The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 13, 2026

If there's one guy who might arguably have been able to give Mick Jagger a "hold my beer" moment or two in terms of stage antics it may well be Iggy Pop. Though you don't get a video side of things on this "double feature" audio Blu-ray, you do get a pretty visceral accounting of the incredible energy that made The Stooges, and Iggy Pop, such memorable live performers (maybe not always in a good way, given some of Iggy's excesses). Both of these albums pretty easily prove why The Stooges are perceived as being "punk" before punk was a thing. This disc aggregates the band's first two releases, their eponymous 1969 debut and their blistering 1970 follow up, with new Dolby Atmos and stereo mixes by Ed Stasium. As with the recently reviewed release of Grateful Dead: Workingman's Dead, Rhino is also offering some considerably spendier deluxe editions of this release, including this.

The track listings for each album are shown in screenshots 8 (The Stooges) and 9 ( Fun House). More info on the menus and additional screenshots is available in the Video section, below.

The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The static menus on this disc function quite a bit like those in Rhino's Quadio line, though the good news is the audio button on your remote does allow easy toggling between codecs, with no interruption in the song's playback other than a potential HDMI handshake. I noted above that screenshots 8 and 9 are the menus for each individual album, and screenshot 10 shows the main menu that the disc boots to. Screenshots 1 through 7 are from the two albums and show a very similar kind of change in font color and indication of what's playing depending on if you scroll or actually click on a track. I've included several examples to show some of the changes in that regard.

The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Stooges and Fun House both offer Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Master Audio 2.0 options. Probably because of the kind of "wall of sound" onslaught the band frequently offers, the Atmos mix may not continually amaze with either discrete channelization or incredible verticality, and as such some of both albums probably come off as a bit more of a "standard" 5.1 surround mix. That said, the Atmos mixes are surprisingly nuanced at times, at least in passing, and there are manifold examples of both discrete channelization as well as some fun movement and verticality as well. Right from the get go with the debut album's starting track 1969, separation is clearly established with the wah wah guitar emanating from the rear left channel. Other examples on the first album include No Fun positioning the drum kit front left at the beginning, and perhaps most whimsically, that curious percussive pop in We Will Fall moves to and fro and seems to hover in midair at times, maybe just a little comically. The second album repeats the same really enjoyable immersion and tunes like Down on the Street once again present really noticeable separation with the guitars rear and drums forward. One niggling complaint some may have is that the vocals aren't especially forward in the Atmos mix, and some may prefer the stereo option as a result.

The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements. This comes in a "High Fidelity Pure Audio" standard sized clear Blu-ray case with a fun inner print reproducing that great vintage Elektra logo repeatedly (so that the entire inside is covered with E's). An insert booklet has track listings, some photos of singles released from each album, and a few band photos. Vis a vis that great red Elektra logo I was told many years ago by some supposed expert that there was a differentiation at Elektra as to which artists got that red version and which got the considerably prettier "butterfly" version, and that same person told me the red Elektra releases tended to have a lower MSRP back in the day than the butterfly releases during the transitional period when both were used. I've never been able to get confirmation, though, and our all knowing internet overlords suggest that in actuality it's the red labels that are more collectible (and therefore more valuable) these days.

The Stooges: The Stooges / Fun House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's probably best to simply be prepared to be overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of both of these albums. The Atmos remixes are invitingly immersive and have some unexpectedly subtle surround activity. With certain caveats for the more "easy listening" minded, Recommended.