From the desk of: Stuart

Chronology: Search & Destroy

Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power – 1973

I remember the first time I heard this song: my older brother bought The Beavis and Butthead Experience in middle school, and I listened to it constantly. Yes, this was back in the day when little vocal interludes were funny on CDs, and so were Beavis and Butthead. It was actually a pretty good collection of grunge and pop-rock, with a few little extra gems – Cher and Butthead, (seriously now) “Poetry and Prose” by Primus, and “I Hate Myself and Want To Die” by Nirvana. If you’re really looking for this CD, you can get it used on Amazon for $0.47. Awesome. If you listen to the end of the song, you can even hear some early 90s nostalgic “Yeah, destroying stuff is COOL!! Yeah! Yeah!”

On to the actual song: Iggy Pop wrote it based on a headline in Time magazine about the Vietnam War. Angst ridden? Yup. Loud? Yup. No wonder it sounded so good in 1993. Ah, middle school.

The original recording was first released on Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power in 1973. It was produced and master by David Bowie, who thought that the band had a lot of potential; if only they had some decent guidance. I believe this is the version I have included. It was remastered again in the late 90s by Iggy Pop and Bruce Dickinson. I like the dirty distortion in this song – it just fits so well. The original version stands apart from the aforementioned Red Hot Chili Peppers version, which uses a very clean distortion and a quicker tempo.

This song is also included in a few video games – True Crime: New York City, Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land, Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, and Guitar Hero II. This song really gets around.

1973 – Iggy & The Stooges – Search and Destroy
1977 – The Dictators – Search and Destroy
1979 – Sid Vicious – Search and Destroy
1985 – Terveet Kadet – Search and Destroy (Finnish Trans.)
1990 – Rocket from the Tombs – Search and Destroy
1992 – EMF – Search and Destroy
1993 – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Search and Destroy
1999 – Jared Louche and the Aliens – Search and Destroy (courtesy of Copy, Right? and 256 – off of Covergirl).
2001 – Pagans – Search and Destroy
2002 – Yo La Tengo – Search and Destroy
2004 – L.A. Guns – Search and Destroy
2005 – Emanuel – Search and Destroy
2006 – Turbonegro – Search and Destroy
2006 – Def Leppard – Search and Destroy

Year unknown:
Aka to kuro – Search and Destroy (Japanese – Rock Is Loft)
Blanks 77 – Search and Destroy

There are so many covers of this song – in part due to the many crappy punk bands in the 80s that only lasted a few years. There has been a backlash on punk like this in recent years, and I blame the pop-punk genre. Avril Levine and Green Day just will never do it for me. I am having a hell of a time finding these versions. I am particularly interested to hear what the hell “Corn Doggy Dog” sounds like.
Please help:

1982 – Bernie Tormé and the Electric Gypsies – Search and Destroy
1986 – London Cowboys – Search & Destroy
1988 – Hellmenn – Search and Destroy
1988 – Dead Boys – Search and Destroy
1992 – Shotgun Messiah – Search and Destroy
1993 – Pinups – Search and Destroy
1996 – Adam West – Search & Destroy
1996 – The Remains – Search and Destroy
1993 – The Idols with Sid Vicious – Search and Destroy
1996 – Surreal Mc Coys – Search and Destroy
1998 – Agent 009 & Red September – Search and Destroy
1999 – Samiam – Search and Destroy
2001 – Corn Doggy Dog and the 1/2 lb. – Search and Destroy
2002 – Smack – Search and Destroy
2004 – Forgotten Boys – Search and Destroy
2004 – Jack “Penetrator” Lipton – Search and Destroy
2005 – Sex Slaves – Search and Destroy