Almost every rock musician worth a damn over the last 45 years—and many who aren't—has claimed influence and/or inspiration from the Stooges. It seems odd that there aren't already a dozen documentaries about the Ann Arbor, Michigan group, with their nuclear-grade rock and charismatic, double-jointed übermensch frontman, Iggy Pop. But no. Jim Jarmusch's Gimme Danger is only the second one, and the trailer (view it after the jump) promises a real cool time. An especially entertaining part occurs when Iggy says, "When I was a little boy, the Ford Motor Company, they had a machine that engineered a drop [explosion sound], a mega-klang. I thought we should get some of that in our songs."
A huge fan of the Stooges, Jarmusch filmed eight hours of Iggy—who grew up in a trailer in Ypsilanti, Michigan—talking about the Stooges and himself. Gimme Danger also features some original, previously unheard music that Scott and Ron Asheton made, with Iggy putting vocals over it.
In one segment of the film, Iggy tells Dinah Shore (?!) on her TV show, "I think I helped wipe out the '60s," and anyone who's heard The Stooges, Fun House, and Raw Power can attest to the feeling that this music was ground zero for a new strain of rock rooted in savage lustiness, exhilarating nihilism, and an outrageous will to power. No band had more effectively laid down a mainline to the id than did the Stooges—and nobody's really equaled them in this regard since.
Gimme Danger premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May to a positive reception and it's also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film opens (up and bleeds) in New York and Detroit on October 28 and goes nationwide on November 4.
