Hand Claps: 1969

The Stooges: 1969

[purchase]

Iggy Stooge (as he was then known) and the boys perfectly captured teen malaise ("It's another year for me and you/Another year with nothin' to do") on this track from their debut album. Ron Asheton's fuzzed-out wah-wah guitar takes center stage, but loose hand claps accompany the entire song.

The album was originally producing by John Cale. But the band and label were unhappy with Cale's mix, so Iggy and Elektra boss Jac Holzman remixed the album. Their instincts were in the right place. When the Cale mixes were finally released, they revealed a much thinner, tinnier sound. The raw power of the recordings were lost.

This, on the other hand, is the way they were supposed to sound.