"Gimme Danger” (2016) is a vibrant documentary film that recapitulates the formation and early endeavors of punk rock pioneers ‘The Stooges’, led by the inimitable Iggy Pop (Jim Osterberg). First constituted in 1967 by Osterberg, guitarist Ron Asheton, bassist Dave Alexander and drummer Scott Asheton in their hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the group brought a raw and aggressive form of rock n' roll to audiences, roundly considered one of the earliest incarnations of proto-punk music.
Alongside The Velvet Underground and MC5, they helped to shepherd a new era of musicianship that was highlighted by a ferocity and outrageous form of stage behavior that flew in the face of the benign flower power era of the 1960’s. Though they would only find fleeting prosperity and ultimately disassemble in 1974 after three studio albums, Pop himself would go on to worldwide success as a solo artist while the group as whole would earn universal acclaim as historic trailblazers and innovators.
Crafted by renowned cinematic auteur Jim Jarmusch (“Dead Man”, “Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai”), a long-time collaborator of Iggy Pop’s, “Gimme Danger” delivers a lively and observant tale of youthful ambition beset by a remarkable capacity for intoxication, drug-abuse and now legendary sexual escapades. Remarkably wistful and profoundly infectious, it’s a grade-A marriage between one of the most esteemed members of the independent film world and one of the most notorious and influential musical ensembles of all time.
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