It’s probably fair to say that Iggy Pop is the Keith Richards of punk. He’d probably hate the comparison, but given his superhuman survival skills in an arena that turns lesser mortals to mush, it seems apt. And now, at 66 years old, Pop and the remaining Stooges—James Williamson, Scott Asheton, and the great Mike Watt (replacing Ron Asheton)—have released a new album, their first since 2007’s The Weirdness.
Unlike the Stones, The Stooges don’t rest on their laurels. Listen to “Burn” above and tell me this isn’t as raw power as Raw Power. Pop’s voice has deepened considerably, his youthful machismo tempered into apocalyptic doomsaying. But he’s still got the cocked-hip gravitas and full-frontal grimace that carried him through well over three decades of boom-bust-boom rock swagger. Wanna hear more? Lucky for you, NPR streams the full album, Ready to Die, this week. Listen to it below and be awed.
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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Washington, DC. Follow him @jdmagness
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