My friend Don gave me some shit today about failing to mention the recent death of Ron Asheton on this blog. Truth is, I've been all kindsa busy; plus, the protean Stooges guitarist hasn't exactly lacked for gushing tributes and in-depth articles this week detailing his massive influence upon punk, grunge, and rock in general. So, I'd been thinking, what could I possibly add to the flurry of well-deserved hosannas? I never met Ron Asheton, nor (I sadly must admit) did I catch the Stooges on any of their reunion shows over the past few years. So all I can really offer, in the end, is a little bit about what his guitar playing on the first two Stooges records meant to me.
Growing up in Ann Arbor in the 1970s gave me a slightly skewed perspective on rock and roll history; I was familiar with the terms "White Panther Party" and "MC5" from my nursery school days onward, and I recall that pretty much everyone in my sixth grade class knew who Iggy Pop was — although our understanding of him was as some sort of gross-out bogey man, as opposed to a brilliantly primal performer. ("That would be so bitchin' if Iggy Pop showed up," I remember my friend Johnny whispering to me during one school assembly. "He'd just get up on stage and PISS on everybody!!!")
But I never heard of Ron Asheton, or even the Stooges, until the early '80s — which was, not coincidentally, around the time that I was learning to play guitar. The songs on 1969's The Stooges and 1970's Funhouse were simple, but (contrary to what I've been reading in many of the Ron Asheton tributes) were not easy to play along to. The Ramones? Those records were a breeze to play along to — you just dialed up a nice distortion sound, found a barre chord in the right key, and off you went. Ron Asheton's playing, however, had a menacing logic all its own, and utilized a uniquely personal combination of fuzz and wah-wah pedals, natural tube distortion, feedback, extreme Stratocaster abuse (see the above photo), and blues licks that — once you actually broke them down — seemed more extra-terrestrial than delta-derived. What I eventually realized was that just about anyone can play a Stooges song, but very few people can do it and make it sound even half as bad-ass as the real thing, even if they're working with the right gear; and that's because the magic in the music truly came from Ron's hands and soul.
Was Ron Asheton the single biggest influence on my own guitar playing? Not exactly; as a guitarist who also happens to be an obsessive music fan, it's all but impossible to not be influenced in one way or another by the millions of different licks and solos I've heard through the years. But I can say that Ron ranks high in my personal guitar cosmology. Or put it this way: When I slam a power chord, I want to be Pete Townshend. When I jangle around an open G, I want to be Roger McGuinn. When I hang on a note during a solo, I want to be Neil Young; when I slide up the neck to go for the punk-rock "air raid siren," I want to be Johnny Thunders. But when I kick on the wah-wah pedal, there's no one I would rather be than Ron Asheton. His way with a wah had almost nothing to do with the artful tone sculpting of JImi Hendrix, or the percussive funkiness of Eddie Hazel — with Ron, the wah-wah pedal was all about orgasmic eruptions of frustration and anarchy. He could make that thing spit like an angry wildcat, sting like a swarm of bees and belch like a drunken German, and it's virtually impossible to listen to the first Stooges album on headphones without feeling like your brain is being rubbed raw by fistfuls of steel wool.
Case in point: This fantastic alternate mix of "Real Cool Time" from the first album, which is pure nasty fuzz-wah heaven. Stick around at the end to hear the clueless engineer (or is that producer John Cale?) wondering if perhaps all the song could be trimmed down to the 2:20 mark...
Real Cool Time (Alternate Mix)
R.I.P., Ron. You fucking tore it up.
(Oh yeah — the amazing photo above was taken by the great Robert Matheu.)
Nice post.
sweet pic.
You rock Dan.
Posted by: Greg Barbera | January 10, 2009 at 07:55 AM
you said it.
Posted by: Stu | January 10, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Great stuff as always, Dan! ...BTW: I would venture to say that's definitely John Cale in the control booth at the end. The way he pronounces the word "after" gives it away...
Posted by: Vinnie Park | January 11, 2009 at 07:17 PM
Thanks Dan! The healing can begin.
Posted by: Don | January 14, 2009 at 12:39 PM
What a cool tribute. Although your mention of "Real Cool Time" reminds me of how (badly) my old band used to cover that. *shiver* I'd forgotten all about it!
Posted by: Will E. | January 16, 2009 at 11:24 AM
My point exactly, Will! Those Stooges songs seemed so easy to play, but playing 'em RIGHT was an entirely different story!
Posted by: Dan E | January 16, 2009 at 01:31 PM