Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll, the band sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances, which often involved acts of self-mutilation by Iggy Pop.

The band reunited in 2003 with Ron Asheton moving back to guitar and Mike Watt on bass, and the addition of saxophonist Steve Mackay, who had played saxophone on Fun House.

[9] Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg) played drums in several Ann Arbor–area bands as a teenager, including the Iguanas and, later, the Prime Movers.

Upon returning to Detroit, Osterberg sought to create a new form of blues music that was not derivative of historical precedents, with influence from garage rock bands The Sonics and The Kinks.

And we didn't have anywhere to crash, and they played for us, and they completely rocked, and we were really ashamed.The band's 1967 debut was at their communal State Street house on Halloween night, followed by their next live gig in January 1968.

At one of their early Grande Ballroom performances, Asheton's guitar neck separated from the body forcing the band to stop playing during the opening song, "I Wanna Be Your Dog".

The first major commercial show for the Psychedelic Stooges was on March 3, 1968, at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, opening for Blood, Sweat & Tears.

According to John Sinclair, who booked the show, the Psychedelic Stooges were substitutes for the MC5, who had a formidable Detroit reputation that made Blood, Sweat & Tears reluctant to follow them.

"[16] The group's early sound differed from their later music, wrote critic Edwin Pouncey: The Stooges' early musical experiments were more avant garde than punk rock, with Pop incorporating such household objects as a vacuum cleaner and a blender into an intense wall of feedback that one observer described as sounding like "an airplane was landing in the room."

Pop, especially, became known for his outrageous onstage behavior: smearing his bare chest with hamburger meat and peanut butter, cutting himself with shards of glass, and flashing his genitalia to the audience.

In a broadcast interview at WNUR Northwestern University radio station in Evanston, Illinois, in 1984, Stiv Bators of the Lords of the New Church and the Dead Boys confirmed the long-standing rumor that it was he who had provided the peanut butter, having carried a large tub from his home in Youngstown, Ohio, and handing it up to Iggy from the audience.

Around this time, the band expanded their lineup by adding a second guitar player, roadie Bill Cheatham,[10] who was eventually replaced by James Williamson, a childhood friend of the Ashetons and Alexander.

[21] With the band having broken up, Pop met David Bowie on September 7, 1971, at Max's Kansas City,[20][21] and the pair quickly became good friends.

[22]) Although the album sold rather poorly and was regarded as a commercial failure at the time of its release, Raw Power would go on to gain recognition from early punk rockers.

[23] With the addition of a piano player (briefly Bob Sheff and then Scott Thurston[10]), the Stooges toured for several months, starting in February 1973.

In 1973, James Williamson was briefly dismissed due to criticism from the band's management company (likely pertaining to his tempestuous relationship with Cyrinda Foxe, a close friend of road manager Leee Black Childers); guitarist Tornado Turner replaced him for a single gig (on June 15, 1973, at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago[24]), but Williamson soon returned to the group.

[15] The Stooges disbanded in February 1974 as a result of dwindling professional opportunities; this factor was compounded by Pop's ever-present heroin addiction and erratic off-stage behavior.

After his first attempt at drug rehabilitation, Pop began a volatile yet ultimately successful solo career in 1977, commencing with the Bowie-produced albums The Idiot (1977) and Lust for Life (1977).

He received his degree from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1982 and retired from Sony as vice president of technical standards in 2009.

In 2000, indie rock music veterans J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr) and Mike Watt (of the Minutemen and Firehose) teamed up with Ron Asheton and drummer George Berz to perform Stooges covers (and other material) live.

Soon afterward, the Stooges reunited officially, performing a series of live shows in the United States and Europe, with Watt on bass at Ron Asheton's request,[25] and Fun House–era saxophonist Steve Mackay.

In 2007, the band released an album of all-new material, The Weirdness, with Steve Albini recording, and mastering done at Abbey Road Studios in London, England.

Highlights included performances at several events involved with the All Tomorrow's Parties concert series, Pop's 60th birthday on the stage of San Francisco's Warfield Theater,[28] touring with the Lollapalooza festival, and a performance of two Madonna covers at the Michigan-born singer's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in protest of the Stooges' failure to receive an induction into said institution despite six nominations.

[29] Initially, the reunited band's sets consisted solely of material from The Stooges, Fun House, Skull Ring and The Weirdness.

[39] Iggy and the Stooges played the final date of their 25-city 2013 world tour with a performance at the C2SV Festival in San Jose on September 28, 2013.

Former Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist Steve Peregrin Took, interviewed by Charles Shaar Murray for the NME in 1972, cited Pop's stage act as an inspiration for his own chaotic onstage behavior during the band's late 1969 US tour (after which he was replaced by Mickey Finn).

[51] Several punk bands took their names from Stooges songs or lyrics, including Radio Birdman, Penetration, Raw Power, Shake Appeal and The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs.

Australian band Radio Birdman which included fellow Ann Arbor native Deniz Tek, named an early venue "The Oxford Funhouse", while on their 1977 album Radios Appear, they covered the Stooges song "TV Eye" and name-checked the Stooges in the Deniz Tek song "Do the Pop".

[52] Numerous other bands and artists spanning multiple genres have cited the Stooges as an influence, including Misfits,[53] Sonic Youth,[54] Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis,[55] the Jesus and Mary Chain,[56] Mudhoney,[57] Ride,[58] Pere Ubu,[59] and Crime.

In 2009, Cage the Elephant gave away a free cover version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" on their website if users registered with their mailing list service.