Grande Ballroom — Detroit (The Stooges)

The Grande Ballroom at 8952 Grand River Avenue in Detroit was the premier rock venue of the late 1960s Detroit music scene — the room where the MC5 and the Stooges built their reputations, where promoter Russ Gibb brought British and American psychedelic and hard rock acts, and where Elektra Records executive Danny Fields saw the Stooges perform in 1968 and immediately signed them and the MC5. The Grande was a former ballroom converted to a rock venue in 1966 and it hosted an extraordinary concentration of significant performances in its relatively brief peak years, functioning as the equivalent for Detroit's proto-punk scene that CBGB would later be for New York's.

Fields' visit to the Grande in October 1968 is one of the pivotal moments in rock history: he had come to Detroit to see the MC5, signed them, and then also saw the Stooges — James Osterberg's band, Osterberg now performing as Iggy Pop — and signed them on the same night. The Stooges' debut album, produced by John Cale and recorded in 1969, was the document of what Fields had seen at the Grande: a band playing primitive, repetitive rock with an intensity and physical commitment from their singer that had no precedent in recorded music. 'I Wanna Be Your Dog,' '1969,' and 'No Fun' established a template for punk rock that would not be fully realised until the mid-1970s.

The Grande Ballroom building still stands on Grand River Avenue but has been vacant for decades and is in a severe state of disrepair. Various preservation efforts have been made without success. The exterior of the building remains recognisable from photographs of the original venue. Detroit's Grand River Avenue corridor is one of the city's major northwest-running arteries and the ballroom is approximately four miles from downtown. The venue is not accessible to the public.