No Fun - The Stooges

An awkward and certainly under-thought single-disc best-of, released to sweep up any latter-day Iggy Pop fans who missed out on the reissued Stooges and Fun House, No Fun is titled for one of the Stooges' best-known songs, and never lets you forget it. Just eight songs short, it divides itself equally between the two parent albums to depict a band who had a hand thrust deep into the self-mythologizing pie -- and no sense of danger or outspokenness whatsoever. What, after all, were "No Fun," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "1969," and "I Feel Alright (1970)" if not blueprints for the covers that sundry punks would bring to prominence during 1977-1978, or the rest of the set if not the greatest bits Pop had been touring for the last three years? A true best-of the Stooges would have delved into the darker territory explored by "We Will Fall" and "Ann," or the glowering blues of "Dirt," the songs that portrayed the misfits as they genuinely were as opposed to the three-chord wonders they sometimes wanted to be. All of which, of course, is why most true-blue Stooges fans simply ignore this album, except to admire the glammy cover shot of Pop's silver oven gloves. Anybody looking for a quick and easy introduction to the band, however, or an idiot's guide to what the punks found so perfect about them, will find no better showcase than this. No Fun? Heck, it's all fun. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide