Ron Asheton, guitarist for the legendary Stooges, was found dead in his Ann Arbor, Mich., home this morning. Asheton certainly performed with a number of acts between 1973 (when Raw Power, when he was bumped to bass guitar in the Stooges was released) and 2007 (when the Stooges reunited for The Weirdness), but in the end, what he was most known for was his songwriting and tough sounding guitar on the Stooges’ self-titled album and its followup, Fun House. Although I feel like I’m way too acquainted with frontman Iggy Pop, all I really ever knew about Asheton came from his contributions to his band’s records; even a recent interview with his hometown paper isn’t all that revealing, focusing on how the band reformed and the fact that they haven’t made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So, probably fittingly, I’ll remember Asheton in death the way I thought of him in life: through the music of the Stooges. A few selections are after the cut.
“TV Eye”:
“”Cool Time/No Fun” at Glastonbury 2007:
“I Wanna Be Your Dog”:
Asheton was 60.
Stooges’ guitarist Ron Asheton found dead in his Ann Arbor home [MLive.com]
Summed up beautifully, Dan. Iggy gets all the lion’s share of attention for understandable reasons, good and bad, but something like “TV Eye,” which was the first thing I thought of as well, wasn’t just because of Iggy’s opening howl but hearing the guitar slam in right after it.
Don’t forget Asheton’s own wonderfully fucked-up Destroy All Monsters: [en.wikipedia.org]).
Thanks for posting this before I had to learn about it through some fucker’s Twitter update.
@daveknapik: Ha. I just learned about it from someone’s Facebook update. :-/
Dude sits right between Eddie Hazel and Deniz Tek in my list of the greatest guitarists that people underrecognize. And his work on Fun House is fucking godhead; combine that, the first two Sabbath albums and the first two Funkadelic albums and I’m ready to declare 1970 the year guitars went Sam Peckinpah.
I got to interview Iggy a couple of years ago, and I asked him how long the Stooges reunion might continue. He said, “Until somebody croaks.”
I’ll crank up Ron’s nasty, bourbon-marinated guitar solo in “Dirt” in his honor tonight.
If you haven’t already, you must read his commentary in the book “Please Kill Me” oral history of punk. Rest in Peace, Ronnie…