Hear Me Out: 'I Need Somebody' Is The Definitive Iggy & The Stooges Song

This article was originally published on Far Out

The Stooges weren’t ahead of their time; they were above it.

Long before punk became the widely accepted classification for tasteful disruption, Iggy Pop, Dave Alexander and the Asheton brothers were disturbing the peace in the Midwest out of sheer passion. Of course, these gentlemen themselves didn’t know that the mess they left behind would then solidify into the bedrock of a revolution.

There’s absolutely no one on this planet who confirms that rock ‘n’ roll is indeed the devil’s music better than Iggy Pop. He, of course, pulled off the impossible by simply not trying to be anyone but his maniacal self and ended up adding a positive spin to the whole thing. Before him, no one wanted to be the devil, but once his band allowed people to hear what the pushback against artistic orthodoxy sounded like, heaven started to seem rather boring.

After publishing their debut album in 1969 and a follow-up the very next year, The Stooges briefly disbanded in 1971 when Alexander was fired from the group. With that, Ron Asheton took over the bass while James Williamson stepped in as the new guitarist. The amended lineup's brief run culminated in eight volcanic tracks packaged as Raw Power, which was the final (and arguably most robust) impetus for a delayed legacy that would take two more decades to anchor immovably. They broke up again not long after its release, this time for almost thirty years.

The record went on to inspire innumerable titans, from Kurt Cobain of Nirvana to Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols to Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Whereas ‘Search and Destroy’, ‘Gimme Danger’ and ‘Raw Power’ are typically shortlisted as the standout pieces from the tracklist, ‘I Need Somebody’ best distils the essence of the group.

The irresistible allure of this track lies in all four Stooges playing their roles to perfection, with no single member outshining the rest. This is undoubtedly the best Iggy ever sounded across his 60-plus years in and out of the business — sharp, assertive, grimy and vicious — and is still the most seductive PR the devil has ever had. On that same wavelength, Williamson’s work on the electric and acoustic guitars is equally striking. Although he wasn’t even on the first two albums, the riffs on this cut alone make him every bit as essential to the band’s overall dynamic as the founding members.

Sure, Scott and Ron Asheton didn’t display the same creative merit as the other two, but that doesn’t change the fact that their contributions were just as valuable. The drums and bass guitar on ‘I Need Somebody’ are flawless because they both understood the assignment and executed their parts in accordance with the key elements of the song that Iggy and Williamson had written for themselves. The framework within which the lead guitar and vocals exist is what keeps everything in place, and the brothers ensured its rigidity.

Two polar opposite mixes of Raw Power have materialised since it was conceived in 1973: the original by David Bowie, which combines experimental sound processing with a more disciplined approach to enhancing the overall quality of the masters, and another by Iggy in 1997 that is significantly dirtier. Those who prefer a clearer and more sanitised sonics tend to gravitate toward the Englishman’s version, while the alternative does a far better job of honoring the project’s violent spirit.

Unfortunately, neither of them captures the fullness of Ron Asheton's bass guitar as his parts are barely discernible due to Bowie's creative liberties, while Iggy took things to the other extreme and ended up overdriving the audio beyond recognition. His contributions to the LP are something listeners basically have to figure out by comparing and contrasting each edition. In fact, the key differences between the two are most apparent on ‘I Need Somebody’.

It's no secret that The Stooges initially failed to generate a buzz substantial enough for the music industry to continue investing in them. They did, however, leave a trail of chaos in their wake that indelibly broadened the scope of rock. On that note, it’s not really a stretch to establish once and for all that punk, metal, grunge, industrial and noise all trace back to Michigan — Raw Power, and more specifically ‘I Need Somebody’, makes this an easy realisation.

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