DETROIT - The world of Alternative Rock can give a nod of thanks to the originator who started it all, Iggy Pop. Born James Osterberg in Muskegon, Michigan Iggy Pop has helped create an entire genre of music that has influenced bands all around the world. Pop has been quoted as saying that "he ended the sixties". The film "Gimme Danger" explores all of the ups and downs of one of Rock's most influential frontmen. The film is directed by Jim Jarmusch in cooperation with Low Mind Films and Amazon.com.

The story begins in a trailer with young James becoming obsessed with the drums. His parents take him to see the River Rouge auto factory plant at the Ford Motor Company in Michigan. He becomes fixated on a large stamping plate that presses flat metal into car parts. James, (aka Iggy Pop) refers this to the "metal clang". This becomes a musical goal of sorts as he evolves as a musician. His drumkit begins to take over the living room, and his parents eventually move him into the master bedroom.

Childhood Influences, and Rock and Roll

Iggy is influenced by children's television particularly Howdy Doody and Clarabell Clown. Iggy explains the unpredictability of Clarabell by stating "You never knew what he was going to do". The clip shows the clown running around spasmodically throwing his arms up in the air, and getting the kids riled up in the Peanut Gallery. The other influence was another children's show entertainer, Soupy Sales. The later would have a rule when it comes time to send correspondence into the show. Soupy insisted that all letters must be 25 words or less. Iggy Pop decides this is a good rule to follow when writing songs. The idea was to keep the songs simple but meaningful.

Young Iggy starts a band called The Iguanas. He gets a taste for outrageous showmanship by creating a 16-foot drum riser over the band. They get shows and become so popular that their crowd damaged a floor at a pier gig. Iggy continues to play drums in bands and is around such acts as the Shangri-La's and the Four Tops. By 1966, Iggy has enough of "looking at people's butts" from the vantage point of a drummer and longs to get out in front.

Iggy goes to Chicago to check out the music scene to get away from "white America". He encounters a bigger scene, and rubs elbows with locals. It is there that he decides to create something substantial for his own generation. Iggy Pop takes a job at Discount Records in Ann Arbor where he is influenced by many bands, including Sun Ra, Link Wray, The Ventures, Duane Eddy, and Carmina Burana. Across State Street was Marshalls Drug Store, and this was the hangout of Ron Asheton, a musician, and high school drop out.

Rock and Roll Influences Come To Detroit

Ron Asheton, and friend Dave Alexander, quit school and sell a motorcycle to get travel money for a trip to England. They see The Who at the Marquee Club, and stay until their money runs out. They start to kick an idea around to start a band. Iggy finds out that Ron has a thing for marijuana and buys him a plant. There is an awkward episode where Iggy gets the plant, roots and all, and doesn't know how to dry it out. He sticks it in a laundromat dryer and stinks up the laundry room.

The 1967 Detroit Riots, create many abandoned homes in the city. Iggy arms himself with mescaline, and a shovel and goes to search for a rehearsal house. Iggy knows nothing about electrical wiring, roofing, or plumbing. The band eventually moves in and they rehearse in spite of cops showing up issuing warnings. Not knowing anything about the music publishing business they agree to split everything equally. They live like communists by pooling all of their money together, eating the same food, and sharing everything.

The group would listen to a wide array of music and get stoned together. They would turn off all the lights and listen to Harry Partch who insisted on the practice of making his own instruments. Iggy and the Asheton brothers would bang on oil drums, and use a microphone inside an old gramophone shell. The eerie sliding sounds would echo and create incredible noise. It was a time of experimentation, pushing the boundaries, and creating sensational noise. This would be the signature sound that would set Iggy's band apart from the others on the scene.

They get the idea to call themselves the Psychedelic Stooges. Feeling misunderstood and under-appreciated this seemed like the ideal choice. Everybody is always picking on them and they can relate to the stooge idea. Ron Asheton feels so committed to this idea that he decides to get permission from Moe Howard. A quick call out to Hollywood would be all it took to get the O.K. Moe actually picks up the phone and reportedly said "I don't give a fuck what you call yourselves as long as its not The Three Stooges" and hung up.

From then on the band would be known as Iggy and the Stooges.

Danger followed them almost immediately. Iggy played at a bar in Michigan that attracted a rough crowd. Iggy was jumping around in the audience trying to work out a rapport with the audience. This was a biker bar and the crowd was anything but friendly. Iggy took a punch to the grill and was knocked out cold. They were deemed too outrageous by some and others did not take them seriously. This even included the band. Some of the gigs The Stooges came prepared to play and other times they were not able to perform right. Some of the gigs Iggy could sing, and other times he did not.

Ann Arbor And Breaking The Rules

The city of Ann Arbor is roughly an hour outside of Detroit. It is a liberal arts town that houses the University of Michigan. In the '60s it served as the hotbed for radicalism politics, new music, and was the host city for The Once Festival. This was known as the vanguard of the cultural revolution that included Morton Feldman, John Cage, Luciano Berio, and Cathy Berberian. Iggy and the Stooges decide to play along with The MC5. They find them to be very influential, and their stage persona starts to grow. Iggy wears an aluminum wig and performs in white face. Iggy also hams up his stage presence by dancing like a chimp on stage before a fight. Not to be outdone the Asheton brothers play more loose and free.

New song originals like "I Feel Alright" rock the enthusiastic crowd Ron Asheton wears his WWII medals on his clothing to project attitude. Iggy and the Stooges fill in the Detroit slots with the MC5. They are invited to play with them in Chicago at the Democratic convention of 1968. Guitarist Wayne Kramer asks Iggy to join them in a new radical movement called The White Panther Party. But Iggy is not interested in politics and sticks to the music. Upon returning to Ann Arbor they are spotted by a record executive, and both bands are offered a record deal. On September 22, 1968, the bands are both signed to Elektra Records. The MC5 gets $20 thousand in advancement money, and The Stooges get $5 thousand.

Elektra Records and Recording The Breakthrough Songs

Iggy and the Stooges arrive in New York to record their new album. They would record in Elektra in a small studio housed above a porno theater in Times Square. John Cale from the Velvet Underground would produce the album and was accompanied by Nico.

Together they record the album in a very unconventional way and include their own Marshall amps cranked up to 9. The band does 2 minutes of their songs then fill up the rest of the time with improv. The band is housed at the Chelsea Hotel which is where all the top artists and writers lived like Dylan Thomas, Alan Ginsberg, the Andy Warhol crew, and session player musicians.

Nico has opinions on everything art-related. Since the break up of the Velvet Underground, she remains a presence in the art scene. She often takes jabs at Lou Reed while building up the artistry of Iggy whom she respects.

Iggy makes a comment here that record companies are self-serving and will only look out for their own interests. They don't give a damn about what the public wants. Record companies will only push what they can sell and force on the public. Joe Cocker was the big seller at the time when Iggy and the Stooges broke into the mainstream. He comments that during Elvis' time the record companies were pushing Fabian and Perry Como. Iggy likens this process to cultural treason and claims that this manufactured music still stinks today.

The band continues to record and creates an album in just two weeks. They spend two days per song and play with a lot of intensity. Iggy is influenced by James Brown, Fred Wesley, and Miles Davis. He advises his drummer to play like Maceo Parker on acid. The Elektra recording studio had one room with a throw down rug. The sessions go well and the record company sends Iggy and the Stooges to live in at the Tropicana Hotel on Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, California.

Feeling comfortable in his own skin as a non-conformist Iggy takes in his new freedom by wearing a red leather dog collar purchased at a pet shop. Iggy wears this proudly around his neck and attracts the attention of neighbor and author Ed Sanders who just wrote a book on Charlie Manson entitled "The Family". Sanders hints to Iggy that what he is wearing is dangerous. Iggy also runs into Andy Warhol who advises him a creative endeavor to sing the newspaper. Perhaps the oddest story out of the Hollywood days is when a black Cadillac zooms by driven by John Wayne. The tough Hollywood actor takes one look at Iggy and proceeds to cuss him out on the spot as he drives by.

Iggy and the Stooges play two nights in San Francisco at the Filmore and another two nights at the Whiskey A Go-Go. The live stage shows get more eccentric and Iggy gives the crowd more than what they ask for. His dancing is spasmodic, and he gyrates like an animal, smears peanut butter on his body, and cuts himself on stage. While playing with Frank Zappa

and The Mothers Of Invention, Iggy stage dives, and people don't catch him in the audience. He lands on his stomach and chips his tooth while ripping his lip.

The drugs are plentiful and Iggy takes a toxic dose while performing at Michigan based Goose Lake Festival. This distorts his vision and inhibits his performance. During this phase, the band shuffles through players Bill Cheatham, James Williamson, Zeke Zettner, and Jimmy Recca. Dave Alexander dies from pneumonia complications and the band goes through a rough time. Their record label drops them and they are back to where things started.

David Bowie takes an interest in Iggy and the Stooges and invites them to meet his manager Tony DeFries. They are given a work deal, contract, and are flown out to London to record. The product Raw Power turned out to be the definitive sound for Iggy Pop and critics later referred to it as the birth of Punk Rock. This is a term that Iggy did not adhere to. The music of Iggy Pop defies classification and is in its own genre. In later years Iggy did not identify with glam, goth, alternative rock, or any of the industry labels.

Iggy's antics proved to be too outrageous for the London based management, and they were subsequently dropped. Manager Tony DeFries paid Iggy a visit in his black limousine. The band was living in Hollywood at the time and was unsure of its next move. DeFries confides in Iggy that he has a Broadway offer. Iggy is positioned to appear on the Great White Way as Peter Pan. Iggy reportedy said "no no no Tony no.... I want to play Charles Manson". Tony throws Iggy out of this limo and all deals are off the table.

The Next Generation of Musicians

Punk Rock becomes a worldwide phenomenon due to a number of interesting dynamics. There is a garage sound and an abundance of inspired musicians living in different parts of the world. New York was filing for bankruptcy. Bar owner Hilly Kristal opened CBGB's in the Bowery and only allows bands to play original music. The word on the street here was that Hilly didn't want to pay ASCAP fees. This opened the doors to the Dead Boys, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, Talking Heads, Dictators. In the UK kids were out of work and London was facing a garbage strike. The result was a Punk Rock wave. The bands that came out of that part of the world was The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, and some of these bands covered Iggy and the Stooges.

Iggy and the Stooges were known for being the first band to rise from the dirt. They paid the price to be the leaders in this exciting musical genre some called Alternative, Punk, and it was the reckless crowd. The bands that emerged from this school of thought were Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Husker Du, Suicide, Black Flag, Adolescents, White Stripes, and The Adverts. There were many other bands who were inspired by Iggy that never made it big or were ever signed. The influential loud, abrasive, do-it-yourself style of music had crossed into different continents.

In 2002, Iggy was contacted by the Coachella Music Festival. They wanted The Stooges to play. Iggy didn't take them seriously and named a high fee just to get rid of them. Coachella came back and exceeded all expectations. So in 2003, the public saw an Iggy and the Stooges reunion. It would be the last time the world would ever see all the original members play together. In 2009, guitarist Ron Asheton died. In 2010, Iggy and the Stooges were admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a proud moment and one that many thought would never happen. Iggy Pop reminded the crowd with this bit of advice "Music is life, and life was not a business."

Again Iggy reminded the audience that he didn't want to be hip hop, art people, punk, glam, or tv people. Iggy just simply wanted "To be".