The first great thing about the newest reissue of Raw Power,The Stooges’ 1973 LP, is that listening to it won’t cause your ears to separate themselves from your head. It doesn’t take an audiophile to acknowledge the horror of Iggy Pop’s so-called “violent mix” – an ultra-loud, ultra-distorted version of the album – released by Legacy in 1997. This time around, the label has finally remastered of David Bowie’s original mix of the record that’s still in-your-face but not painfully so.

With that burning technical questions out of the way, how about this record? Raw Power was a hard sell to even the most hardened rock fan in 1973. There were few precursors to the band’s bull-in-a-china-shop sound. They were melodic but rough-hewn, talented but horrifying – and their live show, with lead singer Pop writhing and snarling at crowds like a feral dog, was a nightmare ahead of its time.

Of course, time has shown just what an influence that sound and image was to a generation of punks, and The Stooges – at the time of Raw Power, an outfit consisting of Iggy Pop on vocals, James Williamson on guitar and brothers Ron and Scott Asheton on bass and drums – recently enjoyed induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But don’t let the accolades blind you to the band’s warts-and-all history; in fact, if you’re curious as to just how polarizing the band can be, this Legacy Edition is the thing to get.

Consider the “Georgia Peaches” live set that comprises much of the bonus material in the package. The Stooges were just as hellish as they were on any given night, to be sure – but it’s the crowd reaction, caught on tape between and during songs, that solidifies what an odd bunch they were. After the band finishes “Head On,” a particularly profane number, an audience member can clearly be heard saying of Pop, “I don’t think he likes us.”

But we like them now, having realized how gems like “Search and Destroy” and “I Need Somebody” shine through our speakers. Anyone can channel rage and confusion into art, but it takes clever artists to do it well. Thanks to the new reissue of Raw Power, listeners can take a closer look at a band that defined a musical revolution and see them clearly through all the blood, guts and digital distortion.