Gimme Danger
classified 15Please note: This was screened in Nov 2016
Jim Jarmusch’s new documentary chronicles the story of one of the greatest rock-n-roll bands of all time - recounting the history of Iggy Pop and The Stooges, who burst out of Michigan in the late ’60s with a savage and endlessly influential fusion of rock, blues, R&B, and free jazz.
Some performers flirt with danger. Iggy Pop embraces it with abandon. Forming his band The Stooges in the late 1960s, he gained a reputation for performing half naked, stage diving, and confronting audiences with songs like ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ and ‘Raw Power.’ The Stooges' 1973 song ‘Gimme Danger' embodied the band's destructive tendencies and improbable survival.
Jarmusch comes to the material as a true fan. Paying close attention to the the band's origins in Ann Arbor, where James Osterberg (aka Iggy) teamed with the Asheton brothers, guitarist Ron and drummer Scott. Iggy's flair for self-sabotage, which eventually brought about a long split with his bandmates in 1974, comes across in candid, funny, and often poignant reflections on the crooked path of his career up to their story coming full circle with The Stooges' latter-day reformation in 2003. Tapping a rich archive, Jarmusch shows us Iggy through the years at his passionate best and drug-addled worst.