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First off, ‘garage rock’ is a nebulous term that needs to be defined further. In classic terms, it would mean the kind of primitive, primarily three-chord racket banged out by inept but hopeful American kids inspired by the British Invasion, from approximately ‘64-‘68, although earlier musical trends come into play…R’n’B, Frat Rock, reimagined 50’s rock, certain traces of the folk revival and surf music that was already in effect, and then the emerging soul movement at the time. Then there were the pro outfits that jumped on the Brit bandwagon, got signed to relatively major labels, had national hits, and provided aditional fodder for the kids still struggling. “Garage Rock” didn’t really exist in the 70’s; after the great stylistic upheaval of ‘67, with all the experimentation, branching out, and increasing emphasis on virtuosity, the entire zeitgeist changed. Sure, there were still kids in garages and rec rooms making noise, but it was with a whole different attitude. If anything, the late 70’s punk/new wave explosion was a return to garage rock ideals, and was actually influenced in part by the pre-‘67 stuff; in addition, there was the lateral garage rock revival that went along with all that.
Both of those bands came out of the garage rock milieu, the 5 moreso than the Stooges. Kramer and company went through the same traditional process that scores of other bands did, but they took it in another, newer, heavier direction as they weathered the changes of ‘67. The Stooges were essentially a bunch of slacker malcontents out to just make noise; Iggy had been a drummer in a bluesy garage outfit; Ron Ashton had been a bass player who moved to guitar with rudimentary skills, but went to England and saw The Who in their early, violent days, having an epiphany. The Who was not well known in the US until 1967, and they themselves had a stylistic change or two since they emerged at the begining of ‘65. But the important thing is, both bands, along with the Velvet Underground, laid the groundwork for punk while everyone else was all hippy-dippy. There was other tributary stuff as well, sometimes bands that don’t seem likely, along with the Nuggets style roots. To give you an idea of how the 5 transitioned, here’s a tune by Van Morrison and Them(the Irish part of the British Invasion, and the originators of “Gloria”, the song that Chicago garagers the Shadows of Knight had a hit with)….
