MMM: Search And Destroy – The Stooges

Milo here.

More MMMs — you know the deal, you’ve seen the signs, it’s all there.

Today, we’re looking at yet another punk standard, in Search And Destroy from The Stooges’ murderous third record, 1973’s Raw Power. Check the audio below:

Hopefully we’re all in agreeance that, canonically, The Stooges are the first punk band. I also hope that we can agree that they’re better than almost any other (I’d personally put them above even The Clash, but that’s just me). However, it may seem almost coersive that I’m posing these statements when you have Search and Destroy blasting in ya ears — cus it’s a fucking mammoth track.
With Raw Power, with Bowie’s influence all over the mix, The Stooges took the groove-based proto punk of the first two records and merged it with catchier riffs and a, relative to The Stooges, cleaner aesthetic. That said, this is still gutter-dwelling scum rock at it’s finest, and the notion of this song is nothing less than incendiary. The guitars are a nothing less than violent, with garish punches of shredding punctuating a riff that is undoubtedly perfect. The drums, particularly on the Iggy mix, are somewhat undermixed, but even that adds to the chaotic tornado of utter noise that this song is, with Scott Asheton’s cymbal rage being fully felt. Over this, Iggy’s vocals feel almost elevated, crowd surfing over the rampage and spouting mantras of psychosis while doing so. In his proclamation as the “world’s forgotten boy”, Pop captured the essence of punk a full four years before Simon Ritchie even knew what it was.

MORE STOOGES’N’SUCH:

MMM: Lust For Life – Iggy Pop

SAT500: Best Album of the 60s

Lots of hugs, kisses and lacerations

Milo.