Elektra, 1970

the sound: Heart-pounding, teeth-gnashing, musical napalm. It’s best to listen to this record—a true genesis of all things loud and nasty—alone, lest someone finds out how depraved you actually are when the dark side is summoned. Situated between the band’s self-titled debut and their third and final release “Raw Power,” “Fun House” is a perfect bridge between the two. It has the heavy blues sound of the first, but by this time The Stooges had tapped into an aggressiveness that would define them later and eventually spawn punk rock. Opening track “Down on the Street” sends a message right away: We’re burning this place down and everyone’s coming with us. Beginning muted, the track explodes in the chorus, with guitarist Ron Asheton establishing a soft/loud dynamic that has been emulated for decades. A subtle but memorable moment comes during the intro to “Loose”—an overtly sexual song with some serious guitar shredding—when front man Iggy Pop sort of whispers, “Look out,” before the whole band kicks in. It seems like a sincere warning. Though it contains some overdubs, the album was recorded in very few takes and sounds so alive, like Iggy is actually in the living room, running around, dry humping the furniture. The B-side seems to combust as it spins. Steven Mackay’s saxophone shows up at the end of the ferocious “1970” and spews an unholy squawk over everything else that follows. The seven-and-a-half minute title track is a party jam for the damned and the last intelligible blast of rock and roll before the album closes with the cacophonous free-jazz fallout of “L.A. Blues”—literally five minutes of spontaneous sax, drums, guitar noise and Iggy Pop losing it.

the background: This album solidified The Stooges as a serious band. It’s focused, musically interesting, and features seven of the greatest rock songs ever recorded, sequenced perfectly. When their first album was released, it was widely understood that on top of being one of the druggiest bands around (and this was 1969), The Stooges were dilettantes who could not play their instruments. That rawness contributed much of their original charm, but for me it was producer John Cale’s attempts to make these early recordings sound like the Velvet Underground played by maniacs that makes the first album a classic. “Raw Power” is a classic as well. But “Fun House” is more than just a classic; it’s a revelation. It’s like excavating the bones of punk and understanding how it all came to pass.

the significance: A classic in every sense, “Fun House” is one of the original scare-your-parents albums. Henry Rollins has called this the greatest rock album ever, and many other notables have issued similar proclamations. But none of that really matters when this monster is playing, and that’s why it’s so great. The energy and volume, the attitude and adrenalin, the primal pulse that pounds throughout is wholly consuming. Should be placed in a time capsule so that future species of humans will know how badass we were.