Fun House

by

The Stooges

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The other day, I heard the riff from "TV Eye" in a car ad. Times have indeed changed. Doesn't take more than 30 seconds to ruin a good song, does it? Atleast it was just the riff. I guess they needed the money.

So is this brilliant piece of madness finally getting mainstream attention? I suppose Jack White's endorsement in the liner notes doesn't hurt matters. In any case, it's about time this was given the reissue treatment. As always, Rhino has done a top notch job here. Sonically, it blows the low budget Electra releases away. And they kept the mix, which is more than you can say for Raw Power.

"Down In The Street" opens a vein of pure anarchy right from the start. And that's only the beginning. If Rock & Roll is all about sex & violence, then "Loose" is the poster child. The sound of repressed lust finally set free to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting world. A war cry for the sexual revolution, or just a tune about some crazy guy flashing chicks on the street? Either way, it's one of the best tracks on this album.

As for "TV Eye", guess it's about dropping acid & being stared at by your cat, but who really cares when you're hit with what Ron Ashton's delivering. Proof you don't need formal training to be a guitar god. Or hell, even know what you're doing. Things may mellow out a bit with the gorgeously sleazy dirge, "Dirt" but then "1970" kicks in. If there ever was a song about being "outta my mind on a Satuday night", this is it. Rumspringa from hell. Enough scorn & dersion to almost be a satire on Teenage Wasteland. Or drunken suburban brats everywhere. As for the title track, they emptied out the asylum here. A psycho jazz freak out, thanks to Steven McKay's manic sax.

Serious collectors & audiophiles can amuse themselves with the bonus disc of alterternate takes & there's even an unreleased gem in, "Lost In The Future".

Critics will tell you this is one of the most influential records of all time. Without a doubt, there would be no Ramones. No Clash. No Sex Pistols. No Nirvana. Not to mention hacks like Red Hot Chili Peppers. But leave all that for journalists to pontificate on. Virtually ignored at it's release, bargain binned through the years---I guess that's the price you pay for being ahead of your time. The reissue of their debut is just as essential. Simply one of the most explosive & unforgettable records you'll ever hear.

And this is coming from someone who loves the other two official Stooges albums. The debut was a lot of fun and "Raw Power" was brilliant, but "Fun House"--to me--missed the mark. It's musically consistent and all that(much more so than the first album), but there isn't any one song that stands out as an anthem of howling desperation. '1970' is close but no cigar, and 'Loose' is a decent track; I could do without the rest of the album. 'TV Eye' has a great riff, as far as riffs go, but I prefer big, fat, ringing chords to riffs. 'Dirt' and the title song are sludgy, yawn-inducing dirges.

Most Stooges fans consider "Fun House" to be the band's tour-de-force, I know, and who am I to argue with them? It's just that, to me, the Stooges were all about(as I said before) desperation...and this album has more swagger than desperation. It's kind of like the difference between two of the Stones' all-time classics, 'Street Fighting Man' and 'Honky Tonk Women'. Which one has more staying power? Swagger is transitory, fleeting...but there is something of the eternal in desperation(witness the frightening wails and throbbing musical strains of 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' or 'Penetration').