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Five Good Covers: “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (The Stooges)

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Nov 102023
 

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

I Wanna Be Your Dog covers

For a song so often described as primal, raw, and primitive, the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” is surprisingly adaptable and open to interpretation. That’s apparent in the incredible 86+ cover versions it’s spawned since the band originally released it as their debut single in the unsuspecting Summer of ’69.

The guitar riff is widely regarded as the crux of it. That dirty, menacing, and God-forsaken thing that emerges like a badass out of a storm of feedback, with its three Ron Asheton chords dramatically and relentlessly progressing the good work of the Kinks, the Sonics, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience in terms of sheer distortion. It’s at #37 in NME‘s 50 Greatest Riffs Of All Time. It’s one of Dig!‘s 20 Licks That Changed The Course Of Rock Music. And it’s one of the Top 10 Best Punk Rock Guitar Riffs Of All Time, according to WatchMojo: “a one-eyed monster that basically serves as the song’s entire framework.” Yet, for all that, there are many artists out there who’ve made the song work without it.
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Promartyr channel The Stooges for AV Club

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May 262014
 

Recently, Detroit band Promartyr paid tribute to their fellow citymen and garage punk legends The Stooges as part of the AV Club series. This was possibly due to Iggy’s 67th(!) birthday falling around the same date, but more likely as a mark of respect for the recently departed Scott “Rock Action” Asheton.

The Michigan four-piece power through “Down on the Street,” an aggressive highlight from Fun House. Frontman Joe Casey initially appears quite juxtaposed to the band as he nonchalantly, hand in pocket, makes his way through each verse, but he becomes monstrously alive for each increasingly antagonistic chorus, leading to a blistering, feedback-heavy finale.
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Anna Rose Takes a Stooges Cover to the Western Nightclub [Premiere]

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Jan 142014
 

Back in 2010, Anna Rose performed the Stooges “Gimme Danger” for the “Jam for Ron Asheton” honoring the recently-deceased Stooge with current band members Scott Asheton, Mike Watt and Steve Mackay. As these things generally are, the tribute night was somewhat of a karaoke-esq affair. In the subsequent years though, she stuck with the song, re-arranging it and fiddling with it to arrive at the version you hear below. She delivers the song like nightclub singer with a spaghetti western bent, like if Blue Velvet was set near the Alamo. Continue reading »

We Are Like the Spider Electro-Rock Out on the Stooges and Ace of Base

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Jan 182011
 

Even the most imaginative of us would have difficulty finding much in common between garage-punk geniuses The Stooges and Swedish popsters Ace of Base. They are likely all warm-blooded and oxygen-dependent…anything else? Maybe Missouri-based electro-rockers We Are Like the Spider see something the rest of us don’t, as they recently covered The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants”. Continue reading »

Song of the Day: John Velghe, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (The Stooges cover)

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Oct 262010
 

Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.

Songs don’t get much dirtier than the Stooges‘ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Not dirty lyrically – no curse words here – but dirty sonically. The slimy three-chord riff crawls through the mud, ignoring any pretense of real melody. The low-down crunch of Ron Asheton’s guitar fits the self-loathing lyrics perfectly. A five year old could play the riff, but recreating the feeling would be a challenge indeed.

John Velghe doesn’t try. Instead, he strips away any hint of electricity, blending acoustic picking and chugging cello for a romantic duet. “I’d been performing this song live for almost a decade as the raucous rock anthem that it was originally,” he tells us. “Then one day I played it on my acoustic and this cover was born. Some will be offended, some will be pissed, but honestly, I think it’s one of the most gorgeous songs in music history no matter how it’s performed.” Continue reading »

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