Iggy Pop on The Rolling Stones ’12×5′ (1964)

Others wanted to hold hands, the Stones wanted to fuck.

I was 17 and still in high-school when this record came out. But I was already thinking about taking the consequent step into showbusiness and music- and at that point that album was a big thing for me.

This here must have been the second record that the Stones had released in the States. They hadn’t properly learned how to write songs yet. Instead, there was a kind of jam like Good Times, Bad Times. Congratulations wasn’t bad either. But with 2120 South Michigan Avenue – the adress of Chess Records- they had a real killer jam. The hellish groove that you hear also comes from the bass line, but is mainly created by Ian Stewart at organs. Insane! I am quite sure that it’s Brian Jones that you hear there on the harmonica, Mick Jagger wouldn’t have played so many notes, he has a different tone.

The entire record is full of good, attentive interpretations of american songs. Like Time Is On My Side by Jerry Ragovoy, who by the way owned the Hit-Factory-Studios, where we recorded the first Stooges record. The Stones’ version of Time Is On My Side has this unusual organ again, Ian Stewart just has it. Same with Confessin’ The Blues and actually every other song. Said Good Times, Bad Times is also cool, that’s their version of a Blues song. And with It’s All Over Now they even managed to get some airplay. They turned the Bobby Womack track into more of a country number- Womack was probably too much of a soulman for white America. In short: 12×5 is a very interesting record, I love every single song on it. They even do justice to Dale Hawkins’ Susie Q here.There are little squiggles everywhere. And a jam like Empty Heart even rocks heavily.

With this record I also immediately have to think about all the little Gibson amps through which they used to play. During this time I saw them live in Cobo Hall in Detroit. They were standing there with their tiny amps, like a pub band. And all in a row in front of the stage, the scattered stage positions from the rockstar-era came later. But they still looked cool with their Carnaby-Street looks.

With this album, the Stones kinda laid the groundwork by producing their own coherent version of every song that was common at that time – but always with their own, often downright primitive groove, which the band owed mainly to drummer Charlie Watts. Back then I was still a drummer and he was my absolutely favorite drummer. He says that he was inspired by Fred Below, who played on many record of greats like Muddy Waters and Otis Spann. Watts drums very precise and powerful, but he does not dismantle his drums.

The Stones were clearly the most important band of the British Invasion for me. Musically, The Beatles had a lot to offer of course.On their first US album Introducing…The Beatles for example, they covered Anna from Arthur Alexander and Baby It’s You from Burt Baracharach, with John Lennon on lead vocals. And on the cover they looked like an unhealthy pub-band: the bed lighting in the photography, the brown suits, their smiles with bad teeth- fantastic! When I listened to their first singles as young boy, a pleasant shiver went down my spine. But already a year later, when I was no sweet little boy anymore, but an impetuous hothead, the Stones were clearly light-years ahead for me. They were more filthy, aggressive, more worldly and sophisticated. You could say: others wanted to hold hands, the Stones wanted to fuck.

But Mick Jagger was a big influence on me in other ways too: he gave me hope. He and Bob Dylan, because both of them sing just very few notes in their songs. None of them had what they considered a good singing voice back then- even singers in pub bands had better voices. That’s when I thought: If they can do it, I can do it too. Besides that, Jagger developed into a great Rock’n’Roll lyricist later. I listened to him very closely and learned a few things. He wrote without frills and came straight to the point. He was being clear so that you understood him, he did not fool anybody.

by Iggy Pop

(Read about other artists’ album choices and reviews here)

(In collaboration with the German MINT Magazin, print edition published in MINT No. 30 – 08/19.
Photo: Mary Beth Koeth)