The Stooges mattered to me at a time when bands REALLY mattered to me. I still read Rolling Stone and SPIN regularly. I still sought out new music. I got Raw Power in high school. CBS nice price cassette. It was good. better than bowie. then freshman year of college I discovered the first album. Self-titled. That was the stuff. That wah guitar. There are, in my mind, two ways to use a wah pedal - like Jimi Hendrix or like Ron Asheton. Then, Oh My GOD, Funhouse. Calling from the funhouse, with my song... The best album ever made by white people. These records, this band, brought me to Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Sugar Shack, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and damned near everything that meant anything to me from the time I was 16 till, well, forever... There was a reunion tour recently and I didn't make enough of an effort to go. The reunion album - well, it just made me kinda sad - the new mudhoney album sounded to me like what i wanted a new stooges record to be... but I saw the dvd - and they rocked live - the old stuff still worked - and they were having fun... God I hope I have people like that in my life to have fun with years down the road... Some people say you can tell a lot about a person by asking, "The Beatles or The Stones?" I'd rather ask, "The Stooges or The Velvet Underground?" and for me, the answer is always, "The Stooges." ugh. I wanna be yr dog.