Time to retire the name?

Ok, there is only one original member of the Stooges in the current band that tours under the moniker. Ron's dead, Dave's dead, and we haven't seen or heard from Scott since 2011. There are more tour dates scheduled for "Iggy and the Stooges" for 2013 that will not include Scott. Do you think that just maybe, a band with Iggy Pop and two guys who each played on one separate Stooges album (plus The Weirdness for Steve) deserve to keep the name? I think that they should throw in the towel and admit that this band is just Iggy Pop and friends. Either change the name, or keep the band off the road until such a time as Scott recovers. Thoughts?

They are playing mostly material written with James. They got a lot more right than some bands do to keep their name.

Why would they retire the name....? Its the best theyve ever sounded...

They are not The Stooges (which mean the original band), but Iggy & The Stooges. It's OK for me, no prob !
Iggy & Friends sucks, no ?

zeke wrote:

... Its the best theyve ever sounded...

Surely not.

Iggy and the Stooges is the best name as they play not only Stooges songs but also Iggy and the Stooges song, plus Iggy Pop + James Williamson songs and lately Iggy Pop songs !!!!

great name for the best tribute band around !!!!!

OK , seriously , I don't care , the ones who are dead are not onboard anymore , I can understand , the ones who are still alive all do their best to keep kickin as hard as they can , not everyone would , everyone in this band has my utmost respect.

woody wrote:

zeke wrote:

... Its the best theyve ever sounded...

Surely not.

When do you reckon they have been better than now ?

very important question .....

Ah... 1970, 1971? I mean when those songs were new. When the band was new, and young, and the world was different, and there was a hunger and an intoxicated vibe which is obviously gone now.

Compare the tapes of those days, and the tapes of these days... same songs, very different sound, different feel, different vibe. Different audiences! - and that surely made a difference too.

Of course 'better' is a totally subjective concept, but for me the sound of those songs when they were new is a world away from the way they sound now, fine though they still are.

I'd be interested if today's band played some new material. I agree that repeated touring of the old songs can seem like a tribute to the band's own history.

It's not Iggy's fault that people died or get sick, they should continue using the name, if nothing else as a tribute to Ron and Dave (and Scott, if he doesn't tour anymore).

Yea Woody... I know what you are saying... Id loved to have been around in 70/71 and witness the making of the legend, but i am really happy that Iggy, James, Scott, and whoever are still out there today playing a very high octane set which is on a par with any young rock band about at the moment.... Long may they continue, and under any name.... Ron would be proud....

I say let the old geezers go out in style. Iggy and stooges with Iggy and James works for me. So they go out every summer and play Euro-fests, I'd love to see them in my town, but I'm not holding my breathe. It can't go on forever, so let's let them have it while it does.

Yeah old guys can do what they like, and they must be making good money representing the back catalogue on the merry-go-round of big festival stages for a new generation of kids... and who'd begrudge them that?

But I still hope they'll move on from the nostalgia of the myth, stick their necks out and make some new music before it's too late. The reformed Dolls are a case in point - they should be credited for producing a lot of really great new music since their reunion, new music for the new times, with very little backwards-looking.

Maybe the guys will also make some new music one of these days, perhaps still as 'Iggy & the Stooges'... or maybe Iggy and James will do something officially post-Stooges if Scott wants to call it a day. Either way, they have a hell of a lot of good old songs to play forever more, but a couple of new ones would be precious.

I definitely agree that the current band puts on a great live show, and I'd love to hear new material from Iggy and James. But I think that there's a fine line between paying tribute and false advertising, and that selling tickets for an Asheton-less version of The Stooges crosses that line. Ron and Scott also paid tribute to the legacy of the original band by touring back in 2000, but at least they were respectful enough not to call themselves The Stooges-even though it featured more original members than the current lineup.

Just sue them if you feel so much about it , dude !

I don't want to sue them. I'm a big fan of the music that Iggy, James, Mike and Steve have made both within and outside of The Stooges. They're my favorite band. I listen to their music every day. I just wondered if anyone else felt betrayed, as I do.

No offense, how can one feel betrayed, by a band that is growing older? We are lucky to be able to see any of them, especially James, who most of us NEVER thought we would hear from again.

Iggy, Scott, Steve and James can use "The Stooges" for as long as they live in any configuration AFAIC.

Betrayed? You mean, like they're cheating on you?

No, like they're advertising themselves as being a band that might not even exist anymore.

But they do exist, some of the guys who were in the band back then are in the band again now, and playing the same old songs. They are obviously the Stooges.

For argument's sake, if Scott was to retire and Iggy and James played on together, I think they would continue to call themselves The Stooges. The fact that they didn't do so in 1975 might have been due to progressive attitudes about distancing themselves from the past and making a new start, attitudes which aren't at all relevant now.

Even if the remaining members of the band were to put aside the old songs and start playing a whole set of new music (??!!?! ) they would surely still keep the name as it is now such a powerful trademark. Very different to the situation in 1975!

The fact that Asheton Asheton Mascis & Watt played whole sets of Stooges music without assuming the name seems like a generous deference to Iggy. Stylish of the Ashetons to just play the music and not make a big point about the band name.

by the way woody , it seems like new material is being written , worked on...
I'm very confident that new songs will show up sometime in a future gig !

Am I missing something here? Scott's back playing with the band so what's the problem?

woody wrote:

The fact that Asheton Asheton Mascis & Watt played whole sets of Stooges music without assuming the name seems like a generous deference to Iggy. Stylish of the Ashetons to just play the music and not make a big point about the band name.

Maybe stylish, maybe a legal consideration.

I don't feel betrayed, rather thankful. I think it would be wrong if James left to continue calling themselves the Stooges, particularly if Scott wasn't playing live. Then again, I go to the punk festival in Blackpool every summer so I'm used to seeing bands with only one original member left. In fact, there are currently two bands calling themselves Sham 69, one of them has been going since the 70s but contains no original members, the other one got back together a couple of years ago and is all the original members.

Legal consideration? An interesting idea... if Ron and Scott had used the name, would Iggy (and/or James?!?) have been able to prevent it? Would either of them have wanted to fight over the name? Horrible thought. One thing the Stooges seem to have avoided is the bitter litigation that so many 70s bands have gone through one way or another.

If there was a legal problem I'm sure it wouldn't have been Iggy or James complaining but there may be some zealous record company or management people who might stick their oar in. Perhaps someone at Mainman all those years ago told the Ashetons that the Stooges name was Iggy's alone. Was Raw Power a Stooges album before the Ashetons got involved? I believe he was signed as a solo artist but maybe they were always going to call the band Iggy and the Stooges.