Ron Asheton, guitarist for legendary proto-punk band The Stooges was found dead in his Ann Arbor, Michigan, home on Tuesday.

Asheton was responsible for helping to create a guitar style emulated by many punk rock and rock 'n roll bands that followed.  His riffs on songs such as "TV Eye" and "Dirt" are considered by many critics and fans to be the genesis of punk rock guitar, and songs that he helped compose have been covered by bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Dead Boys, Guns 'N Roses, and Slayer.

Many know his work with Iggy Pop, or his acting appearance in the 1995 b-movie Mosquito, but his influence on musicians and music fans alike is a harder fact to convey accurately.

Sure, many people list Fun House or Raw Power by The Stooges as top albums of all time, despite their lack of commercial success at the time of release.  Asheton will always be known first and foremost for his work with this seminal group, but for this writer, it was always an odd one-off album that he recorded in 1981 that truly shows the talent of Ron Asheton.

By the early 1980s, The Stooges were merely a footnote in the history of rock 'n roll.  Their albums had never sold well, singer Iggy Pop had gone on to stardom beginning with his album The Idiot and the first wave of punk rock in New York and the UK had run its course.

However, Asheton still had a big fan in Deniz Tek, leader and guitarist of rock 'n roll band Radio Birdman.  Tek, a Detroit native who moved to Australia to go to medical school, had seen The Stooges in their prime.  After the demise of Radio Birdman, Tek contacted Asheton about forming a band and touring Australia in the summer of 1981.  The resulting group, The New Race, played a handful of shows and a live album from one of them was released, titled The First and the Last.

Using the template layed down by The Stooges and The MC5, and mixing it with the speed and intensity of Radio Birdman, The First and the Last is the ultimate platform for Asheton's unique and infectious guitar playing.

The crowd is wild, the mix is great, and the energy is unbeatable.  Highlights include a cover of The Stooges "Loose" and an Asheton original "November 22, 1963".  Much like Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square album, The First and the Last manages to capture a fire and spirit that was never completely captured in the studio. 

Ron Asheton will be missed, not only for what he brought to the evolution of rock 'n roll, but also for that one day in recent years when the reformed Stooges would come to town, giving those in the know the chance to stand packed together with crowds of others in a dark club, and close their eyes and remember what made them love rock 'n roll in the first place.