I don’t think I’d ever heard The Stooges before but back In 1973 at school there was a copy of Raw Power floating around.

It was probably the front cover that first grabbed me – that iconic photo of a bare-chested Iggy, bathed in orange light against a black background with lipstick and make-up on his face, clutching the microphone and staring into the crowd.

As foretold in the song titles – Gimme Danger, Death Trip, Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell – it brought an air of menace to the pantomime world of Glam. And that was before you heard the songs: thunderous rhythms, grinding riffs and fluid guitar solos that seemed to emerge from the speakers at twice the normal volume.

Sometimes there was an illusion of tuneful balladry – Gimme Danger and I Need Somebody swayed along on acoustic guitars but Iggy’s snarling persona was never far away, as he told his lover “I can feel your disease” and by the end of the songs Williamson was submerging the melody in squalls of distorted guitar noise.

The other thing that drew me in to Raw Power was the Bowie connection. Credited as co-producer, he actually only mixed the album, but he played a vital role in getting the band together – and getting Iggy in shape to make the record.

The pair had met back in 1971 when Bowie tried to persuade Iggy to re-form his band, The Stooges, who had broken up following their two incendiary albums, leaving Iggy homeless and hopelessly addicted to heroin.
“This guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation,” Iggy said later.

At Bowie’s suggestion, he moved to London in 1971, originally planning to make an album with guitarist James Williamson, who had joined The Stooges for live shows after their second album in 1970.

Unable to find other musicians, he then went back to recruit Stooges brothers Ron and Scott Asheton, the band’s lead guitarist and drummer, persuading Ron to play bass instead of guitar so that Williamson could play lead guitar.

The result, recorded in London and self-produced by Iggy, was Raw Power, released under the band name ‘Iggy & The Stooges.’ This is the first number: pure punk rock years before punk was invented.