Get down with Iggy Pop’s high school band The Iguanas

10.22.2019
10:42 am
Topics:
Music
Punk
Tags:
Iggy Pop
1960s
Ann Arbor
The Iguanas

A vintage business card for The Iguanas.

Iggy Pop was only sixteen years old when he became the drummer of teenage band The Iguanas in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jimmy Osterberg starting playing the drums in his middle school marching band. His pal Jim McLaughlin was also in the marching band and would soon purchase his first guitar, while Jimmy would acquire a small drum kit. Jim’s parents, James Osterberg and Louella Christensen were so supportive of their son’s desire to play music that they vacated the master bedroom in the family’s small trailer home to make room for his kit. Later, Iggy and McLaughlin would form the band Megaton Two, named by Iggy because, in his words, he’s always been into “naming stuff.” Megaton Two would play their first “gig” at Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor performing two songs, “Let There Be Drums,” a drum and surf guitar duel by Sandy Nelson (1961); and an original guitar jam written by both McLaughlin and Osterberg, which apparently electrified its youthful audience so much that Osterberg and McLaughlin suddenly became much more popular in school, especially with the girls. Which is pretty much why every guy starts a band in the first place, isn’t it?

In high school, Osterberg and McLaughlin would team up with three more aspiring musicians, guitarist Nick Kolokithas, bassist Don Swickerath, and sax player Sam Swisher. In the summer of 1965 the group would soon become one of the house bands at the drug and alcohol-free teen mecca Club Ponytail on Pleasantview Road in Harbor Springs. In its past life, The Ponytail (or as the kids called it “the Tail”), was once a speakeasy and casino inhabited by gangsters during prohibition, filled with fake walls, hidden tunnels and rooms in the event patrons needed to make a quick getaway.

The Iguanas made $55 a night opening shows for The Four Tops, The Guess Who, and the Shangri-Las. Not too shabby for a bunch of high school kids who were now the talk of the town in Harbor Springs, as was Iggy’s hand-made towering drum riser. The Iguanas would record a cover of Bo Diddley’s 1957 single “Mona,” releasing it on their own label, Forte Records. During their time together, they also recorded an original song written by Osterberg called “Again and Again.” Around this time, Iggy would get a job at Discount Records managed by Hugh “Jeep” Holland, the founder of the A-Square Record label in Ann Arbor. Holland was also the manager of The Iguanas’ high school rivals, The Rationals. It would be Holland who would first start calling Jimmy Osterberg “Iguana” while the two were working together at the store. Not so coincidentally, Discount Records was the frequent haunt of Ron and Scott Asheton, who both got to know Iggy while they were loitering outside the store. Here’s more from Iggy on his time at Discount Records:

“I got my name, my musical education, and my personality, all from working at a record store during my tender years. In the ’50s and ’60s, the teen kids used to gather after school at these places to listen free to the latest singles and see if they liked the beat.”

Not long after that magical summer in Harbor Springs, Iggy would start to push boundaries with his appearance. He let his hair grow long and then colored it platinum blonde. He got into trouble with the law and was no longer welcome at Club Ponytail. As 1965 came to an end, so did Osterberg’s timekeeping with The Iguanas, and he got with the Prime Movers where he would officially drop his original first name and adopt a new one—Iggy. Fun fact: Future Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton was the Prime Movers’ roadie.

In 2016, Norton Records put out a collection of eighteen demos by The Iguanas done between 1963 and 1964, including Iggy’s first vocal recording for the band’s cover of “Louie Louie” a song popularized by another group who played Club Ponytail, The Kingsmen. You can listen to pretty much everything the band ever recorded here.

Vintage photos of The Iguanas follow as does what is considered Iggy Pop’s first song “Again and Again,” and Iggy singing for the first time on “Louie Louie” below.

Jimmy Osterberg in high school.

Jimmy and his drum kit on his towering drum riser with The Iguanas.

A poster for The Shangri-Las appearance at Club Ponytail.