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Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop performing at UC Davis (1980)
Iggy Pop performing at UC Davis (1980)
Background information
Birth name James Newell Osterberg, Jr.
Born April 21 1947 (1947-04-21) (age 76)
Muskegon, Michigan, United States
Genre(s) Garage rock, glam rock, proto-punk, hard rock, punk rock, post-punk, shock rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, producer, actor
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums
Years active 1963 - present
Label(s) Virgin, RCA, A&M, Arista
Associated
acts
The Stooges
David Bowie
Website www.iggypop.com

James Newell Osterberg, Jr. (born April 21, 1947), better known by his stage name Iggy Pop, is an American rock singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. Although he has had only limited commercial success, Iggy Pop is considered one of the most important innovators of punk and related styles. He is sometimes referred to by the nicknames "the Godfather of Punk" and "the Rock Iguana",[1] and is widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers of rock. Pop began calling himself Iggy after his first band in high school, The Iguanas.[2] His direct influence extends to the present day: a Cadillac ad in rotation since February 2007 features his vocal performance on the song "Punkrocker", recorded in 2006 with the Swedish band Teddybears.[3]

Iggy Pop was the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s garage rock band who were influential in the development of the nascent heavy metal and punk rock genres. The Stooges became infamous for their live performances, during which it was not uncommon for Pop to consume narcotics, self-mutilate, verbally abuse the audience, expose himself and leap off the stage (thus being among the first to "stage dive"). Countless subsequent performers have imitated Pop's antics.

Pop has had varying degrees of success in the course of his subsequent solo career. His best-known solo songs include "Lust for Life", "I'm Bored", "Real Wild Child", the Top 40 hit "Candy" (with vocalist Kate Pierson of The B-52's)[2] and "The Passenger". A film about Iggy Pop's life and career titled The Passenger is currently in development.

Early life[]

Iggy Pop was born in Muskegon, Michigan to James Jewell Österberg, Sr., a former high school English teacher and baseball coach at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan, and Louella Christensen.[4] Osterberg was raised in a trailer park in Ypsilanti, Michigan.[5] He is of Irish and English descent on his father's side, and of Danish and Norwegian ancestry on his mother's. His father was adopted by a Swedish-American family, hence the family's surname (Osterberg).

Music career[]

Early days: 1960 to 1967[]

Iggy Pop began his music career as a drummer in different high school bands in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One band was the Iguanas, where he acquired the name Iggy. After exploring local blues-style bands such as the Prime Movers (with brothers Dan and Philip Erlewine), he eventually dropped out of the University of Michigan and moved to Chicago to learn more about blues. Inspired by Chicago blues as well as bands like The Sonics and The MC5, he formed the Psychedelic Stooges and began calling himself Iggy. The band was composed of Iggy on vocals, Ron Asheton on guitar, Asheton's brother Scott on drums, and Dave Alexander on bass. After almost two years they made their debut in Ann Arbor.

The Stooges era: 1968 to 1975[]

The seeds of Pop's stage persona were sown when Pop saw The Doors perform in 1967 at the University of Michigan. Pop was amazed by the stage antics and antagonism displayed by singer Jim Morrison.[5] Morrison's extreme behavior—while performing in a popular band—inspired the young Pop to push the boundaries of stage performance. Later, while inventing the stage-dive in Detroit,[5] rolling around in broken glass, exposing himself to the crowd, and vomiting on stage, among many other exploits, Iggy himself would inspire others.

One year after their live debut, and now dubbed the Stooges, in 1968 the band were signed to Elektra Records (again following in the footsteps of The Doors, who were Elektra's biggest act at the time). The Stooges' first two albums, The Stooges, (on which Iggy was credited, much to his chagrin, as "Iggy Stooge") produced by John Cale, and Fun House, sold poorly. Shortly after the new members joined, the group disbanded because of Pop's growing heroin addiction.

David Bowie helped to rejuvenate Iggy Pop's career by producing an album with him in England. With James Williamson signed on as guitarist, the search began for a rhythm section. However, since neither Pop nor Bowie was satisfied with any players in England, they decided to re-unite The Stooges. It would not be a true reunion, in that Dave Alexander would not play on the album. He had become a full-on alcoholic, unable to play on the record; he died in 1975. Also, Ron Asheton grudgingly moved from guitar to bass to make way for Williamson to play guitar. The recording sessions produced the punk rock landmark Raw Power, in 1973. After its release Scott Thurston was added to the band on keyboards/electric piano and Bowie continued his support, but Iggy's drug problem persisted. The Stooges' last show ended in a fight between the band and a group of bikers, documented on the album Metallic K.O.. Drug abuse put his career on hold for a couple of years.

Bowie and Berlin: 1976 to 1978[]

After the second breakup of the Stooges, Iggy Pop made some recordings with James Williamson, but these were not released until 1977 (as Kill City, credited jointly to Iggy Pop and Williamson). Iggy was unable to control his drug use and checked himself into a mental institution to try to clean up. Bowie was one of his few visitors there, and he continued to support his friend and collaborator. In 1976, Bowie took him along as his companion on the Station to Station tour. This was Iggy Pop's first exposure to large-scale professional touring and he was impressed, particularly with Bowie's work rate.

Bowie and Iggy Pop relocated to West Berlin to wean themselves off their addictions. Iggy Pop signed with RCA and Bowie helped write and produce The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977), Pop's two most acclaimed albums as a solo artist, the latter with another team of brothers, Hunt and Tony Sales. Among songs they wrote together were "China Girl", "Tonight", and "Sister Midnight", all of which Bowie performed on his own albums later on (the last being recorded with different lyrics as "Red Money" on the album Lodger). Bowie also played keyboards in Pop's live performances, some of which are featured on the album TV Eye (1978). In return, Pop contributed backing vocals on Bowie's Low.

The Arista albums: 1979 to 1981[]

Iggy Pop was unhappy with RCA. He later admitted that he had made TV Eye as a quick way of fulfilling his three-album RCA contract and moving on elsewhere. This was Arista Records, for which he released New Values in 1979. This album was something of a Stooges reunion, with James Williamson producing and latter-day Stooge Scott Thurston playing guitar and keyboards. Not surprisingly, the album's style veered back to the guitar sound of the Stooges. Although highly regarded by many Iggy fans -- some preferring it to the Bowie collaborations -- New Values was not a commercial success, despite some strong material including "I'm Bored" and "Five Foot One".

The album was moderately successful in Australia and New Zealand, however, and this led to Iggy Pop's first visit there to promote it. While in Melbourne, he made a memorable appearance on the ABC's nationwide pop show Countdown. During his anarchic performance of "I'm Bored", Pop made no attempt to conceal the fact that he was miming, and he even tried to grab the teenage girls in the audience. He was also interviewed by host Ian "Molly" Meldrum, an exchange which was frequently punctuated by the singer jumping up and down on his chair and making loud exclamations of "G'day mate" in a mock Australian accent. His Countdown appearance is generally considered one of the highlights of the show's history and it cemented his popularity with Australian punk fans; since then he has often toured there. While visiting New Zealand, Iggy Pop recorded a music video for "I'm Bored", featuring him outside and inside The Beehive, part of the country's Parliament buildings. This was widely aired on New Zealand television.

While in Australia Iggy Pop was also the guest on a live late-night commercial TV interview show on the Ten Network. It is not known whether a recording of this interview exists, but the famous Countdown appearance has often been re-screened in Australia.

During the recording of Soldier (1980), Iggy Pop and Williamson quarrelled over production - the latter apparently wanted a big, Phil Spector-type sound - and Williamson was fired. Bowie appeared on the song "Play it Safe" performing backing vocals with Simple Minds. The album and its follow-up Party (1981) were both commercial failures, and Iggy Pop was dropped from Arista. His drug habit varied in intensity, but remained.

The 1980s[]

In 1982, Iggy Pop released what would be his final album for some time, Zombie Birdhouse, on Chris Stein's Animal label, with Stein himself producing. Commercially, the album was no improvement on his Arista works.

In 1983, Iggy Pop's fortunes changed. David Bowie recorded a cover of the song "China Girl', which had originally appeared on The Idiot, on his blockbuster Let's Dance album. Bowie's version was a worldwide hit single and as co-writer of the song, Pop received substantial royalties. On Tonight in 1984, Bowie recorded two more of their songs, this time from the Lust for Life album, "Tonight" and "Neighborhood Threat". Pop was for the first time financially secure, at least for the short term. Bowie's intention was to help his friend get out of the clutches of the IRS. This enabled Pop to take a three-year break, during which he overcame his heroin addiction, took acting classes and got married.

In 1985, Pop recorded some demos with guitarist Steve Jones, previously of the Sex Pistols. He played these demos to David Bowie, who was sufficiently impressed to offer to produce an album for Pop: 1986's New Wave-influenced Blah Blah Blah, featuring the single "Real Wild Child", a cover of "Wild One (Real Wild Child)", originally made popular by Australian rock'n'roll pioneer Johnny O'Keefe in 1959. The single was a Top 10 hit in the UK and was also successful around the world, especially in Australia, where for the last twenty years it has been used as the theme music for the ABC's late-night music video show Rage. It remains Pop's solitary brush with major commercial success. Blah Blah Blah was Pop's highest-charting album in the U.S. since The Idiot in 1977, peaking at #75 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

Also in 1985, the movie Rock & Rule was released featuring performances by Iggy Pop and Lou Reed for the character Mok. Pop's song in the film was Pain & Suffering from the final sequence of the film.[6]

In 1987, Pop appeared (along with Bootsy Collins) on a mostly instrumental album, Neo Geo by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. The music video for "Risky", written and directed by Meiert Avis, won the first ever MTV "Breakthrough Video Award". The ground breaking video explores (Persian: فریدون اسفندیاری)'s, transhumanist philosopher FM-2030's ideas of "Nostalgia for the Future", in the form of an imagined love affair between a robot and one of Man Ray's models in Paris in the late 1930's. Additional inspiration was drawn from Jean Baudrillard, Edvard Munch's 1894 painting "Puberty", and Roland Barthes " Death of the Author". The surrealist black and white video uses stop motion, light painting, and other retro in-camera effects techniques. Meiert Avis shot Sakamoto while at work on the score for "The Last Emperor" in London. Sakamoto also also appears in the video painting words and messages to an open shutter camera. Iggy Pop, who performs the vocals on "Risky", chose not appear to in the video, allowing his performance space to be occupied by the surrealist era robot.

The follow-up to Blah Blah Blah, Instinct (1988), was a turnaround in musical direction. Its stripped-back, guitar-based sound leaned further towards the sound of the Stooges than any his solo albums to date. His record label, which had most likely been expecting another Blah Blah Blah, dropped him. Nevertheless, the King Biscuit radio show recording of the Instinct tour (featuring guitarist Andy McCoy and Alvin Gibbs on bass) reaching Boston on 19 July 1988 remains one of punk-rock's most enduring live albums.

The 1990s[]

In 1990 Pop recorded Brick by Brick, produced by Don Was, with members of Guns N' Roses and The B-52s as guests, as well as backup vocals by many local Hollywood groups, some of whom would be recruited for his band to tour and perform on his "Kiss My Blood" video (1991), directed by world-famous director Tim Pope and filmed at the Olympia in Paris. The album was his first Gold-certified album in the U.S. (denoting sales of over 500,000 copies) and featured his first Top 40 U.S. hit, "Candy", a duet with B-52s singer Kate Pierson. Note that the year of release is also contained in lyrics of this song ("It's rainy afternoon in 1990").

Also in 1990, Pop starred in the controversial opera The Manson Family by composer John Moran, released on Point Music/Phillip Classics, where he sang the role of prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. That year he was also involved in the Red Hot + Blue project, singing a version of Well Did You Evah! in a duet with Deborah Harry.

In 1991, Pop contributed the song "Why Was I Born (Freddy's Dead)" to the soundtrack of the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The song also plays over the end credits of the film, with a compilation of clips from the A Nightmare On Elm Street series running alongside the end credits.

In 1992, he collaborated with Goran Bregović on the soundtrack for the movie Arizona Dream by Emir Kusturica. Pop sang four of the songs: "In the Deathcar", "TV Screen", "Get the Money", and "This is a Film".

Also in 1992, he collaborated with the NYC band White Zombie. He recorded spoken word vocals on the intro and outro of the song "Black Sunshine" as well as playing the character of a writer in the video shot for the song. He is singled out for special thanks in the liner notes of the band's album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1.

In 1994, Iggy helped contribute with Buckethead on his album Giant Robot. One of which was "Buckethead's Toy Store", as well as on the track "Post Office Buddy".

In 1995, Pop again found mainstream fame when his 1977 song "Lust for Life" was featured prominently in the film Trainspotting. A new video was recorded for the song, with clips from the film and studio footage of Iggy dancing with one of its stars, Ewen Bremner; an Iggy Pop concert was an important plot point, as it dissolved the relationship between Tommy and Lizzie. The song has also been used in TV commercials for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (with many music critics denouncing the usage of the song to promote peppy cruises) and as the theme music to The Jim Rome Show, a nationally-syndicated American sports talk show.

Also in 1995, Pop released Naughty Little Doggie, with Whitey Kirst returning on guitar, and the single "I Wanna Live". He co-produced 1999's Avenue B with Don Was, releasing the single "Corruption", and produced 2001's Beat 'Em Up, which gave birth to The Trolls, releasing the single "Football" featuring Trolls alumni Whitey Kirst and brother Alex.

In 1997 he remixed Raw Power to give it a rougher, more hard-edged sound; fans had complained for years that Bowie's official 'rescue effort' mix was muddy and lacking in bass. Pop testified in the reissue's liner notes that on the new mix, "everything's still in the red."

In the early to middle 1990s Iggy Pop would make several guest appearances on the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete and Pete. He played James Mecklenberg, Nona Mecklenberg's father. He also appeared as a Vorta in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Magnificent Ferengi".

Recent career[]

Iggy Pop Memphis 2007

Iggy Pop at Beale Street Music Festival, Memphis in May 2007.

Pop supplied vocals for the 1999 Death in Vegas UK Top 10 hit single "Aisha". He also sang on the song "Rolodex Propaganda" by At the Drive-In in 2000.

Pop's 2003 album, Skull Ring, featured collaborations with Sum 41, Green Day, Peaches, and The Trolls, as well as the Asheton brothers, reuniting the two surviving founding members of Stooges for the first time since 1974. He made a guest appearance on electroclash artist Peaches's song "Kick It" as well as the video. Also in 2003, the first full-length biography of Iggy was published by Omnibus Press. Gimme Danger - The Story of Iggy Pop was written by Joe Ambrose. Pop did not collaborate on the biography or publicly endorse it.

Having enjoyed working with Ron and Scott Asheton on Skull Ring, Pop reformed the Stooges with bassist Mike Watt (formerly of the Minutemen) filling in for Dave Alexander, and Fun House saxophonist Steve MacKay rejoining the lineup. They have been touring regularly since 2004. The same year, Pop opened Madonna's Reinvention World Tour in Dublin.

In 2005 Pop appeared, along with Madonna, Little Richard, Bootsy Collins, and The Roots' ?uestlove, in an American TV commercial for the Motorola ROKR phone.

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop at the Azkena Rock Festival[7]

In early 2006, Iggy and the Stooges played in Australia and New Zealand for the Big Day Out. They also began work on a new album, The Weirdness, which was recorded by Steve Albini and released in March 2007. In August 2006 Iggy and the Stooges performed at the Lowlands pop festival in the Netherlands, Hodokvas in Slovakia and in the Sziget festival in Budapest.

Author Paul Trynka completed a biography of Iggy Pop (with his blessing) called Open Up and Bleed, published in early 2007.

More recently, Iggy and the Stooges played at Bam Margera's wedding and Pop can be heard on the single "Punkrocker" with the Teddybears in a Cadillac television commercial. Pop is also the voice of Lil' Rummy on the Comedy Central cartoon Lil' Bush and confirmed that he has done voices for American Dad and Grand Theft Auto IV.[8]

Iggy and The Stooges played the Glastonbury Festival in June 2007, which led to Wellington Boot wearing crowd-surfers and a good-natured riot as Pop encouraged muddy festival goers to invade the stage. Their set included material from the 2007 album The Weirdness and classics such as "No Fun" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog".

Pop also caused controversy in June 2007 when he was interviewed on the BBC's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival. He used the phrase "paki shop", prompting three complaints and an apology from the BBC.[9]

Pop is also appearing on Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness), the new album by the Bill Laswell-helmed group Praxis, which was released on January 1, 2008.[1] (in Japanese)

Film career[]

Pop has had a limited career as an actor. He has appeared in sixteen movies (mostly in smaller roles), including Sid and Nancy, The Color of Money, Hardware (voice only), The Crow: City of Angels, The Rugrats Movie, Snow Day, Coffee and Cigarettes (opposite Tom Waits, in the third segment of the film, entitled "Somewhere in California"), Cry-Baby, Dead Man, Tank Girl and Atolladero, a Spanish science fiction Western in which he also sings the main theme.

He has been featured in five television series, including Tales from the Crypt, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in which he played Yelgrun in "The Magnificent Ferengi" episode. With The Stooges, he was also featured in an episode of MTV's Bam's Unholy Union as the main band performing at Bam's wedding. Additionally, a portion of the music video for Iggy's "Butt Town" was featured on an episode of Beavis and Butthead.

Pop has been profiled in four rockumentaries and has had songs on eighteen soundtracks, including Crocodile Dundee 2, Trainspotting, Pretty Woman, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Haggard and the main theme tune of Repo Man.

In the movie Velvet Goldmine, Ewan McGregor portrays Curt Wilde, a character based on Iggy Pop, and also performs Pop's song TV Eye.

Pop will provide the voice for a character in the English language version of the 2007 animated film Persepolis.

In 2008, Iggy's music will be featured in a movie adaption of Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.

Iggy Pop also had a minor role in the 2000 nickelodeon movie, Snow Day

Future biopic[]

The Passenger is an upcoming movie biopic about Pop's early career with the Stooges. The film will be directed by Nick Gomez. It will start shooting within the next six months and is expected in theatres sometime during the summer of 2008. The movie's budget is in the $6 million to $8 million range. Elijah Wood will play Pop.[10][11]

Wood revealed during an interview that he is "scared to death" of doing it, because he is a huge fan of Pop and he doesn't want to be the "person responsible for screwing that up." He also said the movie will chronicle The Stooges era, for the most part.[12]

Pop liked the script but refused to take a part in the film, He said:

The script ain't chopped liver... It was a work of art. But subjectively, I don't want to be involved in any way. A producer and the writer sent me a very decent letter, and asked me to write back if I didn't want them to do it... I don't feel negative about it at all

Pop also said that Wood seems like a very poised and talented actor.[13]

Classical scholarship[]

Pop is one of the few famous popular musicians to have published in an established journal of Classical scholarship: his article "Caesar Lives"[2] in the second Volume of Classics Ireland (1995) considers the applicability of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to the modern world. In the article, Pop further relates how reading Gibbon while on tour in the Southern United States inspired him to a spontaneous soliloquy he called "Caesar".

Influence[]

Pop earned a place in punk rock history by popularizing many of the stage routines that are now commonplace among musicians: he was among the first to stage dive and "crowd walk". Moreover, early in his career, he was known to cut himself on stage. Although Pop has never recorded a Top 10 album or best-selling single, his impact on rock music is widely acknowledged.

The song "Punk Rock" on the album Come on Die Young by Mogwai pays tribute to Iggy Pop, as it samples a speech that Pop gave on punk rock from an interview on the CBC on March 11, 1977. During that interview, Peter Gzowski asked Iggy to clarify music labeled as "punk rock." Pop, dubbed "the Godfather of Punk", sat upright in his chair and defended the use of "punk", ending his speech (or tirade) in indignant repose.

I'll tell you about punk rock: punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and, uh... and, uh... heartless manipulators, about music... that takes up the energies, and the bodies, and the hearts and the souls and the time and the minds, of young men, who give what they have to it, and give everything they have to it. And it's a... it's a term that's based on contempt; it's a term that's based on fashion, style, elitism, satanism, and, everything that's rotten about rock 'n' roll.
I don't know Johnny Rotten... but I'm sure, I'm sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did. You see, what, what sounds to you like a big load of trashy old noise... is in fact... the brilliant music of a genius... myself. And that music is so powerful, that it's quite beyond my control. And, ah... when I'm in the grips of it, I don't feel pleasure and I don't feel pain, either physically or emotionally. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Have you ever, have you ever felt like that? When you just, when you just, you couldn't feel anything, and you didn't want to either. You know, like that? Do you understand what I'm saying, sir?

Pop's solo album The Idiot has been cited as a major influence on post-punk, electronic and industrial artists such as Joy Division and Nine Inch Nails. David Bowie's "The Jean Genie" is about an Iggy Pop like character. Mark E. Smith, Henry Rollins, Nick Cave and Jack White have all been quoted as saying that the Stooges' Fun House LP was "the greatest rock record ever made". Cave and The Birthday Party once did a 45-minute set of only Stooges songs back in the early 1980s under the name of 'The Cave Men'. One of the most popular bands of former Yugoslavia, Azra, recorded a song entitled "Iggy Pop" on their first album, released in 1980. UK punk rock bands the She Devils and Die Pretty released a split single called "Dance Like Iggy/Summertime" in 1999.

R.E.M. referenced Iggy Pop in the song, " I Took Your Name". The Red Hot Chili Peppers referenced Iggy Pop in the song, "Coffee Shop". Kurt Cobain many times declared himself a fan of The Stooges and mentioned them frequently in his Journals as an influence, naming Raw Power his favorite album.

Covers[]

"I Wanna Be Your Dog" was covered by the Swans on their Children of God/World of Skin compilation, by Sonic Youth on their LP Confusion is Sex, by Thai/UK electro-punk band Futon as their debut single, by French electronica artist Emilie Simon, by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on the LP Up Your Alley, and by Swedish rock band bob hund. It also appears on the greatest hits collection 89/93: An Anthology of alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. The song has been a raucous encore mainstay of Texas roots rock artist Alejandro Escovedo (formerly of The Nuns, Rank and File, and True Believers ) and was finally put to "vinyl" on More Miles Than Money: Live 1994-1996. The song was a favorite in early live performances of the Japanese rock band Zelda. A parody/tribute version titled "I'm Gonna Be Your God" was recorded by Slayer and released on their punk covers album Undisputed Attitude in May 1996. Hundreds of other versions exist.

"Search and Destroy" has been recorded almost as many times as "I Wanna Be Your Dog". It was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers – it appeared as a B-side of "By the Way" and "Give it Away" as well as on the compilation The Beavis and Butthead Experience album – and by the band Emanuel for the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland soundtrack. Moreover, he is referenced in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Coffee Shop" from their 1996 album One Hot Minute. Nike used "Search and Destroy" in its 1996 Olympics promotion. The song is also featured in the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It is also used in the video game Guitar Hero II, allowing players to play the guitar and bass parts of the song.

The song "Raw Power" was covered by Daucus Karota and Guns N' Roses for "The Spaghetti Incident?" album.

Poison Idea covered the song "I Got A Right" on their 1984 mini album Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes. Nada Surf also covered this song on the We Will Fall Iggy Pop tribute album. The Adolescents also covered the song on their 1986 album Brats in Battalions.

Rage Against the Machine covered "Down on the Street" on their last album Renegades, which was a cover album.

David Bowie has rerecorded three tracks he co-wrote with Pop: "China Girl" for the album Let's Dance, and "Tonight" and "Neighbourhood Threat" on Tonight. Bowie also covered "Don't Look Down" on Tonight and "Bang Bang" on Never Let Me Down. He has also performed "Sister Midnight" many times in concert.

"The Passenger" was covered by Siouxsie & the Banshees on their album Through the Looking Glass, Bauhaus on their DVD Gotham, and INXS's Michael Hutchence on the Batman Forever soundtrack. The influential Riot Grrl band Lunachicks also recorded a version of the song. It was covered in Portuguese ("O Passageiro") by the Brazilian pop rock band Capital Inicial.

Blake Babies covered "Loose" on their 1989 album, earwig.

The song "1969" was covered by goth rock band The Sisters of Mercy (included on their singles collection Some Girls Wander by Mistake), by Mission of Burma on their posthumous live album The Horrible Truth About Burma, and by Joey Ramone on his solo album Don't Worry About Me.

"1970" and was covered by The Damned on their debut album Damned, Damned, Damned, by Charged GBH on their City Baby's Revenge album, and by Hanoi Rocks on their All Those Wasted Years live album. All three instances were released under the song's alternate title of "I Feel Alright". The band Monster Magnet also recorded a cover of "1970" and often add the song to their live set.

The song "No Fun" has been covered by The Black Keys on The Moan EP, by Some Girls on All My Friends Are Going Death, by The Orb on The Peel Sessions Volume 2 and by The Sex Pistols.

The song "Funtime", co-written with Bowie, was covered and released as a single in 1995 by Boy George, reaching the UK top 50. It is included on his album Cheapness and Beauty. The track was also sung live around 1980 by Blondie. It was also covered by Peter Murphy on the album Love Hysteria.

The song "Dirt" was covered by Depeche Mode and appeared as a B-side on their single "I Feel Loved" (2001). Martin Gore, Depeche Mode's songwriter, covered "Tiny Girls", the song co-written with David Bowie, for his 2003 solo album Counterfeit2. "Dirt" was also covered by Chicago punkrock band Screeching Weasel on their 2000 compilation Thank You Very Little.

The song "Ordinary Bummer" was covered by Blondie under the pseudonym Adolph's Dog.

"Funhouse" was covered by Nick Cave's first band, The Birthday Party, with Jim Thirlwell of the band Foetus guesting on saxophone. This song appears on Live 1981-82, which was not released as a CD until 1999.

The Birthday Party also cover the Stooges' "Loose" on the 2001 CD release of the complete The Birthday Party appearances on The Peel Sessions.

The dirge-like "We Will Fall", from the Stooge's first album, was covered by Sky Cries Mary on their 1993 album A Return to the Inner Experience.

UK Punk band the Bleach Boys (http://www.thebleachboys.co.uk), continue to regularly cover "Down on the Street" which appears on the Stooges "Fun House" album.

Discography[]

Albums[]

With The Stooges[]

  • 1969 - The Stooges
  • 1970 - Fun House
  • 1973 - Raw Power
  • 1977 - Metallic K.O. (live)
  • 1995 - Open Up and Bleed (live)
  • 2007 - The Weirdness

With James Williamson[]

  • 1977 - Kill City

Solo[]

Studio[]
  • 1977 - The Idiot
  • 1977 - Lust for Life
  • 1979 - New Values
  • 1980 - Soldier
  • 1981 - Party
  • 1982 - Zombie Birdhouse
  • 1986 - Blah Blah Blah
  • 1988 - Instinct
  • 1990 - Brick by Brick
  • 1993 - American Caesar
  • 1996 - Naughty Little Doggie
  • 1999 - Avenue B
  • 2001 - Beat 'Em Up
  • 2003 - Skull Ring
Live[]
  • 1978 - TV Eye Live 1977
  • 1994 - Berlin 91
  • 1996 - Best Of...Live
Compilations[]
  • 1996 - Pop Music
  • 1996 - Nude & Rude: The Best of Iggy Pop
  • 2005 - A Million in Prizes: The Anthology

Notes[]

References[]

  • Trynka, Paul (2007). Iggy Pop: Open up and Bleed. London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 1847440193. 
  • Logan, Nick; Woffinden, Bob (1977). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock (First Edition). New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0517528525. 

External links[]

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