Gimme Danger

As befits his laconic style, Jim Jarmusch's fan letter to his musical heroes the Stooges has been more than five years in the making, during which time some of the key personnel have figuratively left the building. Thankfully, the irrepressible Iggy Pop (aka Jim Osterberg) somehow remains in rude health to recount the story of the band that laid the foundations of punk, even though not all of the members survived to receive their due acclaim. Forged in the industrial shadow of Detroit in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Stooges ruffled hippie-era feathers with their delinquent brand of primal garage rock, but also hit the self-destruct button too often to remain a viable concern. Iggy's gruffly delivered recollections contain plenty of mischievous anecdotes, and he's generous in his praise for his fellow Stooges, Ron and Scott Asheton and James Williamson - a man who achieved greater success outside of the band than in it. With its patchwork of irreverent film and TV footage, this has the feel of a Julien Temple rockumentary rather than anything typically Jarmuschian. But the familiar approach doesn't spoil what proves to be a riotously entertaining epitaph that was well worth the wait.