The Stooges — Fun House, Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Stooges formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 — Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg Jr. in Muskegon), guitarist Ron Asheton, bassist Dave Alexander, and drummer Scott Asheton. Their communal living arrangement in a house on Packard Street became known as the 'Fun House' and gave its name to their second album, Fun House (1970), one of the most ferociously intense records in rock history. The Stooges' Ann Arbor base put them at the heart of the same Michigan rock scene that produced the MC5, and the two bands were the twin engines of proto-punk.

Iggy Pop's performances with the Stooges were among the most physically extreme in rock — he would cut himself with broken glass, dive into the audience, smear himself with peanut butter, and stage-dive before the term existed. Their first three albums — The Stooges (1969), Fun House (1970), and Raw Power (1973, produced by David Bowie) — sold almost nothing on release but are now regarded as foundational documents of punk, garage rock, noise rock, and virtually every form of confrontational music that followed. Kurt Cobain, Henry Rollins, Nick Cave, and Jack White have all cited the Stooges as primary influences.

Ann Arbor's role in the Michigan rock scene of the late 1960s — centred on the Grande Ballroom in Detroit but fuelled by the college-town counterculture of Ann Arbor — is now well documented. Iggy Pop continues to record and perform and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Stooges in 2010.