Ron Asheton Dead at 60

Well, here's another bummer announcement.

Ron Asheton, guitarist for The Stooges and Destroy All Monsters was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Tuesday and appeared to have been dead for several days before the police found him.

I think I speak for at least hundreds of people (mostly guitarists) when I say that Ron's guitar playing had a pervasive influence on punk and post-punk music, second only to Pete Townshend's. Ron's playing would have been legendary even if his sole output was "TV Eye," a song from the Stooges' 1970 album, Fun House, and one of my favorite riffs of all time.

I wanted to share this with you. It's an outtake of "TV Eye" (take 7, I believe) with an introduction featuring Iggy Pop impersonating an evil wrestler who's admiration for the Stooges almost rivals mine. It's a great performance all around. Enjoy it.

Click on the photo to listen.

- Stooges guitarist Asheton found dead in Michigan [Reuters UK]

Rock Massacres, Vol. 7: Pete Townshend

This extremely rare massacre took place in 1974 while The Who's Pete Townshend was rather long-windedly waxing poetic about the positive attributes of Rock Music. Interviewer Melvyn Bragg, usually possessing a keen eye and ear for journalistic detail, swears to this day that this mishap never occurred. Well, as much as I admire Bragg as a journalist, I must respectfully disagree here, as the footage clearly tells the tale.

As for Townshend, he was so inebriated during this interview that he didn't realize what had happened until The Who started assessing footage to be used in The Kids Are Alright almost three years later (The Who, perhaps mercifully, opted not to use this part of the interview for the film).

Click on the image to view the footage. Enjoy.