10 Greatest Debut Singles Of All Time
3. I Wanna Be Your Dog – The Stooges
Picture the scene. It’s 1969 and sure, you like your music. A lot of what’s on the charts isn’t to your taste, but The Carpenters, Neil Diamond, the occasional Simon & Garfunkel record when you want to get a little freaky, it’s all good to you. Then for one reason or another… the dial slips.
You end up on the wrong side of the radiographic tracks and *something* is happening that you don’t understand. An apocalyptic descending riff. Someone screaming about being a dog. No, wait… being *your* dog? What does that mean?!
To hear this in context must have been like Satan himself trying to rip through your speakers. Chances are you, me, most people we know would have HATED it. And yet… to say this invented punk rock as we know it undersells it.
Alternative rock as a whole began with a bunch of reprobates from Detroit writing about sex kinkier than we could possibly comprehend and there’s nothing beautiful, or fun, or safe about it. That’s the damn point.
Still thrilling. Still violent. Still dangerous. And probably older than your dad. That’s how much this song holds up.