Asian Dub Foundation are known for their eclectic, genre-bending brand of electronic music combining everything from dancehall to raga, and are no strangers to the gritty, guitar-driven aesthetics of punk rock. That said, a collaboration with the Godfather of Punk himself definitely dials that influence up to an entirely different level. Released in anticipation of their upcoming album Punkara due out this October, “No Fun” sees ADF join forces with none other than Iggy Pop himself to add their spin to one of the latter’s classics.
The original “No Fun” was released on The Stooges’ self titled 1969 debut, an album that legitimately altered the landscape of popular music and is considered a foundational work of punk rock. This iteration of “No Fun” was raw, electrifying and blissfully noisy, and amongst a batch of similarly raucous tunes like “I Wanna Be Your Dog” exemplified a sound that the Iggy Pop and the Stooges would hone across their successor albums Fun House and Raw Power.
ADF’s take on “No Fun” maintains all the unvarnished vigor of the original with a clever injection of a more danceable beat. The result feels startlingly natural; in fact, the end result comes out sounding a bit like Primal Scream or some of the more rhythmic offerings of Oasis. Pop’s vocal, meanwhile, performance proves that he’s lost none of his edge in the intervening years.