IGGY
Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg, Jr.; April 21, 1947) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor. Osterberg became known as “Iggy” in high school, when he served as drummer for a local blues band, The Iguanas. He is vocalist of influential protopunk band The Stooges, who reunited in 2003, and has been known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics. Many of Pop’s songs have become well-known, including “Lust for Life”, “The Passenger”, “Real Wild Child”, “Candy” (a duet with Kate Pierson of The B-52’s), “China Girl”, “Nightclubbing”, “Search and Destroy”, and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. (More from Wikipedia)
As I have written about previously, the first LP released by Bomp! Records was Kill City, representing music that Iggy Pop and James Williamson put together right after the Stooges broke up. As Greg Shaw tells the story in the liner notes for the double-CD compilation album, Destination: Bomp! in the entry for the Stooges song “I Got a Right”: “In 1976-77, Bomp was about the only established label in America that was actively pushing the new music. For a brief time, I could have had virtually any band that I wanted. It couldn’t last of course, but while it did, it was a real rush.
“But I never dreamed I could have the Stooges, until James Williamson showed up one day with a tale of woe: Iggy, fighting to kick drugs, had finished most of a great new album, but his rep was so bad no label would touch him. Even Sire [Records] had passed on Kill City. Was I interested?
“Even though I had to almost sell my soul to raise the needed cash, I wasn’t about to let this deal pass. To this day, Kill City is the single most important item in the Bomp catalog; but what made it extra nice is that James also threw in a big box of unlabeled tapes that turned out to be mostly demos and rehearsals from the Raw Power days onward – hours and hours of stuff that became the foundation for my long-term Iguana Chronicles project of documenting the unreleased side of this incredible band.”
* * *
The Wikipedia article notes some of the critical reaction to Kill City: “Nick Kent of New Musical Express called it ‘a great album’. Mark Deming of Allmusic called the album ‘a minor triumph’, writing: ‘The music is more open and bluesy than on Raw Power, and while [James] Williamson’s guitar remains thick and powerful, here he’s willing to make room for pianos, acoustic guitars and saxophones; and the dynamics of the arrangements suggest a more mature approach after the claustrophobia of Raw Power.’ Martin Aston of BBC Music praised the album, calling it ‘Iggy’s most underrated album’ and one that ‘helped him get back to real life’. The Wire placed Kill City in their list of ‘100 Records that Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)’.”
* * *
In the liner notes for Destination: Bomp!, Greg Shaw says: “‘I Got a Right’ . . . remains one of Ig’s best songs ever, and one he still performs regularly.” Both “I Got a Right” and “Gimme Some Skin” are included on The Best of Bomp, Volume One (as is the flip side of the first Bomp single, “Him or Me” by the Flamin’ Groovies); that’s where I first heard them.
* * *
In a long essay in the booklet for Rough Power that includes an interview with guitarist/bassist Ron Asheton, Frank Meyer says of David Bowie’s involvement: “Finally . . . Iggy brought the tapes to [David] Bowie in L.A. for remixing and mastering. Bowie’s mix turned out to be very different than the original Stooges mix. He buried the drums and bass, took out backup vocals, percussion and keyboard parts, and brought the lead guitar up in the mix. While the band was not happy with it, CBS [Records] was thrilled that [Raw Power] was produced by Ziggy Stardust himself, and felt it would boost sales. Although Bowie’s mix stands the test of time and, in fact, adds to the overall originality of the album, it’s very interesting to hear some of the Stooges’ original attempts.”
* * *
If I had to pick out my favorite song on Wild Love, it would be “Pin Point Eyes”; the couplet “She looked into my pin point eyes / and she cried” is hard to top in the Stooges oeuvre. It sure would have been nice to hear this one on Open Up and Bleed!, but maybe it was just too unfinished. Greg Shaw speaks of this song in the liner notes: “Never before released in the U.S., ‘Pin Point Eyes’ might well have evolved out of a jam on ‘St. James Infirmary’, until Iggy grafted his own graphic addiction story over it. Some great crazed piano on this one from Bob Sheff. Gotta love the lazy mood in which Iggy starts off urging them all to join in, then to take their solo parts. It’s almost the kind of party that Dylan threw on ‘Rainy Day Women’, set in perhaps-ironic contrast to the really harrowing story he’s telling. (Did he really say he traded his girl for a bag of snow?).”
(December 2017)
* * *
Items: Iggy
