Download It #8: Search and Destroy

May 20, 2008

Raw Power (usable).jpg

When it’s not enough to play electric guitar, play the electricity.

Iggy and the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy” ranks with the most exhilarating, utterly terrifying rock songs ever recorded, and that’s not hyperbole. The static-laced guitar-line that drives the tune and eventually thrusts it beyond the grasp of reason, is so overwhelming from its first second, you initially feel you’ve gotten your hands on some lunatic demo version of the final product. But that’s pretty much how “Search and Destroy” was originally released— as a squall of white-noise nihilism, an auditory representation of Iggy Pop himself. Then Iggy had the gall to pump up the volume when he remixed the tune years later!

If you haven’t heard this record before, you simply haven’t heard anything like it, and I’m including the roughest stuff ever laid down by the Velvet Underground. Listeners back in 1973, preferring, as they did, “Crocodile Rock” and “You’re So Vain,” couldn’t get away fast enough.

"Search and Destroy"

“Search and Destroy” kicks off in mid-gallop, a sloppy edit that suggests you’ve been dropped in shortly after the meth (and whatever else the Stooges might have had in their bloodstreams) has taken hold. But that’s just the initial jolt. From there, you’re drawn into a wildly thunderous discourse on the appeal of not giving a damn, a clarion call to gimme-gimme-gimme. And it’s all backed by a churning mass of sound that has audible roots in early R&B, while pointing toward a punk rock movement that, at the time, wasn’t even a gleam in Joey Ramone’s eye.

It needs to be pointed out that this isn’t the same version of the Stooges that a lot of listeners who’ve dabbled in early punk recognize from such aggressive, downtrodden grinders as “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “T.V. Eye.” In fact, before recording “Raw Power” (the album that opens with “Search and Destroy”), Iggy - who was, shall we say, hard to work with - had parted ways with the band. But David Bowie wanted to both blow Iggy and make him a Star, so he secured some studio time in London, and flew the wild man and his new guitar player, James Williamson, across the pond.

Although Williamson’s ascending buzz-saw chord progressions are the obvious meat of “Search and Destroy,” the pounding bass line adds an unbelievably dramatic punch. And it’s played by Ron Asheton, who had been the Stooges’ guitar player on their first two albums!

For whatever reason, once Iggy made it out to England and got a load of Bowie flouncing around the control room, he decided he couldn’t possibly record the album without his old buddies from Detroit on hand (Ron’s brother, Scott, was the drummer). So the Stooges were re-formed, and Asheton - who was arguably a genius, but didn't tear your head off with thundering minimalism the way Williamson did - agreed to switch instruments!

Iggy’s suggestion that he do so was either a stroke of genius or a blind man catching a line drive, because the band now generated a cement slab of a groove that absolutely flattened the listener.

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Iggy Tights (shrunk).jpg

Iggy may have liked to parade around like a rooster and paint himself up in glitter, but his taunting “Search and Destroy” performance is miles-removed from the glitzy naughtiness of a Glam-boy like Marc Bolan. The vocal burns to the point that, at the 1:18 mark - right after begging “Baby, penetrate my mind” - there’s a three-second pause so pregnant you half prepare yourself for the birth of the anti-Christ. And then, in a blast of outlandishly brutal guitar, you get it. It’s one of my favorite moments on any record. By anyone.

Rockers who play the insanity card aren’t, of course, legitimately insane, since they’re coherent enough to have themselves packaged and make a buck off their supposed lunacy. But, at this point in his (still miraculously-continuing) life, Iggy was as close to the real McCoy as you could possibly get.

The other Stooges used to the tell the story of how they once tied a rope around his waist, then took turns tying the other end to their wrists, the better to keep track of Fearless Leader after he ingested a fistful of psychedelics. He was a lot easier to handle when all he did was chug vodka with his Quaaludes.

That drastic stance is palpable the moment “Search and Destroy” kicks into gear. Frankly, the level of hell-bent passion on display here makes the Sex Pistols seem like a bunch of no-dental-coverage pussies. By the time the second chorus rolls around, any pretense toward making an even vaguely commercial record is abandoned. Everything simply explodes into shards of sound, and the rhythm section gets lost in a forward-moving crash that must have pushed the needles on the studio’s VU meters beyond mere red and into scarlet.

If you’re looking to play this on your speakers, I suggest you get any kids or small pets out of the room before you start. And if you live in an apartment building, warn the superintendent of your intentions a couple days in advance.

People who measure these things - and I used to write for “Audio” magazine, so believe me when I tell you they’re out there - contend that “Raw Power” is literally the loudest album ever recorded, with “Search and Destroy” being its key offender. Or its most sublime pleasure dome, depending on how you want to look at it.

Iggy wanted the whole of “Raw Power” to reach “Search and Destroy” levels, but somewhat cooler heads prevailed, thus robbing him of the chance to invent overkill-overkill…at least until his original mixes were released some 25 years later. But, in the long run, his protectors may have been right.

There comes a moment at the end of the tune where Iggy falls into a falsetto chant that suggests the rest of the album, as great as much of it is, doesn’t have to exist at all. “The world’s forgotten boy,” he’s already said everything you need to hear, and everything he plans to say. Now it’s time to roll his eyes back and wail.

Download “Search and Destroy” by Iggy and the Stooges. Album: “Raw Power” (1973).

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Comments

1

ttrentham:

The song is definitely an all-time favorite. Henry Rollins was apparently impressed enough to have its title tattooed on his back and adopt it as a life lesson.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers actually recorded a decent cover of this back around 1990 or so. I've got it as a b-side somewhere in my collection. It's not on iTunes as far as I can tell.

May 21 2008 - 3:35pm
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