When I was a kid, my parents – at their wits’ end – were suitably frustrated enough to attempt to alleviate my school holiday boredom by taking me to Ashton’s Circus.
It was lame. Underfed, over-disciplined so-called kings of the jungle parading around and around the same cramped dustbowl for seemingly hours on end. Overpriced fairy floss that I wasn’t allowed to eat because of my stupid three loose teeth. And the clowns freaked me out too.
Fast forward 10 years. A seriously awkward, acne-riddled teenager is angrily slumped into the beanbag in his bedroom. He stares at the wall opposite. The radio is on. Background noise. A prattling voice emanates from the Sony Megabass speakers. The voice belongs to Geoff Simmons, host of the 3PBS radio show Tube Disasters. Geoff is back-announcing yet another lengthy bracket of not-so-bad-not-so-great punk staples. The seriously awkward, acne-riddled teenager yawns. He is bored.
Another song comes on.
Geoff Simmons sits in the St Kilda studios of community radio station 106.7 3PBS. Unwittingly, in the space of 20 seconds, he has changed a seriously awkward, acne-riddled teenager’s life. Two sonically, gut-churning power-chords, a high-pitched wail and a thumping Diddley beat is all it takes.
The song is “1970” by the Stooges and from the moment singer Iggy Pop opens his big mouth and screams the opening line “Outta my mind on Saturday night” I was never the same. The driving force though is the Asheton brothers. Ron on guitar. Scott on drums. They are the pulse, the energy, the lifeblood.
All the truly great, pioneering rockers are dropping dead quicker than managers at English Premier League clubs get sacked, leaving us late-thirty to late-fifty-somethings wandering aimlessly alone, around a scary and confusing planet filled with Justin Biebers and Taylor Swifts. It’s cold and it’s lonely.
The latest addition to this long and rapidly growing list of dead degenerates is Stooges drummer and founding member, Scott Asheton. He died of a heart attack on March 15 at the age of 64 in his hometown, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Known affectionately as “Rock Action” by bandmates, friends and fans alike, Asheton joins his brother Ron in the afterlife and together I hope they are giving whoever is in charge of this miniscule, insignificant planet absolute hell.
Long live the Asheton brothers!
I once read an article in a drumming magazine where the writer stated that Scott Asheton is a “meat and potatoes” drummer. So, while that writer sits alone in his office, re-tying his pony tail and listening to John Bonham’s magnum opus “Moby Dick” all the while gushing over how brilliant Bonham is and how he revolutionised drumming yadayadayada, here are five reasons why the Asheton brothers are better than you, me, John Bonham, drum magazine writers and well… pretty much everybody.
1. The Stooges, “Loose”
Listen to the opening 30 seconds of the Stooges track “Loose” from the 1970 release, Fun House. It’s the most bombastic, “look at me, look at me” intro in rock history which certainly set the blueprint for big rock intros to come. The song opens with a primal Iggy Pop yelp, but it’s Ron Asheton’s unsettling opening power chord followed by a succession of big Rock Action drum rolls that really set the sleazy tone. This opening is dripping with sexuality, enough in fact to make Robert Plant blush, unstuff his crotch and take up a career in accounting. And all this before the song actually kicks into high gear. It should probably be illegal.
While you’ve got the Fun House album on overdrive, listen closely to the final track “LA Blues”. Did that drum magazine writer guy actually make it to this track or did he end up in the foetal position under his desk sucking on his ponytail after the assault of the “Loose” intro? “LA Blues” is where Scott Asheton shines electric! In this psyched-out, free-jazz, Coltrane-channelling number, Rock Action is seemingly given free rein to improvise up a storm. And it’s fucking brilliant too. Seven minutes of sonic mind-fuck accompanied of course – among others – by brother Ron’s shrieking, ear-bleeding guitar. This is soul, jazz, psych and punk rock all rolled into one. Take that Jimmy Page.
3. The man they call “Rock Action”
As stated earlier, Scott Asheton’s nickname is Rock Action. That alone qualifies him as better than most. The coolest name in rock history. Apart from maybe Top Dollar from Endless Boogie. I wish I thought of that name.
Another track from Fun House – sense a theme? – and the aforementioned “1970”. Whenever you are angry with the world and are finding that there is no way out of the wretched hole you have dug yourself, play this song. Whenever you are feeling flat, lifeless, lacklustre, play this song. When you are sad, jealous, feeling ugly, impotent, oily, sweaty and fat, play this song. It’s also a fantastic break-up song. Nothing else matters when you are listening to this song. Thank you, Asheton brothers. And Geoff Simmons.
5. Blokes you can trust
Finally, the Asheton brothers are loyal, stand up blokes. When Iggy Pop unceremoniously “re-jigged” the Stooges line-up by replacing Ron Asheton on guitar with James Williamson and moving to England without notifying either Asheton, they forged ahead by happily playing the clubs of Detroit. And when Iggy Pop then about-faced and pleaded and begged for the Ashetons to fly all the way to London to rejoin the Stooges, they both said, “Sure Ig, of course we will.” And upon arriving in London, only to find out at that late stage that he had been demoted to bass guitar, Ron Asheton just smiled and nodded in his own unique nonchalant blokey way and proceeded to lay down some of the most smoking, thumping bass lines you are ever going to hear (Listen to the entire Iggy & the Stooges “Raw Power” album. You’ll see.) Stand up blokes. Both of them.
Honourable mention: Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, “City Slang”
While Iggy was off doing his thing with Bowie in the ’70s, Scott Asheton – along with MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, Gary Rasmussen and Scott Morgan – was part of the truly seminal Detroit rock band Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. A patchy discography of rare singles and bootlegs means the band never really found the broader audience it deserved, but their signature track, “City Slang”, is one for the ages.
Rest in peace, Scott Asheton.
