Gimme Danger Page #6

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[instrumental music]

[man screaming]

[screaming continues]

[music continues]

We crossed the Mississippi

for the first time in, uh, 1970

to record Fun House and

every day, around noon

we would all go into the studio

and, uh, record for the day.

Each day was always, it was

this is the day of loose

and that's all we

were gonna do that day.

And there was the day of

down on the street,

et cetera, et cetera.

And then a couple of days mixing.

It was under two weeks.

We were experimenting

after "The Stooges"

with more aggressive music,

with more space

a la B*tches Brew by Miles Davis

we hoped...

...and everything that

James Brown was doing

with Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker.

And I saw Steve playing with

his band "The Carnal Kitchen."

Oh, my God, this guy

can really blow a horn.

He had "1970" and "Fun House"

already written

just waiting for me.

And we got to "Fun House" and he said

"Play like Maceo Parker

on acid."

[saxophone music]

(Iggy) And we did some

interesting things with space.

Things like, uh, very minimal...

...drum, uh

four-four drum beats

but with, uh, syncopations on the top.

[instrumental music]

And double tracking leads sometimes

but with no rhythm guitar.

That's not usually done in rock and roll

it's not very.. It's supposed

to be very commercial.

Elektra studio was just marvelous.

It was just one room,

there were no choices.

It was intimate, but big enough

that you could

spread things a little bit.

It had a, it had a nice throw rug.

I was using my own PA stack in there.

I didn't want

the studio-made sound

that the vocals had on the first album.

- Would you like a music stand?

- Say what?

- Would you like a music stand?

- No, that's okay.

Ron says he needs the bass up again.

(Ron)

He-he turned it up.

(Don) We got the red lights,

anytime you're ready.

[Iggy laughing]

(Iggy) We were housed

in the Tropicana Motel.

And Warhol had the d-door

to his room ajar one day

I went in to say hi.

He suggested, he said,

"Why don't you do some songs..

"Just sing the newspaper.

Just sing what it says

in the newspaper."

I haven't gotten around to it yet but

that was his, that was his idea.

While we stayed there,

the suite next to mine

it was occupied by Ed Sanders

who was writing "The Family."

I was, int.. Always interested

in new looks, too.

There was a pet store catered to dogs

called The Bowser Boutique

down the street on Santa Monica

and I walked by one day...

And I saw this

red dog collar and I thought..

"I would look so cool if

I had that dog collar," right?

So I bought the dog collar

and I started wearing it every day

to go to the studio,

and Ed Sanders would

look at me and he'd say..

"You don't know

what that means, do you?"

You know, I still, I-I still

don't know what it means!

- You know, but he was like..

- It was cool.

(Iggy)

One day, I was out for a walk

and I was walking

in the opposite direction

from the Tropicana.

It was on, uh, Santa Monica

I think it was the corner of Westmont

and a black caddy came tearing

assin' down, down the hill..

He had to slam on the brakes

because I was

stepping off the curb. I..

He looked at me and he says,

I was sure it was John Wayne.

"Goddamn it!"

I haven't lost my temper in 40 years

but, Pilgrim, you caused

a lot of trouble this morning

mighta got somebody killed.

(Iggy)

And then he swerved

he swerved around me

and sped off in the

general direction of Dan Tana's.

(Mondo) And here's the world-famous

Whisky A Go-Go on the strip.

A favorite dancing spot

for both the mods and

movie stars who want to get it on.

Let's drop in and see

what's happening tonight.

[instrumental music]

(Iggy)

It was really a California experience

and then to pay for it,

we were bidden to do two

two nights at the Whiskey.

And the Whiskey a Go-Go in LA

and two nights in San Francisco

at the Fillmore.

(Scott)

Which freaked everybody out.

Every time, every place we played...

(Iggy) Nobody had ever

seen anything like

what we did, you know..

I took a record of pretty music

Now I'm putting it to you

straight from hell

Upon our return to the Midwest

we were playing larger festivals...

...larger events and we were getting

pretty good life

because the stuff on Fun House

was pretty damn rocking live.

I feel fine to be dancin', baby

I feel fine I'm a shakin' leaf

I feel fine to be dancin', baby

(Iggy) Festivals that, that

became bigger and where we..

Where we were stating to get more notice

happened in the summer of '70

after we completed Fun House

and, uh, and we would generally go out

and a-a-as people often do,

play that whole work

and we were pretty much ignoring

the stuff from the first album.

And, uh, I remembered

I read a q-quote

from Johnny Ramone once

he went to see us and apparently

there were too many new songs

that he didn't know

and he was disgusted.

[rock music]

(male #1) Since we broke

away for our message

Iggy has been in the crowd

and out again three different times.

They seem to be enjoying it

and so does he.

(Iggy) The group was always very aware

of the theatrics of the moment.

And they never moved, ever.

In 40 minutes, the drummer

would never look up

and, uh, the other two

might move a foot or two.

(James)

We never knew what would happen

and so, in the old days, you know

we just literally, I mean, it could be

we'd be out there, you know..

[guitar music]

You know, and there's no vocals.

You know, the guy's out in the crowd.

He's down on the floor

somewhere, you know

there's no vocal, so we're still going..

[guitar music]

So until he starts singing,

we don't do anything.

And, uh, and then, you know

eventually he'll climb back up

and start singing and that's, you know

it's all about,

you know, working together

to, to make a show.

(Mike) You know, the way he works a gig

it reminds you that life,

big time, is in the moment.

M-maybe most of it.

But the moment is really intense about

what's going down because

you know, "I feel like

a short-order cook.

"I gotta get everybody's order.

You want fries?

You want a shake?"

You know, he's going out, in his mind

he says, he's going to the crowd.

(Iggy) It was important to make contact

I felt at every show.

And we were opening for

"The Mothers of Invention"

that was the best group,

in my estimation

that we'd ever opened for.

So, near the end of our set

I was not sure we'd really

reached across.

And there were

a couple of girls, big ones.

They'd moved up

right in front of the stage

and they just were laying there

on their backs

making themselves

very comfortable, relaxing.

And I got to the edge of the stage

and I did what I'd seen little kids do

sometimes when they want

attention from their parents.

I thought, I'm just gonna fall forward

they'll catch me, and, uh

they moved. I..

My, uh, my front teeth

which I've since had repaired

went straight through one of my lips.

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