If you’re an Iggy and the Stooges fan, you’ve surely heard their infamous live album, Metallic KO (1976). But did you know that, due to a technical error, the record was issued at the wrong speed and was off pitch? It would be decades before anyone noticed and the blunder was righted, but the tapes of the two shows that were edited down for the LP didn’t receive the same treatment. That’s all changed, and for the first time the full recordings of both gigs, including the Stooges’ tumultuous final show, can be heard in all their speed-corrected glory.
In the spring of 1973, Columbia Records released Raw Power after a long delay. The album justly received critical acclaim, but failed to sell. Also during this period, Iggy and the Stooges were dropped by their management company, Main Man, so things were not looking good. In July, needing money to survive, the guys hit the road, touring heavily, leading to what turned out to be their final show in February. By then, the Stooges’ contract with Columbia had been terminated.
Getting near the end: Opening for Slade in Cleveland on January 18th, 1974.
During the February 9th, 1974 gig at the Michigan Palace in Detroit, the crowd threw all sorts of objects at the Stooges, including ice cubes, lit cigarettes, coins, beer bottles, light bulbs, and eggs, all the while egged on by a defiant Iggy. Pop, incidentally, was dressed in a leotard and wearing a shawl fashioned as a skirt. They closed with an X-rated version of “Louie Louie,” leaving the stage as projectiles continued to fly towards them.
A burnt-out Iggy would soon leave the group and the Stooges were no more.
Metallic KO contains two shows that took place at the Michigan Palace. Side A has three songs from an October 6th concert at the venue, with the remaining three on Side B from the riotous February 9th gig. Both were taped on a four-track cassette recorder by Michael Tipton, a fan and friend of bassist Ron Asheton. Ron had a copy of the last show, which guitarist James Williamson borrowed and got to British rock journalist Nick Kent, who in turn put in the hands of Marc Zermati of Skydog Records, a French label. Scott Thurston, who played piano for the Stooges in their waning days, was the source for the October 6th tape. Metallic KO was released by Skydog in September 1976, with Iggy’s nihilistic, taunting banter and the Stooges’ savage songs influencing the burgeoning British punk movement. Lester Bangs famously wrote, “Metallic KO is the only rock album I know where you can actually hear hurled beer bottles breaking against guitar strings.”
Fast-forward to 2007 when Metallic KO was being readied for a CD reissue. In the studio where the album was being remastered was Sterling Roswell (aka Rosco) of Spaceman 3, who, with guitar in hand, began strumming along with the recording. Roswell noticed that the band sounded like they were playing in a flat key, leading to the discovery that, back in the ‘70s, the tapes had been transferred at the wrong speed. Corrections were made, and Metallic KO finally sounded as it should have all along.
For the first time, the Detroit shows used for the album, both released in full in 1988 by Skydog on Metallic 2xKO, have been speed-corrected and sound better than ever. They’ve been made available on the new box set, From KO to Chaos, which collects every Iggy Pop release on Skydog. Put out by Jungle Records, the collection includes seven CDs, plus a DVD with a rare acoustic performance by the Ig. Get all the details and order the box through the MVD Shop, or get it on Amazon.
Also recently making its debut is the fixed version of the original Metallic KO LP, and it too is available on MVD and Amazon.
Jungle Records has shared with Dangerous Minds the speed-corrected version of an epic “Gimme Danger” from the final Stooges gig in 1974, which wasn’t the take included on Metallic KO. It concludes with some classic Iggy banter.
Here’s the web premiere of the track:
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘I fucking hate you!’: Iggy Pop goes apeshit during combative (and amazing) 2003 Stooges show
Screaming Bloody Murder: Iggy Pop’s most ferocious vocal performances EVER
A night spent hanging out with David Bowie and Iggy Pop: Ivan Kral tells us what it was like