Tuesday, January 06, 2009

RIP Ron Asheton, 1948-2009

The New York Times Online is reporting that Ron Asheton, the guitarist for Iggy Pop's pioneering punk band The Stooges was found dead in his Ann Arborn, Michigan home, apparently of natural causes.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/06/arts/AP-Obit-Ron-Asheton.html

Asheton's incredible guitar was a key component of Stooges' sound, particularly in a couple of my favorites of theirs, 1969 and Now I Wanna Be Your Dog. When I went with my old friend Dan to see the reconstituted Stooges (with ex-Minuteman, ex-Firehose bassist Mike Watt filling in for their long-deceased bass player) at the Congress Theater here in Chicago, they played both of those, and sounded great.

I've embedded several Youtube clips. The first is from that same tour, at a show in Europe, performing 1969 and Down In the Streets. The second one is the studio take of 1969. The third is the studio version of Now I Wanna Be Your Dog. In Ron Asheton's memory, I want you to crank one of them up as loud as you can and dance around to it. It's okay if you're at work-- tell the boss I said it was okay.





4 comments:

Joe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe said...

No fun.

I'm glad you put up "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog". The fact that there are sleighbells jingling along , just sends me.

Tenacious S said...

Sad, sad, sad.

Erik Donald France said...

To the Stooges!!!!!!!

It's a two thousand and nine okay
All across the U-S-A
Another year for me and you
Another year with nothing-to-do

Cheers, man . . .
Bop till you drop . . .