Henry Rollins: The Column! Is Raw Power the American Answer to Exile on Main St.?

mark pittman

Henry, you are so right. That album powers from start to finish and them playing it live is mouth agape stuff. Saw them 2 nights in a row at Hammersmith and afraid to say, it was better than the Sttooges shows with Ron. Also, with Raw Power, the whole package is brilliant. The photos, cover art, logo. It works on so many different levels as they say. Yours Mark Pittman

Shannon

I was there and it was the best fucking show ever!

Derek Gregory

You nailed it. Raw Power grabbed me as a child and never really let go. I am so glad dad tried to be a punk, but gave up after he heard this. It meant I got to keep the good records.

Jimjones

your all talking shit everybody does what they do the majority of stars have such big fucking egos that there fucking assholes would they know how to help a blind man across the road in reality they make asound that suits the mood raw power after 8 o clock at night yeah right send iggy to iraq or afghanistan as he seems to hate life so much why didnt he go to nam ah im a fag i dont want to fight no war was he ever a hippy how can sombody be stoned and aggressive what was that bowie song of earthling im afraid of americans la la la la when will they give somthing back to the fans for all those years of loyalty do you realy care if iggy pop wants to realy go to the beech or even wants to be your dog how human life can be so vunurable still thats good old theatre for you its all an act boring i need more id rather get on a big stage with christ and feel somthing powerful and gracious a line to a song i once wrote they bury their dead upright across the bay to keep a watch ful eye on this evil place the air and skys are full of bad spirit we gotta elevate and rise above it pretty muther fucking cool uh

maddogm13

Another way they line up is that the songs (Bowie's original in "Raw Power"'s case) sounded like they were mixed by a deaf person.

Damos Kalaitzidis

Length-wise the two albums don't match, but another good analogy is Fun House to Beggars Banquet. Or even Raw Power to Sticky Fingers. Both very protopunk cover art too.

Blacula

I felt the same way. Just before Iggy hit the stage, I screamed, "I'm so excited"! as I jumped up and down. I didn't stop moving, screaming and singing the entire show. And I don't remember the rest of the weekend.

Prteague

Don't squash him, just talk to him

Prteague

Henry, will you talk to dennis for me?

Lan

I am a 27 years old doctor,mature and beautiful. and now i am seeking a good man who can give me real love, so i got a sername Andromeda2002 on Agedate.СòM, a nice and free place for younger women and older men,or older women and younger men, to interact with each other.Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.

Lan

Andrew Stergiou

Mr. Henry Rollins has had his moments, but to tear him apart from the American pubic, he has had enlightened moments, and regressive lacking moments, he is a deity in the pantheon of puke and punk, but not "god" as they have no "god", and his folky subtle statements and under-statements of brilliance or less always leave me with the taste of something lacking:

In that nothing America,, or Britain, or Western civilization produces can in any shape manner or form be honest truthful spontaneous energetic in what they claim in worship at the idols of these golden calves be pure except in the deceptions of their perversions, for there is nothing but nothing, not something which sometimes is nothing as tongue and cheek, and less than 100% candid, in an "Iron Heel by Jack London".

DJMarcO138

110% agreed! I caught The STooges and Le Butcherettes at the Warfield in San Francisco on the 4th, and I was positively blown away by the energy, vibe, sheer rock-tasticness and how absolutely FRIENDLY Iggy was. He took time to invite as many people from the audience that wanted to get on stage, on the stage for one tune - then he made it a point to hug and handshake every single person as they got off the stage at the end of the song. Several times throughout the night, he had the club throw the house lights on so he could point at the crowd and give them love. He had this infectious, beaming smile most of the night, and judging by the crowd, that energy passed through every single one of us. Glad to hear one of my other favorite musicians experienced what I did at the show I went to - speaks volumes about the power of that band, and music in general.

Nana Wu

Another restaurant cliaimed to use fresh mozz arellacheese,where it's dishes were actually made with economy cheddar.the"fresh pasta"advertieshed on another meau tumed out to befrozen.--Agedate. c0m --a nice and free placefor younger women and older men,or older women and younger men,to interact witheach other.

Nana Wu

Jamews Newell Osterberg

Oh. look at me - I can quote Nietsche (not that I ever read him, far less understood; I just have Quotes for Dummies to hand)

Obama

what a pretentious, up-his-own-ass piece of self-centred narcisssim

Dannyclarke11

This hits the mark. I was feeling empty for awhile having separated from my wife. But this show really stirred something in me and brought clarity and JOY. And somehow things fell together the right way and now we are back together. These Stooges shows change lives.

James R. Nolan

I grew up in that era in which both both Exile On Main Street and Raw Power were released, and love both albums. I don't compare them, nor do I think one is the answer to the other. I see them more as two sides of a coin : Exile was recorded in a state of tax-exiled, jaded, drug-shaded dissolution, where not all the band members played on all the tracks. Many are of the opinion that it's the last great work the Stones recorded (others say Some Girls). It stands as a masterwork, bridging a gap between the hungry, Blues-lovin', radical younger Stones of the '60s and the more adult, more monetarily well-off Stones of the '70s who had become professional craftsmen who had traded in their menace in acceptance of celebrityhood (not that they still didn't make good music afterward). On the other hand, Raw Power, also perhaps drug-fueled (not that that's a good recommendation on the creative level) is the primal, raw, sonic monster of the Id. Unlike the Stones, the Stooges originated from more humble, poorer backgrounds, and thus had a more exuberant sense of need, and infinite amounts of frustration, which fed into their barrage of sound ("clang-bang" as Iggy once described it, claiming they were trying to replicate the sound of the heavy machinery at Detroit auto plants). Stooges albums had been unsuccessful sales-wise, received little or no airplay on radio, and outside of their faithful cult audience were nonexistent except in magazines like CREEM, who supported them in terms of press. The Stooges didn't just live on the edge, they were the edge, and Raw Power culminates everything that they were at that time into songs that gave no quarter because they had nothing and nothing to lose. Every home should have both these legendary albums in them.

Rob J

James,

Your comments regarding Raw Power was spot on. I brought the album in December 1975, and you couldn't give it away. The Stooges had no management or support fromthe record companies. They were far too extreme both in sound and performances, and itwasn't until punk exploded that they found their future audience.

The Stones would have never contemplated a track like "L.A Blues" for release onvinyl. Ig may have used Jagger and Morrison as templates, but he took it much further.Nobody had seen such an confrontational performer like Iggy before, and since the likesof prog rock relics like Yes, Pink Floyd etc ruled on both sides of the Atlantic, TheStooges were bound to fail.

The irony is that Ig and crew have had the very last laugh as they still sound timeless,whereas the others are flabby and dated.