STOOGES - The Stooges Vinyl LP (Colour) (1969)

Before punk had a name, before hardcore had rules, before every band with a leather jacket claimed to be dangerous, four kids from Ann Arbor went into a studio with John Cale and recorded proof that volume and intent are the same thing.

The Stooges' 1969 debut is the ground zero document. "I Wanna Be Your Dog" alone contains more genuine menace than entire careers. Iggy hadn't invented himself yet, he'd just let himself out, and Ron Asheton's guitar tuned down and turned up into something that still sounds wrong in the best possible way. Proto-punk is what academics call it. What it actually is, is a band playing like the world owed them nothing and they'd decided to collect anyway.

This 2016 colour vinyl pressing of the 1969 original. Fans of: The MC5, New York Dolls, early Ramones, anyone who thinks rock and roll stopped meaning anything after this.