Idly browsing through the Guardian's music pages (Lady Gaga? Really? Well, Eric Altermann ran a whole press release about Goblin Cock a few weeks ago, just to make the point that we middle-aged types are totally out of it and should just stick to listening to Steve Earle, I guess) tonight I was SHOCKED to see an obituary for Ron Asheton, founding guitarist of the Stooges.
"Asheton's body was found at his Ann Arbor home. The cause of death was unknown, but unconfirmed reports said he had been dead for several days."
I am surprised to find myself so saddened; Iggy, of course, was always the main media focus, but for Stooges fans, it was the guitar, the drivng, simple, insistent, nerve-damaging guitar.
I got my first Stooges album (the first Stooges album) in high school, probably '72 or '73, and it was a couple of years before I found a used copy of "Fun House". But until the "next" punk wave finally came along, those two, the 2 New York Dolls albums and the V. U. were just about all that stood between me and an ever-growing tide of glowing, pulsating, multi-part Yes albums... Just the fact that Ron Asheton had helped make such obvious (to me and the handful of enablers like Lester Bangs and other CREEM-oids) classic albums without having the impossible-to-emulate skills of a Jimmy Page or (insert yr own legendary rock guitarist here) was enough to keep a little spark going until the full DIY onslaught of late '70s punk.
Never got to see them live, still haven't heard the reunion album recorded by Steve Albini, hell, I don't even have those first two Stooges albums on CD! But I've always kept the vinyl handy and if I don't play them as often as I did 30 years ago, I've never forgotten why I've held on to them when so many others have gone bye-bye over the years.
Thank you Ron Asheton, for the music.