It's always sad when you learn that the hype surrounding an album being made outweighs the final product. In the case of The Stooges, it was an epic reunion, but "The Weirdness" wasn't an epic record.
Before diving into what went wrong, I need to address the issue that The Stooges unintentionally set the bar pretty high. This was the group's first album since the 1973, fuzzy, psychedelic and sexual masterpiece, "Raw Power." And just three years before that, The Stooges ventured into uncharted waters with the cult classic, "Fun House." Then, The Stooges vanished on an unbelievably high note - 34 years ago.
When you pop in "The Weirdness" and hit play, Iggy Pop's recognizable grunt kicks in simultaneously with the drums as the low and heavy groove of the album's opening track, "Trollin'" launches. The first 15 seconds of the song has much of the mojo The Stooges were famous for, but it's around this time you may start to notice one of the three elements that's responsible for the failure of "The Weirdness."
Problem No. 1: Steve Albini, (under) producer
Albini has proven to be one of the great alternative rock producers of the last 20 years, drawing success from working with bands such as the Pixies, PJ Harvey and Nirvana. However, in a situation such as this, The Stooges needed somebody to help recapture the wild, off-the-wall spontaneity that fueled its first three amazing records. After listening to the album, you'll notice Scott Asheton's drums sound almost identical to Dave Grohl's sound on Nirvana's "In Utero" - a dark and heavy sound, but it doesn't have the classic punk peppiness or the quick-banging, jazz-flavored pop The Stooges needed.
Albini also leaves the guitar as a secondary source on most songs such as the blazing, "My Idea of Fun," or the album's ballad, "The Weirdness."
You definitely get a whiff of Ron Asheton's wah-wah wailing, but it's not as prevalent as it needs to be - it sounds so hollow without the fullness of a louder, raunchier rhythm section. Overall, Albini sort of made The Stooges sound like a pre-grunge band (ironically many pre-grunge bands wanted to be like The Stooges).
Problem No. 2: Where's Mike Watt?
About one-third of the excitement of the reunion of The Stooges roughly four years ago was that bass virtuoso Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehouse) was going to fill the empty bass slot. And because The Stooges are so big on finding a groove and just jamming off it to make a rock 'n' roll song, many fans were elated to see the amazingly awesome Mike Watt starting those grooves.
Well, somebody must have told Watt to "hold back." He barely has a presence on the record. The structure of the songs such as "The End of Christianity" and "Greedy Awful People" - a structure that dominates the record - doesn't give any room for Watt to goof around and deviate from the guitar pattern.
Problem No. 3: Poor Iggy
The first two reasons the record failed are actually quite minor compared to the biggest problem. In fact, if it wasn't for problem three, "The Weirdness" would likely be a contender for a slot in the top-20 rock albums of the year.
The real reason why the album fails is the godfather of punk rock himself, Iggy Pop. On the majority of the songs, when Pop isn't singing baritone, he's painfully off key. You have to hand it to the band for not using Pro Tools or any other voice compressor to try and bend the notes into the correct key, but it's almost to the point where it's humorous. Specifically on "You Can't Have Friends" and "I'm Fried," Pop is flatter than the Midwest.
Again, I think the critique of the songs and the quality of the album are not even half as important as the fact that The Stooges is back and it's going to be playing shows in the U.S. very soon. Remember, it was the live performance from The Stooges back in the late '60s and early '70s that put the band members among the rock gods.
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