Watch rare live footage of Iggy Pop and The Stooges performing ‘1970’
The years that Iggy Pop spent fronting The Stooges served contemporary prog rockers a simple yet effective kick between the legs that eventually spawned punk. The group were characterised by a raw, primitive rock sound that would soon fit John Lydon’s anarchist poetry like a glove.
Through the late 1960s, The Stooges’ live performances became notorious for wild occurrences, including indecent exposure, self-mutilation, destruction of property, assault, and on a couple of occasions, the wearing of Nazi uniforms.
As the leader of the pack, Iggy Pop kept his look sharp, cutting a chiselled physique to help him writhe around the stage like a demented lizard. The first airing of Iggy’s eccentricity was experienced in October 1967, not long after the band’s formation. The troubled singer entered the stage wearing a nightdress and a tin foil wig. During the performance, he experimented with music, and his audience, by playing a vacuum cleaner and his own innovative instrument, which he called the “Osterizer” – a blender half full of water into which he inserted his microphone.
It’s safe to say this one-of-a-kind band reclined into a pit of concerning neuroses, fuelled by excessive drug use and a burning desire to make profound public statements. The hippies were out, and Iggy was in.
In 1968, Iggy’s genitalia enjoyed their stage debut in a marked intensification of the sexual aspect of his performance. By 1969, indecent exposure was yesterday’s news, and the performances began to see Iggy self-mutilating on stage. Iggy would often be seen whipping or cutting his torso with broken drumsticks and other sharp objects to make the kroovy flow.
The Stooges’ initial run from 1967-71 saw the release of two albums, 1969’s eponymous debut and its follow-up, 1970’s Fun House. The debut record was home to ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, the band’s debut and breakout single, which was joined by ‘1969’ as the release’s only other single.
As a continuation or update on the narrative of ‘1969’, The Stooges recorded ‘1970’ for Fun House. “Out of my mind on Saturday night / Ninteen-seventy rollin’ in sight / Radio burnin’ up above / Beautiful baby, feed my love all night,” Iggy’s lyrics read.
Watch a rare and energetic live performance of the Fun House classic below. The footage was taken during Iggy and The Stooges’ performance at Goose Lake International Music Festival in Jackson, Michigan, in August 1970.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Punk Newsletter
All the latest Punk content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.