Iggy Pop
2-CD IGGY POP ANTHOLOGY, A MILLION IN PRIZES
AND
1999 CONCERT DVD, LIVE AT THE AVENUE B
In Stores: July 19, 2005
Search And Destroy:
Windows Media
RealPlayer
Lust For Life:
Windows Media
RealPlayer
Candy:
Windows Media
RealPlayer
Slammin’ backbeats to the midsection, punishing and relentless guitar riffs that fry the eardrums to a crisp, and lyrics that call for revolution of mind and soul even as they forever extol rock’s eternal truths – summertime, cars, women, pain – are collective evidence that Iggy Pop’s roadmap hasn’t changed all that much since the Stooges were first unleashed upon the world a few years back.
A few years back? Iggy (or Mr. Pop, as the New York Times refers to him) lives in that rarefied zone inhabited by the true avatars of rock who struck its template in the 1960s, and survived through the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and beyond. It is not enough that the Stooges virtually single-handedly godfathered punk rock, garage rock and American heavy metal more than three decades ago, or that Iggy Pop went on to conquer Europe and the far East as a headlining phenomenon in the ’90s. His status today, filling stadiums (and hundreds of websites) around the world with his energy, his nerve, and his charisma indicates that the specter of Iggy Pop is a far more universal force in rock than many suspect.
There seems to be a never-ending migration back to the Stooge’s three seminal LPs, starting with the classic self-titled debut of 1969, The Stooges, with “1969,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (covered by everyone from Richard Hell and Joan Jett to Uncle Tupelo, and sampled by Snoop Dogg), and “No Fun” (later covered by the Sex Pistols). The second album released the following year, Fun House, contained “Down On the Street” (later covered by Rage Against the Machine) and “T.V. Eye,” which was included on the original soundtrack of Jack Black’s School Of Rock.
The Stooges’ final album, 1973’s Raw Power, was the source for “Search and Destroy” (included in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous movie soundtrack, with endless covers including Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Go-Gos, Dictators, Everclear, EMF, and even Beavis & Butthead!), “Gimme Danger” (covered by Monster Magnet and included on Stacy Peralta’s Dogtown And Z-Boys documentary soundtrack), not to mention the title tune, “Raw Power” (later covered by Guns N’ Roses).
Iggy’s first two solo albums (both 1977 releases) are equally turned-to for their riches. The Idiot is the place to find some killer tracks co-written with David Bowie, “Nightclubbing” (chosen for the Trainspotting movie soundtrack and memorably re-done by Grace Jones), “China Girl” (nicely rediscovered by Pete Yorn), and “Funtime” (check out the cover versions by R.E.M., Boy George, and Peter Murphy).
Iggy’s most-covered song (and most-requested, on a commercial basis year after year) is the title tune from his next album, Lust For Life, and space does not permit even a partial list of the song’s appearances, from Trainspotting and TV cameos in “Ally McBeal,” “Gilmore Girls,” and NBC’s 75th Anniversary Special, to commercials ranging from Kellogg’s cereal to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, to covers ranging from the Replacements, the Smithereens, and the Damned, to Bruce Willis (on the Rugrats Go Wild movie soundtrack) and Tom Jones. The LP also contained “The Passenger,” a widely compiled and covered tune (as by R.E.M., Siouxsie & the Banshees, Lunachicks and more).
After Iggy’s self-confessed drug and alcohol-fueled ‘lost weekend’ of the ’80s, which included seriously overlooked albums on Arista (New Values, Soldier, Party) and A&M (Blah-Blah-Blah with “Real Wild Child (Wild One),” Instinct), he emerged in 1990 on Virgin with Brick By Brick. It spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart, the longest of any Iggy Pop album, propelled by “Candy” (featuring singer Kate Pierson of the B-52’s), the first and only Top 30 single of his career to date. Years later, “Candy” would show up in the American Beauty soundtrack and compilations from Australia and New Zealand to Greece to South America. Iggy has gone on to build an impressive album catalog at Virgin: American Caesar (1993, with its manic remake of “Louie, Louie”), Naughty Little Doggie (1996), Nude & Rude: The Best Of Iggy Pop (1996), Avenue B (1999, a change-up with some jazzy, soulful spoken word pieces and a cover of “Shakin’ All Over” that has appeared on many collections), and Beat ’em Up (2001).
The ’90s also found Iggy embarking on a sideline film career that had begun almost by accident in the ’80s with roles in Sid And Nancy and Paul Newman’s The Color Of Money. Iggy could be seen in the post-apocalyptic Hardware (1990), John Waters’ ill-fated Cry-Baby with Johnny Depp (also 1990), the comic-based Tank Girl (1993), Jim Jarmusch’s surrealistic Western Dead Man (1995, again with Depp), the Spanish sci-fi Spaghetti Western Atolladero (also 1995), the sequel to the comic-based The Crow, City Of Angels (1996), Johnny Depp’s American Indian thriller The Brave (1997, with Marlon Brando), the Chris Elliott comedy Snow Day (2000), and Jarmusch’s all-star Coffee & Cigarettes (2003). Over the same period, Iggy became a ubiquitous presence in a handful of TV assignments, ranging from Nickelodeon’s “The Adventures Of Pete & Pete” and “Accidentally On Purpose,” to “Star Trek Deep Space 9” and HBO’s “Tales From the Crypt.”
In the midst of all this action, as far back as the early ’90s, observers were getting wind of guitarist Ron Asheton (when he was in the band Dark Carnival) setting clubs on fire with his versions of Stooges songs. This was nothing less than inspirational to Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth) and A&R man Jim Dunbar. In 1998, they were able to create a group known as Wylde Ratttz around the core of Ron and Thurston on guitars, Scott Asheton on drums, bassist Mike Watt, and singer Mark Arm (of Mudhoney). They recorded “T.V. Eye” for the original soundtrack of the controversial glam-rock film Velvet Goldmine.
The plot thickened as Watt began adding Stooges material to the repertoires of his various bands, playing the songs in every imaginable style, even free jazz improvisations. When Watt and Ron joined Jay Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) on tour, they found another conspirator who was willing to add Stooges material to the set. When Scott was added to the lineup and they began playing the Euro festival circuit as ‘Asheton-Asheton-Mascis-Watt,’ fans went crazy when they heard Stooges music coming from the stage.
Although Iggy had stayed in touch with fellow founding members of the Stooges, brothers Ron Asheton (guitar and bass) and Scott Asheton (drums) over the years, visited them at home in Ann Arbor, and occasionally invited them to jam at a gig, it had not gone any further. “What really changed things,” says Iggy, “was that I was out on tour for Beat ’em Up and I heard everywhere I went, ‘hey, Ron’s out on tour with Dinosaur Jr. doing Stooges songs and it’s real good’ or I was in Europe and I’d hear ‘Ron and Scott are both out with Mike Watt doing Stooges songs at festivals.’ And I thought whoa, they’re out there playing the material, so that kind of raised my eyebrow a little bit.”
2003 brought the wildly successful Stooges reunion of Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton and Scott Asheton. The reunion was celebrated with several historic headlining shows, including that spring’s Coachella Festival, and four newly recorded tracks for Skull Ring, Iggy Pop’s seventh album on Virgin Records. A major Detroit homecoming on the fateful night of August 14 was postponed because of The Great Blackout Of 2003 … talk about raw power!
The Skull Ring sessions in North Miami (not far from Iggy’s bayfront cottage in Miami Beach) exceeded everyone’s expectations. It marked the first time that Iggy, Ron and Scott – his original co-founders in ‘The Psychedelic Stooges’ back in 1967 – had been recorded together since the Halloween 1973 riot-show debacle at Detroit’s Michigan Palace that later became the Stooge’s final official LP, Metallic KO (issued in 1976). The lion’s share (seven) of Skull Ring’s tracks were recorded with Iggy’s hard-working band the Trolls. Among its members is guitarist Whitey Kirst (often Iggy’s songwriting partner) who first came on-board back on Brick By Brick, Iggy’s first Virgin album in 1990.
The explosive phenomenon of Iggy Pop and growing fascination for the unadulterated sound of the Stooges has been one of the most exciting developments in rock over the past several years. Television and movie soundtracks (either on screen or in the albums), documentaries and rock histories, radio and TV commercial spots, compilation albums, surf and skateboard videos, video games, and especially cover versions by a multitude of artists have kept the mystique of Iggy Pop and the Stooges on fire.
|
