlights from the Complete Fun House Sessions box set). Contributing a quote to Pop biographer Paul Trynka's liner notes for the reissue, Jack White dubbed Fun House "by proxy the definitive rock album of America".[ citation needed ]
In 2005, the Stooges performed the album live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series.[ citation needed ] "Dirt" was ranked number 46 on Gibson's "Top 50 Guitar Solos" list in 2010. [42]
The title track was on the soundtrack to the 2004 video game MTX Mototrax, "1970" appeared in Tony Hawk's Underground 2 the same year and "Down on the Street" appeared in Battlefield: Hardline in 2015.
The album had sold 89,000 copies through March 2000. [43]
All tracks are written by The Stooges (Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, and Iggy Pop).
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Down on the Street" | 3:42 |
2. | "Loose" | 3:34 |
3. | "T.V. Eye" | 4:16 |
4. | "Dirt" | 7:00 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "1970" | 5:14 |
2. | "Fun House" | 7:45 |
3. | "L.A. Blues" | 4:52 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
8. | "T.V. Eye" (Takes 7 & 8) | 6:01 |
9. | "Loose" (Demo) | 1:16 |
10. | "Loose" (Take 2) | 3:42 |
11. | "Loose" (Take 22) | 3:42 |
12. | "Lost in the Future" (Take 1) | 5:50 |
13. | "Down on the Street" (Take 1) | 2:22 |
14. | "Down on the Street" (Take 8) | 4:10 |
15. | "Dirt" (Take 4) | 7:09 |
16. | "Slide (Slidin' the Blues)" (Take 1) | 4:38 |
17. | "1970" (Take 3) | 7:29 |
18. | "Fun House" (Take 2) | 9:30 |
19. | "Fun House" (Take 3) | 11:29 |
20. | "Down on the Street" (Single mix) | 2:43 |
21. | "1970" (Single mix) | 3:21 |
Technical
The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, and also known as Iggy and the Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexander. Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll, the band sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances, which often involved acts of self-mutilation by Iggy Pop.
James Newell Osterberg Jr., known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited many times since. Often called the "Godfather of Punk", he was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Stooges. Pop also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 for his solo work.
Raw Power is the third studio album by American rock band 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. Pop produced the recording sessions himself and David Bowie assisted with post-production work, though the team were allotted only one day to mix the album and the resulting fidelity was poor. Later reissues have attempted to either correct or enhance the original mix, most notably Pop's 1997 remix, which became notorious for its extreme volume and compression.
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American psychedelic and garage rock singles that were released during the mid-to-late 1960s. It was created by Lenny Kaye, who was a writer and clerk at the Village Oldies record shop in New York. He would later become the lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group. Kaye produced Nuggets under the supervision of Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman. Kaye conceived the project as a series of roughly eight LP installments focusing on different US regions, but Elektra convinced him that one double album would be more commercially viable. It was released on LP by Elektra in 1972 with liner notes by Kaye that contained one of the first uses of the term "punk rock". It was reissued with a new cover design by Sire Records in 1976. In the 1980s, Rhino Records issued Nuggets in a series of fifteen installments, and in 1998 as a 4-cd box set.
Ronald Franklin Asheton was an American musician, who was best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the Stooges along with Iggy Pop and his brother, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexander. Asheton, once ranked as number 29 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, is currently ranked at number 60.
The Idiot is the debut studio album by the American musician Iggy Pop, released on March 18, 1977, through RCA Records. It was produced by David Bowie and primarily recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville, France. The album followed the break-up of Pop's band the Stooges in 1974 and a period of drug addiction for both Pop and Bowie, after which the two moved to Europe in an effort to kick their addictions.
The Stooges is the debut studio album by American rock band the Stooges, released on August 5, 1969 by Elektra Records. Considered a landmark proto-punk release, the album peaked at number 106 on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The tracks "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "1969" were released as singles; "1969" was featured on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs" at number 35. In 2020, it was ranked number 488 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions is a seven-CD limited edition boxed set that commemorates and chronicles the entire session for Fun House, the second studio album by American proto-punk band The Stooges.
Steve Mackay was an American tenor saxophonist best known for his membership in the Stooges. His performances are showcased on three songs on the band's second album, Fun House (1970).
David Michael Alexander was an American musician, best known as the original bassist for influential proto-punk band The Stooges. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 as a member of The Stooges.
Scott Randolph Asheton was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band the Stooges.
James Robert Williamson is an American guitarist, songwriter, record producer and electronics engineer. He was a member of the iconic proto-punk rock band The Stooges, notably on the influential album Raw Power and in the reformed Stooges from 2009 to 2016. Between his stints in music, Williamson worked in Silicon Valley developing computer chips. Most recently he has continued as a solo artist.
Telluric Chaos is a live album by the reunited Iggy Pop & The Stooges. It 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 with no material from the James Williamson era. This 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".
"Search and Destroy" is a song by American rock band the Stooges, recorded for the group's third album Raw Power (1973). Lead singer Iggy Pop said that the title was derived from a column heading in a Time article about the Vietnam War.
"I Wanna Be Your Dog" is a song by American rock band the Stooges, released as the group's debut single from the band's 1969 self-titled debut album. The riff is composed of only three chords, is played continuously throughout the song. The 3-minute-and-9-second-long song, with its distortion-heavy guitar intro, single-note piano riff played by producer John Cale of the Velvet Underground, and steady, driving beat, gave the cutting edge of the early heavy metal and punk sound.
The Weirdness is the fourth studio album by American proto-punk band The Stooges. Released on 5 March 2007, it was the first Stooges album of new material since Raw Power in 1973, and is also the final album to feature guitarist Ron Asheton, who died in early 2009. Founding members Iggy Pop (vocals), Ron Asheton (guitar), and Scott Asheton (drums) are featured, along with new band member Mike Watt, formerly of Minutemen, and returning guest musician Steve Mackay (saxophone), who appeared on The Stooges' 1970 album, Fun House.
Live in Detroit a 2004 DVD release of a live performance by the band The Stooges. The surviving original members of the Stooges reunited in 2003—nearly thirty years after they had disbanded—and scheduled a handful of live shows, including an August 14 concert in their hometown of Detroit. The gig was postponed due to a widespread North America blackout, but the band played at the DTE Energy Music Theatre eleven days later. The performance was released on DVD in March 2004.
The discography of the Stooges—a Detroit, Michigan based rock band founded by "The Godfather of Punk Music" Iggy Pop as singer, Ron Asheton as guitarist, Dave Alexander as bass-guitarist and Scott Asheton as drummer—currently consists of five studio albums, twenty-four singles, four live albums, and three box sets.
Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano's is a live album by the rock band The Stooges. It was originally recorded on August 17, 1970 as an audience recording by Danny Fields, who had signed the band in 1968.
Elektra Sound Recorders was Elektra Records's recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States located at 962 La Cienega Boulevard. Electric Entertainment currently provides video production services at this location.
Arguably punk rock's most essential and influential album, Fun House—The Stooges follow-up to their 1969 self-titled studio debut—found Iggy Pop, David Alexander, Ron Asheton and Scott Asheton at their finest and purest form as artists, digging deeper than any band before them, channeling slow-rolling jazz with gritty blues guitar licks, psychedelia with spurts of hammering drum fills, and licentious screaming and hollering with bass lines groovier than the bulk of Motown's discography.
The Ramones were still unknown teenagers in Forest Hills, Queens, when the Stooges laid the groundwork for punk on their first two albums, 1969's The Stooges and Fun House a year later in 1970.
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: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)[T]he Stooge machine was savagely tuned, rampaging, able to precision-blast numerous near-identical takes.