The Stooges “No Fun” and The Black Keys “No Fun” Record Store Day exclusive, limited edition on colored marbled vinyl, 2013. Today is a twofer: It’s Iggy Pop’s 70th birthday (!!!!) and it’s just one day ‘til Record Store Day 2017. “No Fun” was first released by The Stooges on their debut eponymous album in 1969, an album now considered a breakthrough classic and it has been listed  on many Best Of’s over the years. The Black Keys covered “No Fun” in 2002 and it appeared first on the vinyl version of their debut The Big Come Up and then again on the CD single for “The Moan” in 2004. (“The Moan” came out on a vinyl 7″ in 2002 with the B-side “Have Love Will Travel” – one of my favorite Black Keys tracks and video I’ve linked here is from a small show at the High Noon Saloon in Madison, WI in 2004). The Black Keys cover of “No Fun” is less gritty but, shockingly, even more lo-fi than the Stooges’ version. The extreme lo-fi quality was probably not entirely planned; Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded The Big Come Up in Carney’s basement on two cheap mics from eBay and an 8-track tape recorder.

No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to hang around
Feelin’ that same old way
No fun to hang around
Freaked out for another day
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun my babe
No fun
No fun to be alone
Walking by myself
No fun to be alone
In love with nobody else
Well maybe go out, maybe stay home
Maybe call Mom on the telephone
Well c’mon, well c’mon
C’mon c’mon
Now Ron, I say Ron
C’mon and lemme hear you tell em
Lemme hear you tell em
Now I feel
I say lemme hear you
Tell em how I feel, yeah, my man
No fun to be alone
It’s no fun to be alone
Hang on
Don’t you lemme go
It’s no fun to alone
To be alone