January 7, 2009 10:36

Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie pays tribute to The Stooges' Ron Asheton

'He's one of the greats', declares the singer

Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has paid tribute to The Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton, who was found dead yesterday (January 6).

Asheton was found after dying of a suspected heart attack. He was aged 60.

Gillespie told NME.COM that he believed Asheton had secured his place in musical history. "I just loved The Stooges, he said. "Ron's was a totally original style: really fucking sexy and wild and reckless and free.

"He was a free rock 'n' roll guitarist. He made up his own style – there's nobody else who sounded llike Ron Asheton. As soon as you hear the first chords of any Stooges song you knew it was him playing.

"He had killer riffs. 'No Fun', 'Down On The Street', 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' – all those songs you identify with a guitar riff even before Iggy [Pop] starts singing. He's one of the greats, I think."

Asheton's bandmates, paid tribute to him yesterday, with Pop describing the late guitarist as "my best friend".

We've picked out Asheton's five greatest riffs on the NME Office Blog.