HANK RANKS No. 21

My 8 Favorite Stooges + Ted Healy

There were seven Stooges in all...Moe was the first, with Larry and Shemp joining him in 1923...They worked as a supporting act for Ted Healy on the vaudeville circuit, and for the first couple of years they were known as Ted Healy & The Three Lost Souls, or Ted Healy & His Southern Gentlemen...In 1925 they started calling themselves the Stooges, but it wasn't until they parted ways with Ted Healy in 1934 that they started calling themselves the Three Stooges. It was also about this time that Curly replaced Shemp, thus forming the most famous (if not popular) combination of Stooges in their 53 year history (alot of folks like Shemp better than Curly).

After Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, Shemp returned to the fold for another decade, but by now, these guys were pushing 50, and the times had changed...For the next and last 20 years of the Three Stooges, three fairly large but unremarkable men would fill that third slot alongside Moe and Larry...Here's how I rank 'em.

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09: Emil Sitka [1975]

08: Joe Besser [1957-1959]

07: Curly Joe DeRita [1958-1975]

06: Ted Healy [1922-1934]

05: Moe Howard [1922-1975]

04: Ron Asheton [1969-1973, 2007-2009]

03: Shemp Howard [1923-1932, 1947-1956]

02: Curly Howard [1932-1947]

01: Larry Fine [1923-1975]

Hotcha! Hank

Something 4 The Weekend #101

The Stooges: Fun House: "T.V. Eye" [mp3]

The Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 60 of an apparent heart attack, and so we have lost one of the unsung heroes of Rock history, in that The Stooges have had such a huge impact on Punk and Garage Rock in the 40+ years since their debut, and yet they never sold many records, and the "Rock Establishment" has yet to vote the band into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame.

Now, whenever I mention the RNRHOF I always bring up the question of the importance and relevance of such an institution pertaining to a music that began as a counterculture movement and was decidedly anti-institutional. Of course, alot has changed since the middle of the last century, and nowadays Rock'n'Roll is no more countercultural than The Jonas Brothers, having long ago been turned into a commodity.

Even The Stooges became a commodity of sorts over the years, especially when the original line-up reformed and released The Weirdness album in 2006, seemingly cashing in on their heightened cache among hipsters and wannabe punks, and their ever-growing legion of namechecking fans among so many newer, younger bands...

Whatever...The Stooges were a blast of hot, sweaty fun when they hit the scene in 1967, and in that year, that era, it might be argued that there were no other bands quite as heavy or quite as garage as these guys were, and yeah, in hindsight, they were definitely Punk, and we can all shine the spotlight on Iggy Pop, but The Stooges were first and foremost a band, and if they were iconoclasts and vanguards, Ron Asheton's gnarly guitar had as much to do with it as Iggy's histrionics.

RIP, Ron Asheton. It's too bad The Stooges are likely going to gain admittance, at last, into the RNRHOF, and yr not gonna be around to take yr bow. Life is cruel that way.

Hotcha! Hank

Something 4 The Weekend # 30

38 years since The Stooges eponymous debut album, and still they stand on the sidewalk outside the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame...Watchin' Patti Smith waltz in this year, and all I'm gonna say about that is WTF?

The Stooges: "Real Cool Time": 128k mp3

History is fluid, and so are opinions and marketing campaigns, and here we are in 2007 with a new Stooges album, The Weirdness, and heightened talk about the band's importance and influence is flooding through the culture again...Of course time is firmly on The Stooges' side, so I've got no worries, but ya still gotta ask, what's taking so long????? If I did the math right, they were first eligible in 1994...If my memory still serves, REM was pushing their faux-grunge Monster album on the masses in 1994...Iggy Pop must hurt, sometimes...

Anyways, this post hasn't come, half-baked and undercooked from my noodle, to bury Patti Smith and Michael Stipe...No, this post is a celebration of the fact that three old dudes, and one kinda old dude (Mike Watt) have delivered a disc of greasy garage energy and a real cool time for a full 40+ minutes, outshining their peers, for sure, and even showing the kids a thing or two...

The Stooges: "ATM": 128k mp3

So, this weekend we've got two Stooges song, one old, one new, 38 years removed from each other in time, brought together to say "Get yr shit together, Hall of Fame committee"...

Hotcha! Hank