Editing The Stooges (section)

===Formation (1967–1968)===
[[Iggy Pop]] (born James Newell Osterberg) played drums in several Ann Arbor–area bands as a teenager, including the Iguanas and, later, [[The Prime Movers (Michigan band)|the Prime Movers]]. The Prime Movers nicknamed Osterberg "Iggy" in reference to his earlier band.<ref name=Mojo29>[[Cliff Jones (musician)|Cliff Jones]] & [[Paul Trynka]] ''Whatever Turns You On'' Mojo No.&nbsp;29, April 1996</ref>

Osterberg was first inspired to form the Stooges after meeting [[blues music|blues]] drummer [[Sam Lay]] during a visit to Chicago. Upon returning to [[Detroit]], Osterberg sought to create a new form of blues music that was not derivative of historical precedents, with influence from garage rock bands [[The Sonics]] and [[The Kinks]]. [[Ron Asheton]] (guitar) and [[Scott Asheton]] (drums), and [[Dave Alexander (musician)|Dave Alexander]] (bass guitar) comprised the rest of the band, with Osterberg as the main singer. Osterberg became interested in Ron Asheton after seeing him perform in a cover band called the Chosen Few, believing, "I've never met a convincing musician that didn't look kind of ill and kind of dirty, and Ron had those two things covered!"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/the-stooges-iggy-pop-interview |title=The Stooges: Iggy Pop Interview &#124; Clash Music Exclusive Interview |publisher=Clashmusic.com |date=2010-03-30 |access-date=2011-07-01}}</ref> The three nicknamed Osterberg "Pop" after a local character whom he resembled.<ref name=Mojo161a>Paul Trynka''Meet Ze Monster'' Mojo No.&nbsp;161, April 2007</ref> Shortly after witnessing an [[MC5]] concert in Ann Arbor, Osterberg began using the stage name Iggy Pop, a name that he has used ever since.

Though the Stooges had formed, Iggy Pop attributes two key motivating influences to move the band forward. The first was seeing [[the Doors]] perform at a homecoming dance for the University of Michigan. The second was seeing an all-girls rock band from Princeton, New Jersey, called the Untouchable perform in the summer of 1967.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theuntouchableallgirlband.com/influence-on-iggy-pop/ | title=Influence on Iggy Pop &#124; the Untouchable All Girl Band }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/250986139|title=The Untouchable All-Girl Band|date=13 January 2018}}</ref> In a 1995 interview with ''Bust Magazine'', he relates:

{{blockquote|I had the Stooges. And we did not have the balls to get out and do it. There were two things that made us do it; one was seeing that show (the Doors), we saw that show and I just thought, well, this is so brazen, there is no excuse for us not to do it anymore. And the other thing was we went to New York. We had gone to New York a couple of months before that just to check out the scene, and we had never been to a place like New York… we went down around Eighth Street there where all the young tourists hang out, and we met these girls from New Jersey, from Princeton, they had a band called the Untouchable, and we're like, "Oh, you've got a band, sure, ha ha ha," and they said "Well, come to our house and see us play." And we didn't have anywhere to crash, and they played for us, and they completely rocked, and we were really ashamed.}}

The band's 1967 debut was at their communal State Street house on [[Halloween]] night, followed by their next live gig in January 1968.<ref name="Trynka, Paul 2007"/> During this early period, the Stooges were originally billed as the "Psychedelic Stooges" at the [[Grande Ballroom]] in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]], and other venues, where they played with the band [[MC5]] and others. At one of their early Grande Ballroom performances, Asheton's guitar neck separated from the body forcing the band to stop playing during the opening song, "[[I Wanna Be Your Dog]]". The first major commercial show for the Psychedelic Stooges was on March 3, 1968, at the [[Grande Ballroom]] in Detroit, opening for [[Blood, Sweat & Tears]]. According to [[John Sinclair (poet)|John Sinclair]], who booked the show, the Psychedelic Stooges were substitutes for the [[MC5]], who had a formidable Detroit reputation that made Blood, Sweat & Tears reluctant to follow them. A fan who saw several of their performances at that time said, "What they achieved was an almost orchestral drone or trance-like sound which was totally unique, valid and impressive."<ref>{{cite book | last = Ambrose| first = Joe| author-link = | title =Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop | publisher =Music Sales | series = | volume = | edition = | date =2009 | location = | pages = | language = | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=RwpJFOSyEmEC&q=Psychedelic+Stooges&pg=PT57 | doi = | id = | isbn =9780857120311 | quote=}}</ref>

The group's early sound differed from their later music, wrote critic Edwin Pouncey:

{{blockquote|The Stooges' early musical experiments were more avant garde than punk rock, with Pop incorporating such household objects as a [[vacuum cleaner]] and a [[blender]] into an intense wall of feedback that one observer described as sounding like "an airplane was landing in the room." Homemade instruments were also incorporated to flesh out the overall sound. The 'Jim-a-phone' involved pushing feedback through a funnel device which was raised and lowered to achieve the best effect. There was also a cheap [[Lap steel guitar|Hawaiian guitar]] which Pop and guitarist Ron Asheton would take turns in plucking to produce a simulated [[sitar]] drone, while drummer Scott Asheton pounded away at a set of oil drums with a ball hammer.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/125/|last=Pouncey|first=Edwin|title=Motown City Burning: MC5 meets Sun Ra|newspaper=The Wire|issue=136|date=June 1995|access-date=2007-02-03|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207180711/http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/125/|archive-date=2008-02-07}}</ref>}}