![]() His raw, bluesy style was instrumental in Raw Power having a harder edge and more adrenal tempo than predecessor Funhouse, and he co-wrote all eight songs – much to the chagrin of Asheton, who felt he’d been usurped. “He finds every corner of a musical premise and fills it up with detail.”īorn in Texas, Williamson joined The Stooges in 1970 aged 19, initially as second guitarist, before Ron Asheton switched reluctantly to bass. “As a guitarist, James fills the space as if somebody’s just let a drug dog into your house… and it’s big,” is how Iggy describes his bandmate’s playing. He’s both demonic and intellectual, almost how you would imagine Darth Vader to sound if he was in a band.” Johnny Marr said of Williamson: “He has the technical ability of Jimmy Page without being as studious, and the swagger of Keith Richards without being sloppy. Sex Pistol Steve Jones famously admitted he learnt to play by taking speed and listening to Raw Power. Playing the Keef to Iggy’s Mick was a guitarist whose influence is threaded inexorably through the development of punk rock, James Williamson. And as its chief creator James Newell Osterberg Jr, aka Iggy Pop, recalls: “It was done with drugs, youth, attitude and a record collection”. It remains one of the most visceral, electrifying pieces of musical savagery you’ll ever hear. Released in 1973, it set the bar for a wave of punk bands to try and, in most cases, fail to eclipse. If ever an album was wholly encapsulated by its title, it’s The Stooges’ incendiary third album, Raw Power.
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