Asheton was born in Washington D.C.[3] He already had five years of practice on the accordion behind him when he began playing guitar at age 10. Asheton was on the Stooges first two albums, and later appeared as bassist for their third, Raw Power, when he was replaced in both instrument and songwriting prominence by The Stooges' new guitar player, James Williamson. When the Stooges reformed, however, he once again appeared as the band's guitarist.

Apart from The Stooges, Asheton also played in the bands The New Order (not the UK band New Order), Destroy All Monsters, New Race, and more recently with Mike Watt of the Minutemen, J. Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.), Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Mark Arm of Mudhoney among others (as The Wylde Ratttz), on the soundtrack for the Todd Haynes film Velvet Goldmine, which starred Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Asheton also acted, appearing with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre star Gunnar Hansen in Mosquito which came out in 1995 as well as in two other films, Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo and Legion of the Night.

Asheton is ranked as number 29 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[4]

Asheton was found dead in his bed by police at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 6, 2009, apparently having died of a heart attack several days earlier. Police were summoned to Asheton's house by his personal assistant, who had failed to reach him for several days.[5

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