TOTAL CHAOS: The Story of The Stooges / As Told By Iggy Pop

TeddyB1018 wrote:

The book is a beautiful production. However, Iggy's monologue really leaves me breathless. If one thinks he has talked crap about the Ashetons for years, wait until you see how hard he is on James here. He's very interested in explaining how he was the main creative force behind all the songwriting, which is hard to take when his songwriting over the years without a strong creative partner (I.e. Ron, James or Bowie)  has been erratic at best. In the documentary, Jarmusch did Iggy a favor in his editing. Here, Iggy shows his ego and need to be flattered as intelligent and talented to be pretty raging. I have no axe to grind. I'm a fan of Iggy's work with all three of his strong creative partners, and of Iggy too. But the book is more often annoying as opposed to illuminating. Curious to see what Natalie thinks.

Honestly this is the thing that has kept me from getting this book, knowing it was straight from Iggy's mouth i'm not sure if it would be in the fiction or non-fiction sections. Its great we're getting more information and there might be some new photos and stories but Iggy can be egocentric and i'm not sure i want to read that as much.

I'll pick it up if they do another print of it

If you are a Iggy/Stooges fan and have internet, you have already seen 99% of the photos.

Yeah, after reading this I would say that it is a miracle that Iggy and James were able to work together 2009-13. Whatever the deal was with Re-Licked (Iggy wasn't asked to participate vs. Iggy declined to participate,) I don't see how that project could ever have worked out after reading this book.

osterbergermeister wrote:

Yeah, after reading this I would say that it is a miracle that Iggy and James were able to work together 2009-13.  Whatever the deal was with Re-Licked (Iggy wasn't asked to participate vs. Iggy declined to participate,) I don't see how that project could ever have worked out after reading this book.  

When you look back on their shared history it is a miracle that they were ever able to work together PERIOD. In 1973 James was turfed from the Stooges in order to placate Main Man (tornado turner was his brief replacement). In 1975 James demanded that Iggy sign papers giving him ownership of the Kill City recordings. Iggy balked. In 1980 James recoiled at having Bowie involved in the Soldier sessions and promptly quit. When you look back on their history it is one of animosity. In the early 1970's at least they had a shared love of girls, drugs, and rock n' roll. And  I am extremely grateful for the incredible music they made together. I'll go so far as to say that there wasn't another person on Earth who could have filled the Stooges role as James did in 1972. Serendipity? I don't know. But the music they made together was simply amazing. For that I am grateful.

Just in case anybody is hesitating due to the conversation here - this book is a lot of fun. I am sure Iggy gets a lot wrong but there are lots of little details he coughs up too. The photos - maybe 20% new to me, even if they are just alternates from familiar shoots - and the memorabilia are delightful. I've already spent more time with it than I spent with the Robert Matheu one (no offense Robert!)

My brother got me this for xmas and it just showed up today, its a lovely book, not a fan of the font work or no margins either side of the text but thats just me

Just looking through it briefly, a lot of archival material and iggy is funny and interesting int he little i've read so far, which is just up to stooges commencing so maybe the narrative alters after that, but you know, he's allowed to change things to suit himself if he wishes, its his legacy and he's pretty much the last one standing and therefore gets to write history, looking forward to reading the rest

great quality print, its a nice addition to the Robert Matheu (?) photo book released a few years ago

Despite my earlier misgivings about Ig's dissing of fellow band members (particularly the mighty Ron), I'd say this is the best Stooges book yet*. The format works very well - one giant Ig interview with great pictures (some previously unseen) and related ephemera thrown in (press clippings, correspondence, contracts and whatnot). Interviewer Jeff Gold knows the Stooges story like the back of his hand and asks some pertinent questions. Co-interviewer and occasional content provider Johan Kugelberg contributes well too but it's really Jeff Gold's book.

There's some tasty new info that I wasn't aware of before. Ron's background as a bass player led him to go for heavier guitar strings which helps explains the glorious meatier guitar tone he achieved on the first two albums (overdriven fuzz warhead on the first album then the shrapnel and broken glass combo on Funhouse).

Ig's telling of Scott's demise was very sad. Scott's body and brain were failing and he just wasn't up to it anymore. Drummers are sportsmen not musicians and all that.

Thankfully, the interviews with Jack White, Johnny Marr etc. take up just a few pages at the end of the book and don't encroach too much. I haven't read them and have no interest in doing so (except maybe Joan Jett's thoughts).

Good thick heavy gloss pages too.

*Might be surpassed by the One Night At The Whisky coffee table effort due at the end of May.

Rigsby wrote:

Ig's telling of Scott's demise was very sad. Scott's body and brain were failing and he just wasn't up to it anymore. Drummers are sportsmen not musicians and all that.

Scotty lives on with the recent Easy Action release Sonic's Rendezvous Band  - Space Age Blues. It is a fine quality audience recording from 1976
and Scott's drumming is simply superb. No mailing it in because of the small audience turnout.

I think the hallmark of every great band is that every member is supremely talented at his/her instrument and has something indispensable to add to the mix. I think that was certainly true regarding the Stooges. It was Elecktra president Jac Holzman who famously said "the Stooges can't even play their instruments, how are we going to record them?". But that was obviously premature. While they may have been relative novices on their respective instruments at the time they were quick learners due to a high intelligence quotient. Ron has since made the list of many Greatest Guitarists Of All Time accolades including Rolling Stone and Guitar World. I don't read drum magazines so I can't speak to Scott but obviously he was a genius. Even Iggy, who had Dave fired, remarked a few years ago how brilliant his bass playing was at Soldier Field 1970.

Got the book myself about a week ago. First half is great. From when Williamson joins the picture on though... I don't know. A lot of negative stuff is being said, and don't know what to exactly make of all this. Obviously the two weren't on good terms when the interview took place (March 2014).

There was also this anecdote about Dave Alexander that sheds some more light to his personality...
Iggy:
"Here's a good illuminating thing about Dave. When we lived in the Forest Court House, Dave took his first acid trip with me, and it might have been my first acid. I think it was. And the two of us dropped the acid and after about forty minutes, we felt it going on. And so, "Hey let's take a walk down the street." We walked down the little street and the trees were so beautiful, and we were looking at everything else. "Wow." And then Dave looked at me and he said - he shocked me with this, and that's maybe the difference between me and all the fellas - he looked at me and said, "Things should be like this all the Time"."

Iggy is definitely an unreliable narrator who holds grudges. It's nice that he complimented Dave's bass playing at Soldier Field (then why fire him after Goose Lake, Ig?), but he has taken a lot of nasty shots at Alexander over the years and tried to diminish his role in the band. This is especially terrible when you realize Alexander has been dead almost twice as long as he was alive.

Folks have mentioned Ron's songwriting contributions, but Dave's bass is literally the spine of tracks like "Dirt" and "Fun House."

There should be a whole book done on the subject of "The Stooges- Funhouse". Or is there already?
I haven´t read one, but I´d sure love to!!!