Raw Power

Howling like an unhinged banshee in heat, Iggy Pop leads his fellow Stooges in a hellacious celebration of forbidden thrills on 1973's Raw Power. As the album's producer, David Bowie pulled the band from the brink of self-destruction, turned them loose in the studio, and cut this album at their maniacal peak. James Williamson's guitar unleashes quivering, note-slicing riffs, Ron Ashton's bass pumps relentlessly, and Scott Ashton's drums crash and clatter with glee. As for Iggy, he croons, growls, and yelps in utter enslavement to his decadent demons. Every track here is a ticket to ecstatic lunacy — "Gimme Danger" simmers with brooding desire, "I Need Somebody" drips with bluesy menace, "Shake Appeal" chugs and grinds with carnal aggression. Best of all, there's Iggy's incendiary anthemof berserk passion, "Search and Destroy." Raw Power became the template for countless punk rock albums to come — one no one has matched yet for sheer brazen brilliance.