The Iguanas (Ann Arbor)

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Iguanas (Ann Arbor)

The Iguanas was one of Iggy Pop's first bands. James Osterberg was the drummer while in high school, and in 1964 got his nickname Iggy from the name of this garage band formed in 1963 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Osterberg grew up in Muskegon, Michigan.)

The line-up was:

Jim McLaughlin - electric guitar
Sam Swisher - saxophone
Jim "Iggy" Osterberg - drums

soon augmented by

Nick Kolokithas - electric guitar
Don Swickerath - bass guitar

They originally performed in high school dances and later clubs in Ann Arbor.

In 1965 they were an opening act for bands such as Four Tops, the Shangri-Las and the Kingsmen at Club Ponytail in Harbor Springs, a local resort area. Osterberg left the group soon afterward, and with another drummer they sought but did not get a recording contract.

The group broke up in 1967.

Some early "demo reel" recordings have survived, notably from when The Iguanas recorded at Detroit's United Sound Recording Studio, and the following tracks are known to be available on CD:

Mona
I don't know why
Again & again (the first Osterberg original)
Out of limits
Twist & shout
California sun
Slow down
I feel fine
Blue moon
Walk don't run
Things we said today
Louie Louie
Wild weekend
Tell me
Slow down
Summertime
Outer limits
Johnny B. Goode
Perfidia
Travelin' man
Surfin' bird
Walk don't run
Tequila
Pipe line

McLauglin, Kolokithas and Swickerath sought to revive The Iguanas in 1996 after the release of some of their early music.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.