Stooges' Guitarist Ron Asheton - Dead!

[paulisded]

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/01/stooges_guitarist_ron_asheton.html

Famed rock-and-roll guitarist and longtime Ann Arbor resident Ronald
"Ron" Asheton was found dead in his home on the city's west side this
morning, police said.

Asheton, 60, was an original member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band
headlined by Iggy Pop and formed in Ann Arbor in 1967.
Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was found dead early today in his Ann Arbor home.
His personal assistant contacted police late Monday night after being
unable to reach Asheton for days, Detective Bill Stanford said.

Officers went to the home on Highlake Avenue at around midnight and
discovered Asheton's body on a living-room couch. He appeared to have
been dead for at least several days, Stanford said.

Detective Sgt. Jim Stephenson said the cause of death is undetermined
but investigators do not suspect foul play. Autopsy and toxicology
results are pending.

Asheton was born in Washington, D.C. His brother, Scott, who lives in
Florida, is the band's drummer.

In 2007, The Stooges reunited and released "The Weirdness," their
first album in three decades.

Asked how it felt to be back with The Stooges, Asheton told The News
in an interview that year that it was "great to be back on the road."

The Stooges were part of a 1960s music scene in Ann Arbor that
included such bands as the MC5, Bob Seger, Commander Cody and His Lost
Planet Airmen, and The Rationals.

[paulisded]

Sorry for the misspelled title.

[yojimbo7248]

Oh man, this is the first I have heard of his death. thanks for starting the thread. RIP Ron.

[OGC]

Was he the one with the fuzzy hair or the bald one ?

[WhistlePig]

This sucks. The Stooges were finally back together and they sounded great live!

[disneyspy]

listenin to foreigner reminds me of roller skatin rinks

[west milly Tom]

listenin to foreigner reminds me of roller skatin rinks



Ah...boo. Everybody loves this band. I have a special connection, its a sad loss.

[yojimbo7248]

Ah...boo. Everybody loves this band. I have a special connection, its a sad loss.

Amen. We on ronfez.net can disagree about the Middle East, ESD, Obama, and just about everything but who can deny that the Stooges were a great rock band. Even if they aren't your cup of tea, you have to acknowledge they put out visceral kick ass rock that was hugely influential. RIP, Ron.

[Kublakhan61]

We also lost Kraftwerk today. Florian Schneider (co-founder) left the band.

What a day.

[OGC]

We also lost Kraftwerk today. Florian Schneider (co-founder) left the band.

What a day.


I think he deserves a thread of his own.

[yojimbo7248]

I think he deserves a thread of his own.

Absolutely. the perfect band would be a mix of Kraftwerk and the Stooges.

[Kublakhan61]

Absolutely. the perfect band would be a mix of Kraftwerk and the Stooges.

I thought The Talking Heads were the perfect band??

[high fly]

Terrible, terrible news about Rock Action.
I'm glad I got to see him with the Mightey Pop back in the day....


Now I also miss Lester Bangs, because he would have written the perfect obituary...

[Kublakhan61]

Now I also miss Lester Bangs, because he would have written the perfect obituary...

That's simply throwing salt on open wounds! But you're right.

[hedges]

It would be interesting to hear what old Lester Bangs would have to say. I think a fitting tribute is the music itself. I'm cranking Funhouse right now. RIP Ron Asheton.

[Stankfoot]

ALL RISE FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM .....

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R.I.P RON

[hedges]

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[biozombie]

Terrible, terrible news about Rock Action.
I'm glad I got to see him with the Mightey Pop back in the day....


Now I also miss Lester Bangs, because he would have written the perfect obituary...

"Rock Action" was his brother Scott, who's still alive. This is terrible news :(

[paulisded]

This is why Mike Watt rules - http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-asheton8-2009jan08,0,4202554.story


Mike Watt riffs on Ron Asheton and the Stooges
The Minutemen and Firehose bassist talks about Asheton's innovations, inspirations and lasting influence.
January 8, 2009

Mike Watt, bassist for the Minutemen and Firehose, was invited in 2003 by Iggy Pop to join the Stooges when the seminal Michigan band reunited for its first performance in nearly 30 years at the Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival. He continued to perform and record as a Stooge alongside founding members Ron Asheton, the guitarist who was found dead this week; his brother, drummer Scott Asheton; and saxophonist Steve Mackay. Watt spoke Tuesday to The Times' Randy Lewis about his close friend.

As a musician, he was a pioneer -- very singular, very unique. To get to be onstage with him was incredible for me. We all looked up to Ronnie with that guitar sound. Man, it was a sound, but especially in those days in the early '70s. Most people at my high school, they didn't like that sound. They were like, "You like them?" We took a lot of [flak] for liking them, in a way.

Then the punk scene comes, and the Stooges was the common ground. That scene, which was not very popular here in Southern California, was just all these different weirdos from different places. The one thing in common was the Stooges. It was kind of anti-arena rock -- more like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard than what was happening in the '70s. I can't even imagine our scene without that band.

And then I get to play with these cats. So much stuff comes third-, fourth- and fifth-hand, but I got to go right to the source. I was born in '57, so I was 10 years behind them. I'd never been in the little brother role before, but especially being around these guys, my ears grew to the size of elephants' and became like sponges -- I just wanted to absorb everything.

In 1997, I got to make an album with him in a group called the Wylde Rattz, which had a song on the soundtrack for "Velvet Goldmine." We did a whole album, but then London Records folded and it never came out. The song came out in the movie, but that's when I actually got to spend a bunch of time with him in the studio.

In 2000, J Mascis [of Dinosaur Jr.] asked me to go out on tour with him -- after I almost died from an infection and used Stooges songs to get strong again -- and sing some Stooges songs with him in a project called J Mascis -- the Fog. When we got to Ann Arbor, he says, "You know Ronnie, right?" I called him and he came down to jam and then ended up touring with us.

He'd come to see me in my band, whenever I was in Ann Arbor. Ronnie was up on stuff because he was in a bunch of bands: Dark Carnival, Destroy All Monsters. After the thing with J and later with Scotty as Asheton, Asheton, Mascis and Watt, this is when Ig called him and his brother to do a few songs for "Skull Ring" [Pop's 2003 solo album].

I was on tour at the time in Tallahassee, Fla., and I get this call. It's Ig, and he says, "Ronnie says you're the man." He said, "They're gonna get the Stooges back together for Coachella. Can you wear a T-shirt? I know you like those flannels." I said, "How about Levi's and Converse?"

It was a mind blow. Them songs had been living in my head for all those years, so I would just stand there onstage and stare at them. I had to struggle to keep focused because I was just like one of the gig-goers, but I've got this bass on. I felt deep in my heart I owed these guys the best notes I could ever play. Still, when I think about it, it seems impossible that life had put me in this situation.

On the last tour, Ig gave me a 16-bar bass solo in "Little Electric Chair." I played with D. Boon and he would get all trebly and chicken-pluck and leave all this room for me, and I'd play a lot of stuff up high on the neck. It sounded really lame, but then Ronnie helped me construct a solo down in the low end one day on tour in Slovakia and that fit really well. The Stooges taught me about being a bass player when it was time to record "The Weirdness" album. Ig said, "Mike, I want you to get in touch with your stupid side."

I just feel so indebted to them, as musicians and as people too. They were so kind to me. They knew about a lot of stuff. Maybe because of the name the Stooges people didn't know that, but Ronnie was a lot about history, Scotty about nature, Iggy about culture, Steve Mackay about politics.

They told me they got "Little Doll" from Pharoah Sanders. "Fun House" is actually their take on James Brown. Ig said, " 'Shake Appeal,' that's me doing Little Richard." All these trippy things, as though they invented this whole thing -- and they did, their way, but they also were in touch with a lot of the stuff that happened before them.

I'm going to get more intense with my work, my music. That's what I was thinking when I paddled out today. I went in the kayak after somebody told me they found him. I'm in San Pedro Harbor and I'm always running or kayaking.

This is going to push me with music ever more. It's a shame it takes something like this to do that, but I know all the playing with him has rubbed off on me big time.

I loved being his bass player.

[high fly]

BIOZOMBIE: I always thought it was Ron.

PAULISDEAD: Thanks. It brings to mind some old footage from the early days I saw where the Stooges are playing some university and there's all the kids in attendance sitting in the crosslegged "college position" and the Mightey Pop goes out in the crowd and picks someone up and has him across his shoulders like a pro rassler, spinning around and tossing the guy onto other audience members, and the band played on.....