Stooges' Guitarist Ron Asheton R.I.P
Premature Death of One of Punk Rock's Founding Fathers
Asheton's Personal Assistant had raised the alarm after repeatedly failing to contact the guitarist. Police were summoned and discovered the guitarist lying dead on his sofa. He is thought to have suffered a fatal heart attack. It is believed he had lain dead for several days before his body was found.
Born Ronald Frank Asheton on 17th July, 1948 in Washington D.C, Ron began playing guitar when he was 10. He was living in Ann Arbor, outside Detroit by the time he was a teenager and had formed The Psychedelic Stooges with like-minded bohemians Dave Alexander (bass), brother Scott Asheton (drums) and James Osterberg (a.k.a Iggy Pop) by 1967.
The birth of American Garage Punk: signing to Elektra Records
The band's early shows were experimental affairs, with household appliances such as vacuum cleaners joining standard rock instruments on stage. Their name had been trimmed back to The Stooges by the time Elektra Records signed them, along with their Detroit neighbours, The MC5 in late 1968. They would join a roster which at the time also featured The Doors, Love and Tim Buckley.
Asheton's repetitive, metallic guitar playing was an integral element of The Stooges' proto-Punk sound. Their albums The Stooges (1969), Fun House (1970) and the David Bowie-produced Raw Power (1973) would later be hailed as major influences on bands from The Sex Pistols to Nirvana.
Metallic K.O, heroin and the demise of The Stooges
After Raw Power, however, The Stooges were in a perilous state. All the band – bar Asheton – were seriously addicted to heroin and Asheton himself felt marginalised after Iggy had introduced new guitarist James Williamson and moved Asheton to bass. Leaving behind arguably the most violent live album ever recorded in Metallic K.O, The Stooges finally split early in 1974.
Post-Stooges, Asheton (www.myspace.com/ron_asheton) would play with several cult bands including Destroy All Monsters and The New Race, this latter also featuring MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson and vocalist Rob Younger from respected Australian punk outfit Radio Birdman. He would also try his hand at acting, enjoying cameos in films such as 1995's Mosquito with Gunnar Hansen of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame.
Re-uniting with Iggy Pop
Rumours of a Stooges re-union began when the Asheton brothers appeared on a track on Iggy Pop's album Skull Ring in 2003. A reconstituted band – with bassist Mike Watt replacing the deceased Dave Alexander – played selected European festivals in 2005 and returned to the studio for the 2007 album The Weirdness with producer Steve Albini.
Although the album received a mixed critical reaction, the shows The Stooges played to promote it were among their wildest ever. Iggy would incite hundreds of fans to invade the stage during the band's Glastonbury Festival show and The Stooges had continued to gig throughout 2008.
Interviewed by Radio France International (www.rfi.fr) during 2007, Asheton said: “I don't feel my age. My philosophy is that you are only as good as your next album. I'm raring to go. I can just keep on writing tunes.”
Ron Asheton's death has thrown The Stooges' future into uncertainty. However, the music world can be sure that his untimely passing has silenced one of rock'n'roll's most incendiary sounds.
Ron Asheton
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Ron Asheton & Iggy Pop
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