The Stooges - 'Fun House' (1970)

Versions:
LP
LP (Russian bootleg)
CD (2-disc re-issue)
The Complete Fun House Sessions Box Set


Tracklisting:

Side One:
1. Down On The Street
2. Loose
3. TV Eye
4. Dirt

Side Two:
1. 1970
2. Fun House
3. LA Blues

Best Tracks:
Down On The Street
1970
TV Eye
Dirt

Currently listening to: CD

Given that the last blog was Patti Smith's Teenage Perversity And Ships In The Night, now seems like an appropriate time to cover Fun House.

As I said in the last blog, I got my first Patti Smith record and my first Stooges record a week apart, when I was 16. And they were both big game changers for me. I'd seen The Stooges on the same documentary I'd seen Patti Smith on (the BBC's great Dancing In The Street series, in case you were wondering) and had the same urge and curiosity to find out more about them. Of course, I knew of Iggy Pop. At least, I thought I did.

It does strike me as odd, all these years later, that both The Stooges and Patti Smith were so alien to me when I was 16. It was like a big secret that I was finding out about. Many adults in my life were impressed that I loved 60's music as much as I did, and many were happy to offer recommendations ('Hey, you should listen to Jethro Tull!') but no-one I knew had any knowledge of anything like The Stooges or Patti Smith. Today, thankfully, just about everyone I know loves The Stooges. As well they should.

Being in my happy teenage bubble of (classic, Dad-approved) 60's music, the first sign I got that people were fucking shit up in the 60's was, of all people, Yoko Ono. I'm glad John Lennon put her on all his b-sides. Side Two of Live Peace In Toronto, which ends with 15 minutes of feedback and Yoko screaming, struck a chord with me. Suddenly, I wanted more from my new musical discoveries than 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Black Night'.

Enter THE STOOGES.

My first copy of Fun House was a Russian bootleg vinyl copy. Pictures below stolen from the internet:

This is how the tracks were printed in the back cover:

I was mates with the guy that owned the record shop I bought it (and the Patti record) from. He wrote out the track listing from this encyclopaedic book he had. Looking inside the cover tonight, it's still there:

Seeing his hand-writing, after all these years, reminds me of the many, many CD's I ordered from his shop. On the other side of the paper bag, he'd written the tracklisting of the first Stooges album, which he also had a Russian bootleg LP of  (a picture, for shits and giggles and nostalgia):

...which I bought the week after I bought Fun House. I couldn't decide which one to buy first. I ended up buying Fun House because it was $5, whereas the first album was a whopping $7 (which I know, because - for reasons best known to myself - I stuck the price sticker on the paper with the tracklisting for the first album. Also, I miss the days when records were cheap). It must have been divine intervention, because - as much as I love their first record - I made the absolute right choice in getting Fun House first.

Even today, this record has me by the balls as soon as 'Down On The Street' starts. And it doesn't let up until the final moan of 'LA Blues'. I can still remember the excitement I felt listening to this album for the first few times. I still feel it when I listen to it. Maybe that's why I love it so much. I also remember playing it to a few of my friends, with a real sense of urgency. 'YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW'! My best mate loved it, too. I'd never heard anything quite as unhinged. It's madness. There's so much energy. I remember wondering how the fuck they recorded it - let alone that it was recorded in 1970.

This really was a life changing album for me. About 6 months after I discovered The Stooges, I joined my first band. While world domination evaded us, we stayed together for nearly 10 years. And, that whole time, I stole a lot from Iggy. As many others have. And many more will continue to.

I also started smoking around the same time I got Fun House. 'Dirt' became my smoking song. There were many weekend nights where I'd save a cigarette, wait for my Dad to leave the house, light some incense, turn off the lights, then pop on 'Dirt'. And, happily smoke away. I'm tempted to do it again now. But, sneaking cigarettes inside in your 30's isn't as fun as in your teens. Sigh.

After the Russian bootleg LP, I bought the standard CD. I gave that away after the 2005 re-issue came out. The 2005 re-issue has a bonus disc, which serves as a best-of the Complete Fun House Sessions box set (that set will get a blog of it's own). I also have a German LP, which Discogs tells me is a 1982 pressing. It was just nice to find a vinyl copy with an English tracklisting. I also ended up, after buying a Stooges bundle from Pop Market, with the gorgeous 2010 pressing, but gave it to a friend who didn't have a vinyl copy of the album. He was obviously in greater need of it. Like many albums on this blog, I'm playing the CD tonight, because it's the version I listen to least. The bonus disc is great, Iggy's intro to 'TV Eye' is a hilarious highlight.

I truly believe that Fun House is one of the best, and most important, albums ever recorded. I could go on about the influence it's had and ponder where we'd be without it. I don't need to. What matters is that it's a fucking amazing record. I got it when I was 16. I'm almost 32. That's half my life I've been with Fun House. Obviously, it's been the better half. And, Fun House, somehow, keeps getting better with every listen.