Exactly fifty-two years ago on July 20, 1969, arguably two of the most important moments in mankind occurred at the same time. First, at 10:56 p.m. ET the American astronaut Neil Armstrong put his left foot on the lunar surface and famously declared, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Also at 10:56 p.m. ET Iggy and the Stooges were playing in Detroit, Michigan. No doubt, equally important to civilization.
In the summer of 1969, most of the world simply didn't know what to make of Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The brash and abrasive band blasted out of the Detroit underground with a seething vengeance, armed with caustic songs laced with bracing titles, like "I Wanna Be Your Dog." But The Stooges essentially laid out the blueprint for punk rock to generations of noisemakers eager to plug in and turn it up to 11. The album's brutal and violent approach was reflective of the mood of a nation dealing with the atrocities of the Vietnam War, and civil unrest bubbling up across the country.
"My memory of the original years was a transfixed, frozen attention," Iggy Pop told Rolling Stone in 2007. "Few people wanted to be anywhere near the stage. They would just stare. It was as if the audience was a gigantic cardboard cutout, a diorama. Nobody moved. Nobody went to the bathroom," he cracked. "Little by little, people started liking it. It was mostly high school kids -- tenth graders," Pop continued. "What we did didn't bother them. They thought the riffs were cool. The songs said something to them. And then there were the Ramones, sitting in Queens, going, 'I can get with that. It's kind of simple.' It didn't bother them at all."
The Stooges were a late addition to the bill at the Grande Ballroom on July 20, 1969. Audience accounts of the evening recall Iggy being told on stage that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Ecstatic at the news, Iggy proclaimed "I'm gonna play a special dedication" and the Stooges played "1969" in honor of the event. Well fifty-two years later, we're going to honor it all with an out-of-this-world Iggy and the Stooges print by the one and only Godmachine.
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