Iggy Pop and James Williamson on a record again was one of the ultimate rock’n’roll dreams. The Stooges ever playing again was another one. Then dreams came true. The fourth Stooges studio album, “The Weirdness” was recorded and released 34 years after its killer predecessor “Raw Power” and features founding members Iggy Pop (vocals), Ron Asheton (guitar), and Scott Asheton (drums) along with new band member Mike Watt (bass guitar), but also guest musician Steve Mackay (saxophone), who also appeared on the Stooges’ 1970 album, “Fun House”. And the album was engineered by Steve Albini.
Unfortunately, Ron Asheton was found dead in his home on January 6, 2009 and any further The Stooges performance became – once again – improbable. Iggy released a smooth incursion into a jazzy world with his 2009 effort “Préliminaires”, then last year released a covers album entitled “Après”, which featured renditions of songs by Serge Gainsbourg, Henri Salvador, Harry Nilsson, Georges Brassens, Edith Piaf, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and Yoko Ono.
But Iggy Pop stated that “although ‘the Stooges’ died with Ron Asheton, there is still ‘Iggy and the Stooges’ and somehow managed to convince James Williamson to return as guitarist. Williamson, who was responsible for the seminal guitar sound on 1973’s “Raw Power”, gave up the guitar and worked as an electrical engineer before becoming Vice President of Technology Standards at Sony. Read more Iggy and The Stooges – Ready to Die (2013) ›