During the summer if 1967, Iggy Pop and the Stooges lived and practiced in this two-story house. Iggy Pop (James Osterberg) and drummer Scott Asheton (and his late brother, guitarist Ron Asheton) were also raised in Ann Arbor. Joe Ambrose’s book “Gimme Danger, the Story of Iggy Pop,” said it was here that the band came up with its name while watching a Three Stooges marathon on TV. Ann Arbor’s rock music scene also nurtured local indie groups like the MC5, SRC, Bob Seger and the like.
“But Detroit rock and roll in the late 70’s was anything but nice and fuzzy. It was more street, more grunge, loud, and real. There were no happy endings in any of the songs. The MC5, which stands for the Motor City Five, starts out their album with, “Kick Out The Jams Mother F*cker !!!” and it set the tone for where this movement was going. At the same time of Wayne Kramer and the MC5 the British bands were coming to Detroit to play at the Grande Ballroom. Some of the bands that came turned out to be classic rock giants like Led Zeppelin and The Who. This has to sound like science fiction to some of you because the Grande Ballroom was actually a pretty small place but this really happened. The other interesting thing about the Grande was that it was not right downtown. You couldn’t just park your car downtown and then walk over to it like Saint Andrews Hall. You had to drive out a bit to get there…
That is the chapter you should look into. There was an energy given by the kids and the record promoters could see it. This wasn’t pretty rock and roll and it wasn’t very marketable. Iggy couldn’t be more outrageous. During the live shows he would roll around on broken glass, vomit on stage and even cut himself. He was the prototype of something sinister that other bands would continue to copy such as GG Allin and the Murder Junkies and Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.
Iggy and the Stooges were around from 1967 to 1974 when I guess it wasn’t that much fun anymore to shock.” (via hotmetrofinds.com)