When Iggy Pop and the Stooges released Fun House I wasn’t even alive. I wasn’t even close to being alive. It would be another 15 years until I would be born. My first exposure to Iggy Pop was on the TV show Pete and Pete. Iggy Pop played the father of one of the characters Mona. Back then I didn’t even know who he was. Now I’m a little older, and I can appreciate Iggy for his music, not his acting on children’s shows. Fun House is a great raw rock album. It set the tone for the punk revolution that would come soon after.

Iggy Pop was a wild man. He went crazy on stage and poured out his heart and soul in his performances. His passion is very evident on this album. Fun House is the only Stooges album I’ve heard so I can’t gauge it against other Stooges efforts. The cover of Fun House depicts a shirtless man in a blaze of flames with a mic in his hand. This is obviously Iggy and the picture fits his wild man image. Iggy’s singing is dirty and raw just the Stooges instrumental. Iggy’s coarse voice fits the music perfectly. His loud gravely shouts and screams are perfect.

The Stooges play a raw, dirty rock sound. The guitar is fast and distorted. At the time that this album was released raw distorted guitar wasn’t very commonplace. There was still a lot of that hippie peace and flower stuff. Bands like the Stooges and MC5 blew the roof off the place. The Stooges also melded some jazz into their raw rock n roll sound. In songs like “Fun House” and “LA Blues” saxophones accompany Iggy. I found that the last few tracks of the album are the ones with the Jazz in them. The Jazz is a nice touch and fits the music very well.

Not all of the songs are super-fast and powerful. Songs like “Dirt” have a mellower, more atmospheric feel to them. The guitars aren’t as distorted and have more of a swirling sound to them. The Stooges show they’re full range of musical talents, going for fast power songs, to slower groove oriented jams.

The only problem I found with this album is that it’s only 7 songs long. The album clocks in at about 35 minutes. There are a couple 7-minute songs on this album. 35 minutes isn’t that short compared to some punk albums that have about 20 songs and clock in at less than 30 minutes. All the songs are good anyway. Wouldn’t you rather have 7 good songs then a bunch of mediocre songs?

This album made a huge impact on rock n roll’s history. Iggy Pop is a true bad a*s. He represented the streets of Detroit to the fullest. Fun House is a masterpiece that no rock fan should be without. Punk rockers that want to hear the roots of punk should also pick this one up. I got this CD in the used CD bin at my local record store for something like $5 or $6. It was a steal.

This review is part of MagnumForce’s "Albums That Changed Your View On Music" Write Off, which will also include reviews by the following authors: MadTheory, Conter7, DVON, BigC55555, Firstcontact21, Systemdwn, Lunadisarm, Churst, Cyanne, Crazy3237, Yuffie, Kenshin-Guy, Kuuleimomi, Dequebec, Ryost, Monssfisch, and BARNZ, and repulsemonkey


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends