The Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, who made his mark by inspiring the first generation of punk musicians, was found dead at his Ann Arbor home early Tuesday morning by police officers who had been called by a concerned associate of Asheton’s because the latter had been unreachable for some days. Asheton was 60 years old.

Police Sergeant Brad Hill stated that Asheton appeared to had died from natural causes, adding that the authorities had found no signs of foul play.

The guitarist was a founding member of the influential protopunk band the Stooges, which he formed back in 1967 in Ann Harbor along with his brother Scott on drums, frontman Iggy Pop and bassist Dave Alexander.

At hearing the news of Asheton’s death, the band said they were shocked, while Iggy Pop called the guitarist his best friend on Tuesday.

Asheton’s powerful riffs on songs like „I Wanna Be Your Dog” and „T.V. Eye” had become the Stooges’ trademark, Brian Cogan, a punk-music historian at Molloy College on New York’s Long Island, having said that the guitarist had invented the template for punk-rock guitar.

After recording two albums with the band, Dave Alexander was kicked out of the group so Asheton went on to play the bass for the third one called „Raw Power,” which was released in 1973.

When the Stooges split up and Iggy Pop began following a solo career, Ron Asheton started playing guitar for other bands including the New Order, New Race, Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival.

In 2003, he was named the 29th greatest guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone magazine.