Basking In The Summer Of Pop
Reassessing Iggy Pop's early and more recent years
By Andrew Lau

Earlier this year at his home in Miami, Iggy Pop (formerly Jim Osterberg of Ann Arbor, Michigan), collected the CD versions of every record he has released in the last thirty-six years.

“I took them around the house,” he told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross a few months ago “and arranged them in one big pile, like an apartment building [laughs] and then I laid them all out next to each other in different formations on the rug. Then I tried two or three piles; you can make pyramids [laughs]. You can do all these different things and there they are, ‘Look at all those CD’s’. [But] a little voice kept saying: ‘So shut-up now for a while. Look at all this stuff, just shut-up, give it a break.’ Although I’ve been writing with my first band, The Stooges, and we’ve got a bunch of stuff…maybe I can manage to record and then shut-up.”

Keeping quiet has never come easy for Iggy Pop, and when you start out life in the Music Business as leader of The Stooges, you know you’re in for an interesting career. Despite his long running solo output, some people would argue that the band remains his greatest achievement. Maybe, maybe not. Either way they were without question one of the best rock bands of our time. Obviously, the folks at Rhino Records agree and they’ve re-released the band’s first two albums with the usual Rhino flair.

These are magical records from start to finish and behind Iggy were the only three people on Earth willing to travel down the same destructive path: the Ashton brothers (Ron the guitarist, Scott the drummer) and Dave Alexander. An ugly crew of would-be losers that would somehow save the genre from itself.

Their first self-titled album from 1969 is the high-water mark in garage rock, maybe even the last word. Basic catchy songs, no frills production a few well-placed handclaps, sleigh bells here, a one note piano additive there and dumb-ed down lyrics. This record is a tumbler and sets up perfectly what they have in store next.

There are very few albums that match the intensity, drive and, above all, honesty of their second record, Fun House. Relentless songs that become progressively more uncompromising; each one is a step closer to the chaos the ends the LP. Iggy’s voice is in shreds by the fifth song just as Steven Mackay walked into the studio with his tenor sax and squonks along adding to the bubbling mayhem. Seven songs, thirty-six minutes. What a glorious mess.

Even though the critics flinched and hardly anyone was truckin’ on down to their local shop to score their records, no one could touch the Stooges. Not even themselves. Soon it was over for this classic line-up of the band. The returned from L.A. to their hometown of Ann Arbor to find mass unemployment gutting their city and hard drugs corkscrewing into their neighbors and then some of the band members themselves. Oh, and a local motorcycle gang was looking for the band after a questionable narcotic transaction. The city counsel, too, was inquiring to their whereabouts following an incident involving Scott Asheton, their fourteen-foot equipment truck and a twelve-foot bridge. Around the same time the IRS was sniffing around but quickly backed off when they realized the futility in trying to squeeze money from these boys. Interesting times, interesting music.

As usual, Rhino doesn’t miss a trick here heaping on an extra CD’s worth of bonus material of outtakes, demos plus some classy photos and liner notes. But then, what would you expect from the label that, a few years ago, brought forth a 7 CD, seven hour and fifty-two minute box set of every note recorded during the Fun House sessions: a mind numbing chuck of rock geek Valhalla. The folks at Rhino do not fool around.

Apparently, the people at the Easy Action label don’t either. They’ve jumped headlong into Stoogemania, by releasing a five-disc set called Heavy Liquid. Encapsulating a year and a half the band’s second line-up we get fly-on-the-wall recordings of rehearsals (twelve versions of “I Got A Right” anyone?), studio sessions (all for their third and last record, Raw Power) and three shows: Max’s Kansas City, July 1973; Whiskey A-Go-Go, October 1973 and Bimbo’s, January 1974. Some of this material has seen the light of day via bootlegs and Easy Action wasn’t able to fix the muddy sound of the live recordings (the Whiskey show in particular is almost comically horrendous) but they do get credit for having the nerve to pull it off. The packaging and artwork is amazing, two booklets, one of Mick Rock photos and the other chalk full of notes and press clippings. Serious archeology. Although Heavy Liquid is a hit and miss collection, it may be extremely difficult for the Stooges enthusiast to ignore this one. For the serious fans only.

But enough already, the Stooges are getting pushed into overkill territory and, besides, there is much more to Iggy’s story. EMI/Virgin’s A Million In Prizes, a two CD set overview of his career, is the perfect place for the curious or non-obsessive.

The first CD is easy, a no brainer. After stomping through a few Stooges tracks, you get to feast on some Raw Power outtakes that have only surfaced over the years on smaller, indie labels like Greg Shaw’s marvelous BOMP! label. Then it’s off to Germany with David Bowie where the two would each write amazing, career salvaging music. Iggy’s The Idiot and Lust For Life (both released in 1977) are thickly represented here for your perusal.

The second CD of the set is a little trickier thanks in part to the 1980’s, a decade that rearranged the careers of every veteran performer. One of the byproducts of the punk esthetic that Iggy helped create was a sarcastic press and fan base and it turned on him. Some were completely unwilling to indulge him on his new musical whims. But that kind of close-mindedness was years ago, right? Sadly, no. In his review of AMIP for a recent issue of Rolling Stone, contributing editor Rob Sheffield scoffs at the inclusion of this second CD, referring to the post-Lust For Life Iggy as a “burnout joke” and dismissing this material as “embarrassing”. That’s twenty-five years of work the veteran writer is choosing to ignore…what an asshole.

In a ten-year span, Iggy would see out two major label deals (Arista, 1979-1982; A&M 1983-1988) before finding his currant home at EMI/Virgin in 1990. There is a lot of material to pull through and EMI decides to cherry pick one or two songs form each record, which may be the only way to do this when limited with a two CD set. For the most part, Iggy was trying to make music that was less visceral and more polished; arrangements were pulled in, tightened and less arty than the Idiot-era songs. Fortunately (or unfortunately), words like “polished” and “commercial friendly” are difficult for our boy to grasp but he gave it his all, anyway.

In hindsight, these songs come off as progressive experiments; some work, others don’t and AMIP let’s you decide for yourself. Highlights include “I’m Bored” from 1979’s New Values (a great LP on it’s own); “Run Like A Villain” from the 1982 down ‘n out whirlwind that is Zombie Birdhouse (a record Iggy himself rates up there with Fun House) and “Wild American” from 1993’s American Caesar and his beat poet vs. lounge act collaboration with Medeski, Martin & Wood, “I Felt The Luxury.”

Instead of continuing with his habit of mix and matching studio musicians, Iggy gained momentum in the mid-1990’s by keeping a regular band, The Trolls, to tour and record. As a result, he made released some of his most rugged songs in years that were, of course, immediately written off. The one picked from this era, “Mask” (from 2001’s Beat ‘Em Up) contains one of the best rants ever.

What better way to close out the compilation than with one of the newly reunited Stooges songs, “Skull Ring”; same gritty band pumping out the same gritty noise. He sums everyone’s career but his own with the chant: “Skull rings! Fast Cars! Hot Chicks! Money!” Full circle. Had time passed at all?

For someone not known for looking backward, the former James Osterberg has developed a fondness for his career as a whole. As Iggy explained in that interview with Terry Gross, “In some sense you sort of look at [your work] and say: ‘Hey, cool, I managed to make you and get you out and I managed to get you back in print and somebody’s checkin’ you out.’ They’re like little friends, ya know? They really are, all the songs.”

Far from being a burnout joke, Iggy Pop remains one of the most interesting singers in Rock. The songs on these re-issues contain equal parts antagonism, cynicism, joy and hope. Nothing changes except for his angle and plan of attack. On stage he is a spazzy, unattended child looking for attention, throwing tantrums and pulling faces. But he’s also a golden, serious musician brimming with sincerity, stomping the floorboards and jumping into audiences. The guy is fifty-eight years old now and has yet to seriously hurt himself on stage. There may come a day, however and these reissues stand as a testimonial to the impact of his work and keep us form taking him for granted. My favorite part about Iggy Pop, though? No tattoos.