The Stooges - L.A. Blues

The Stooges - L.A. Blues

Copyright - 1970 Elektra Records

Fun House is the second album by the American rock band The Stooges.

It was recorded in May 1970 and released in July of the same year. Like its predecessor, The Stooges (1969), Fun House did not sell well. In subsequent years, however, it has been cited as very influential on later musicians, notably in punk rock. In 2007, the album was voted Loudest Album Ever by Q Magazine.

The tracks were recorded live in the studio with few or no overdubs, in roughly the same order as on the record. The Stooges were known at the time more for their cataclysmic live shows than for any established musicality, so "Funhouse" being recorded in this pseudo-live fashion made it the Stooges album which most closely captures the essence of their sound[2]. It also allowed for the collector-friendly release of 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions in 2001.

The Stooges intended that "Loose" open the album, but Elektra thought "Down On The Street" would be the stronger opener.[3]

An alternate version of "Down On The Street", with Doors-style organ overdubbed on it by producer Don Gallucci, was pulled from the album and made into a single.[3] It was released the same month as Fun House, and fared slightly better on the charts.

In 1985, singer Henry Rollins cited Fun House as one of his favorite albums in Spin.[4]

In 1999 Rhino Records released a limited edition box set, 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions, featuring every take of every song from every day of the recording sessions, plus the single versions of "Down On The Street" and "1970". On August 16, 2005, the album was reissued by Elektra and Rhino as a two-CD set featuring a newly remastered version of the album on disc one and a variety of outtakes (essentially highlights from the Complete Fun House Sessions box set) on disc two. Jack White contributed a quote to Iggy biographer Paul Trynka's liner notes to the reissue, in which White dubbed Fun House "by proxy the definitive rock album of America."

In 2003, the album was ranked number 191 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [1]

In 1998, the Paris-based music magazine Rock & Folk placed Fun House in the top position of its "discothèque idéale."

In 2005 the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series.

Famed musician/engineer Steve Albini cites Fun House as his favorite album of all time.

Lyrics: Instrumental Track

• Category

  Music

[JoyGrenade]

I used this to drive everyone out of the café last night at close. I've never seen the place clear out so fast.

[Johnny B Goode]

This is the like the soundtrack to insanity.

[Punk93Metal]

The song (and album) that destroyed the 60s.

[MrBandshell]

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[pudman31]

Iggy cited jazz and funk as major influences on this album in at least one interview. Also, another important Detroit protopunk group, the MC5, drew from these experimental jazz artists such as Sun Ra.

[pudman31]

There should be sheet music to this.

[pudman31]

This would make a great cell phone ringtone.

[F Jay]

This is kind like "Ok dudes you got to make a song to close the album" "Em... well... I think... We gotta... I know... Jamming some noise! yeah that's right! Let's start 1,2,3,4..."

[Paul Johannes]

If memory serves (not at all a sure thing), it was their live performance of this song at the Goose Lake festival which caused the Stooges to be booed off the stage (it might have been the intended closer of their set, anyhow)... I guess the world wasn't ready for this melange of free jazz, space rock, electronic noise & proto-punk rage. Now, I have to wonder: was it some kind of homage to the Doors's more exploratory, experimental stuff? "L.A.," after all (& Morrison's known influence on Ig)

[Kc Ramone]

what a great line..."the soundtrack to insanity."

[poughkeepsiejohn]

Listening to this, it's obvious The Stooges were listening to a lot of "free jazz" like Sun Ra or Ornette Coleman.