Revisiting Ron Asheton's Influences: Guitarist on Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones and JFK

In June 2004, photographer Peter Norrman shot Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton at the Weber Family Restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was the guitarist's favorite restaurant, which was just minutes from the home he grew up in — and the very same house where he died earlier this week. Norrman set up a video camera while he was prepping the shoot, and Georg Cederskog, a Washington correspondent for the Swedish Daily Dagens Nyheter, began posing some questions.

Asheton opened up about Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards, but he said, "Brian Jones was my real rock hero. I tried to emulate his haircut and dress." He recalled seeing photos of the Beatles when he was still a young kid obsessed with the military, and later discovering another groundbreaking band: "I was so happy Nirvana existed." (Watch the video above.)

But what eventually led Asheton to show business? Shaking John F. Kennedy's hand.

Asheton, guitarist and founding member of the Stooges, was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan Tuesday morning. He was 60. Official cause of death has not yet been announced but initial indications suggest Asheton suffered a fatal heart attack. As the guitarist for the Stooges, Asheton crafted some of rock's most memorable riffs, including "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "No Fun" and "TV Eye." In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Iggy Pop said, "I am in shock. He was my best friend."

Related Stories: • Photo Gallery: The Stooges — Five Decades of Raw Power
• The Stooges' Ron Asheton Remembered
• Iggy Pop, Fans, Bandmates Pay Tribute to Ron Asheton
• The Immortals: The Stooges by Thurston Moore
• 1970 Feature: The Stooges

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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