Video Du Jour: Iggy & the Stooges

After about 40 years, the second album by Iggy & the Stooges is coming out – Ready To Die, the new studio album from the band under this name (the first was, of course, the 1973 masterpiece Raw Power), is coming out April 30.

The band is Iggy Pop with guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott “Rock Action” Asheton, with Mike Watt filling in for the late Ron Asheton on bass.

For a bit of context: they were the Stooges first, with the great Ron Asheton on guitar, and released the punk classics The Stooges (1969) and Fun House (1970). For Raw Power, Iggy and producer David Bowie hired Williamson on guitar and relegated Ron Asheton to bass.

Williamson rejoined after Ron’s death in 2009; as Iggy put it then “although ‘the Stooges’ died with Ron Asheton, there is still ‘Iggy and the Stooges’.”  As far as the decision to record and release a new Iggy and the Stooges album for the first time since 1973, Iggy recently commented:

“My motivation in making any record with the group at this point is no longer personal.  It’s just a pig-headed fucking thing I have that a real fucking group when they’re an older group they also make fucking records.  They don’t just go and twiddle around on stage to make a bunch of fucking money…”

Bonus video: Iggy Pop interview