It was pretty muddy, but even though I could hear it could be better, I just went with it, and got used to it pretty quickly. The David Bowie mix of Raw Power was obviously eccentric and a little “messed up.” Things would lurch forward and some other things were too quiet. From then on, I just climbed into a world with that record. It delivered exactly what was on the cover: other-worldly druggy rock’n’roll, sex, violence, but strangely beautiful somehow. What first struck me about Raw Power was a beautiful darkness to it, a sophistication almost. Even though it had a famously messed-up mix, the rawness of it didn’t phase me because the earlier stuff is actually more basic sounding. I knew Raw Power had something else going on because of James Williamson’s guitar playing and maybe Bowie’s odd production. I’d heard “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by the early Stooges lineup and I thought it was great. On the bus ride home, I just stared at it in awe. I went back a week later and bought it for about £3.50. I was always looking through the racks in the record shops in Manchester, and when I came across it I got an actual physical jolt from the cover and vibe of it. I thought I’d better check this Raw Power record out as it sounded intriguing, just the words “Iggy and the Stooges” and “Raw Power,” so I went to find it. One guy was really into Neil Young, another was into Nils Lofgren, another Pete Townshend and Paul Kossoff, and I was into Rory Gallagher, and then I discovered Johnny Thunders in a big way. I was one of about five or six teenage boys, and we all had our own thing. There were quite a few guys in my neighborhood who played guitar and hung out together, sort of competitive, but a very healthy scene. I got into Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges because a friend of mine who was a little older, Billy Duffy, now of the Cult, heard me playing a riff I’d written, and he kept saying that it sounded like James Williamson from the Stooges, who I had never heard. My friends were into Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and even though it was very guitar-based, I didn’t take to it too much. As I got into my teens I checked out the rock bands who were around, but I wasn’t crazy about a lot of it. Records were the main thing in the house. They would have opinions about what I was buying and what was coming out.
My parents were really into records, still are - my mother made up her own pop chart and compared it with the official one each week. glam stuff: Roxy Music, Bowie, the Sweet, everything. I was really into the pop singles of the day, which were all the U.K. It was a cool start and the band were my first love, but the truth is I got it because the label had a great photo of Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn on it, so I was snagged by that. I was pretty young when I bought my first record - nine, I think. And in this exclusive essay taken from 101 Essential Rock Records, the eternally boyish erstwhile Smiths guitarist writes about the effect of the Stooges’ 1973 David Bowie-produced napalm blast of an album, Raw Power. The book, which was edited and compiled by Jeff Gold, is a loving tribute to the long-lasting cultural importance of the vinyl LP.Īs someone who has contributed to his share of pre-digital, pre-cassette classics, Johnny Marr can speak with authority about the special charm of gatefolds and needle grooves. In the upcoming 101 Essential Rock Records: The Golden Age of Vinyl From the Beatles to the Sex Pistols, out December 6, music stars ranging from David Bowie to Devendra Banhart wax rhapsodic about the joys of vinyl and their favorite LPs.
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