RIP: Ron Asheton

Ron with DAM singer and painter Niagra

I’ve just found out that Ron Asheton, guitar player (and later bass player) of The Stooges and Destroy All Monsters was found dead of an apparent heart attack in Ann Arbor Michigan, his hometown and birthplace of he and Iggy Pop.

I remember being blown away by the first Stooges album and would try to connect endless combinations of fuzzboxes in an attempt to replicate the nasty tone in Now I Wanna Be Your Dog.

Melvillain’s on it with The Stooges Fun House, my favorite Stooges album of all time (sorry, Raw Power). I can’t count how many times in my younger days that I used to pass out with side one of this album on on auto-play and wake up early in the morning to Iggy’s shriek on TV Eye and Ron’s manic riffing. Fun times and thank the gods for cheap rum, AKG K240 headphones and my steadfast liver.

Here’s a skullfuckingly weird video from Destroy All Monsters from the DVD Grow Live Monsters.

I’ll probably be editing this post for a day or so, as the tributes keep pouring in…
How’s this for cool? It’s the legendary team up with fellow Michiganer-by-way-of-Australia Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman!) called New Race over at Kill Your Pet Puppy.

Thanks for the tunes, Ron and rest in peace.

About these ads