Where would punk be if The Stooges didn’t Search and Destroy?
This February marked the 49th birthday of Iggy and The Stooges’ third studio album Raw Power. Although poorly received at its release, this album sonically set the standard for every punk act coming after it, “Search and Destroy” becoming a track that inspired members of bands like the Sex Pistols and Mötley Crüe.
The Stooges, but more specifically this album pioneered the proto-punk genre, as before its release ‘there was almost nothing like it [and] afterwards there [were] tons.’ It was aggressive, vicious, and hard in an uncharted way, with the guitar uniquely filling up every track. “Search and Destroy” was a shining example of this, with the guitar playing ‘a great number of chords almost all at once’ to emulate the sound of machine gunfire. This song stressed feelings of anti-establishment and anger from America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Lyrics like ‘nuclear A-bombs’ and ‘I’m a street-walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm’ reflected Iggy Pop’s real-time processing of information he read about the war in a Time article, whose contents he nabbed the phrase search and destroy from. Since anti-war sentiments were popular in the ’60s, the term search and destroy quickly became a symbol in the punk community, acting as a slogan or rallying cry. The phrase gained so much steam that a popular punk ‘zine of the late seventies adopted it as its name. The angst of “Search and Destroy” as well as its groundbreaking guitar technique featuring ‘a combination of pounding rhythm and searingly aggressive lead breaks’ earned imitation from the ‘Sex Pistol’s Steve Jones and countless others.’
Not only did the group’s musicality change the punk movement forever, but so did Iggy Pop’s stage persona and gender expression. Pop’s style coined ‘pansexual glam,’ revolved around makeup, dresses, wigs, tight pants, panties, cheetah print, and glitter. He was unphased by how he’d be perceived by audiences, fully expressing himself on stage knowing there were questions of whether he was gay. Pop’s choice of clothing on and off stage contributed to the ‘deconstruction of the homosexual/heterosexual binary… [in] the midcentury period’ which acts like the New York Dolls later benefitted from when following his blueprint but ramping up the feminine aesthetic. While other artists denied being anything other than straight, Iggy Pop openly talked about his sexuality in an interview with New York Rocker in 1980 expressing that he wasn’t sure if he was a confirmed heterosexual. He told the interviewer Roy Trakin “I don’t know what I am…If a guy wants to suck me off that’s usually alright. I’ll have a guy for a giggle, but that’s all. I like guys alot.”
Iggy’s stage antics like rolling around in glass, slashing his chest, and smearing peanut butter on his body also set a bar that later bands strived to match. The violent and self-destructive nature of Pop’s behavior on stage created a norm in punk culture where the prevailing ethos and mindset of punks was to let the culture consume them to a point of physical and mental deterioration. Major players in the punk movement like the Germs’ front man Darby Crash assumed these stage habits, which trickled into his everyday life and bred a depressive state which ultimately led to his suicide.
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As a college student, my first time hearing about Iggy and The Stooges was two months ago after one of my professors requested we watch Epix’s TV Series titled Punk. I remember thinking that Iggy Pop looked so weird, I audibly said ‘why does this old guy have his shirt off?’ Now looking back, it’s funny because it proves that Iggy is still marching to the beat of his own drum upwards of 50 years after his time in the spotlight. Even at the age of 72, he’s still wearing no shirt and his tight pants, staying true to the punk aesthetic he popularized. After doing my own research on Iggy and The Stooges, it became clear that punk wouldn’t be where it is now without them. Iggy and The Stooges unknowingly provided a game plan to other bands that came right after them, as well as acts that came decades later. With the Stooges’ development of this new guitar style, dressing in a way that bent gender lines, and performing in such a dangerous yet captivating fashion, Iggy and The Stooges quickly became ‘the inspiration for a generation of nihilistic, audience-bating, violence-mongering punk rockers.’
Sources
Davidson, Guy. Categorically Famous : Literary Celebrity and Sexual Liberation in 1960s America, Stanford University Press, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/templeuniv-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6143785.
Fortnam, Ian. “The Story behind Search and Destroy by Iggy & the Stooges.” Loudersound, 13 Oct. 2020, www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-search-and-destroy-by-iggy-and-the-stooges.
Huart, Warren. “Songs That Changed Music: Iggy & the Stooges — Search and Destroy.” Produce like a Pro, 30 Dec. 2020, producelikeapro.com/blog/songs-that-changed-music-iggy-the-stooges-search-and-destroy/.
Sacher, Andrew. “‘The Stooges’ Turns 50; a Look Back on the Album That Helped Birth Punk.” BrooklynVegan, 5 Aug. 2019, www.brooklynvegan.com/the-stooges-turns-50-a-look-back-on-the-album-that-helped-birth-punk/.
Trakin, Roy. “The Discreet Charm of Iggy Pop.” New York Rocker, Jan. 1980.
Walker, Gary. “The Genius Of… Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges.” Guitar.com | All Things Guitar, 9 Dec. 2020, guitar.com/review/album/the-genius-of-raw-power-by-iggy-and-the-stooges/.
