Iggy Pop

With his outrageous and sometimes dangerous stage antics and the relentless rock & roll that accompanied them, Iggy Pop prefigured both Seventies punk and Nineties grunge. Acting as an eternal misfit and a saboteur of all convention, Iggy has parlayed twisted social commentary, raw-power vocal style, and survival smarts into a long career characterized by some commercial success, sizable critical notice, and huge amounts from of respect all over the pop landscape.

Iggy Pop Muskegon au bord du lac Michigan n’est pas particulièrement réputé pour abriter des reptiles… C’est pourtant là que le 21 avril 1947 un iguane pas comme les autres voit le jour. Un iguane ou plutôt l’Iguane ! Le seul et unique Iggy Pop, né James Osterberg. Considéré comme le Parrain du punk rock, il est l’une des plus fascinantes figures de la culture pop américaine. Un animal sauvage qui secouera la planète rock à l’aube des années 70 aux commandes de ses Stooges dont les trois premiers albums – The Stooges, Fun House et Raw Power – composent une vraie sainte trinité. Un Nijinski habité et révolté qui poursuivra en solitaire (aidé par un certain David Bowie) ses contorsions électriques et deviendra une sorte d’icone

Iggy Pop's various musical style changes throughout his career are detailed in this collection of rare and unreleased tracks. The awesome power of the Stooges is on display as well as Iggy Pop's now dated experiments in new wave. Riddled with cover tunes, the album does not betray Iggy Pop's roots in garage rock.

Spanning the punk and garage rock globe–from snot-nosed trailer-park kid fronting the legendary Stooges to universal pop culture icon and influential granddaddy of punk–the career of Iggy Pop has reached its fifth decade, and this remastered 38-track, chronologically sequenced set has been christened to hold us over while we wait for the definitive box set.

Nope, didn't think this would be much, either. A chairbound-acoustic Ig means missing the singular spectacle of him slithering about a stage like a spastic snake eating a runaway garden hose. But our Mr. Pop is, like Robert Pollard, an aggressive guitarist you rarely see playing an instrument (not even his ‘60s Iguanas gig, drums), so this is already interesting. On the DVD, he manhandles the thing in much the way he sings: full-out on hard stuff, and with dexterity on lighter tunes. No surprise he breaks strings near the onset of the eight-song acoustic troubadour Barcelona 1993 footage, including firm versions of Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso," Them's "Gloria," and Richard Berry's "Louis Louie" updated for the fall of the wall. There's also two Stooges tracks (and a few OK new American Caesar numbers–where was "Wild America?"). It's surprisingly good viewing, despite the immobile limitation. But truly compelling is the seven-song solo-electric 1990 Virgin Megastore appearance in Paris. Clearly feeding on a surrounding crowd, standing/moving, and tripling his guitar volume/density, the Ig lets 20 times more of his mayhem genie out of the bottle (and nearly his pants–showing the adoring French his underwear-clad butt). If he doesn't quite transform tepid Brick By Brick numbers, they're still better. And as for the four Stooges numbers like "Down in the Street" and "Loose," well… classic! Finally, the disc-two CD of demos is, frankly, boring. But the DVD is great for fans to view another side of a living legend.

Nope, didn't think this would be much, either. A chairbound-acoustic Ig means missing the singular spectacle of him slithering about a stage like a spastic snake eating a runaway garden hose. But our Mr. Pop is, like Robert Pollard, an aggressive guitarist you rarely see playing an instrument (not even his ‘60s Iguanas gig, drums), so this is already interesting. On the DVD, he manhandles the thing in much the way he sings: full-out on hard stuff, and with dexterity on lighter tunes. No surprise he breaks strings near the onset of the eight-song acoustic troubadour Barcelona 1993 footage, including firm versions of Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso," Them's "Gloria," and Richard Berry's "Louis Louie" updated for the fall of the wall. There's also two Stooges tracks (and a few OK new American Caesar numbers–where was "Wild America?"). It's surprisingly good viewing, despite the immobile limitation. But truly compelling is the seven-song solo-electric 1990 Virgin Megastore appearance in Paris. Clearly feeding on a surrounding crowd, standing/moving, and tripling his guitar volume/density, the Ig lets 20 times more of his mayhem genie out of the bottle (and nearly his pants–showing the adoring French his underwear-clad butt). If he doesn't quite transform tepid Brick By Brick numbers, they're still better. And as for the four Stooges numbers like "Down in the Street" and "Loose," well… classic! Finally, the disc-two CD of demos is, frankly, boring. But the DVD is great for fans to view another side of a living legend.

Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll, the Stooges sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances, which often involved acts of self-mutilation by Pop. He had a long collaborative and personal friendship with David Bowie over the course of his career, beginning with the Stooges' album Raw Power in 1973. With both musicians having relocated to West Berlin to wean themselves off their respective drug addictions, Pop began his solo career by collaborating with Bowie on the 1977 albums The Idiot and Lust for Life with Pop usually contributing the lyrics. Throughout his career, Pop is well known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics, poetic lyrics and distinctive voice. He was one of the first performers to do a stage-dive and popularized the activity. Pop, who traditionally (but not exclusively) performs bare-chested, also performed such stage theatrics as rolling around in broken glass and exposing himself to the crowd.

In 2023, I'm guessing at the age of 75, ageless icon Iggy Pop blazed across the Montreux Jazz Festival stage. And sure, if you're expecting him to deliver an intimate, jazzy set heavy on his more eclectic albums (Apres, Preliminaires, Avenue B), you're gonna leave with a headache and perhaps some bruises if you were close to the stage.

In 2023, I'm guessing at the age of 75, ageless icon Iggy Pop blazed across the Montreux Jazz Festival stage. And sure, if you're expecting him to deliver an intimate, jazzy set heavy on his more eclectic albums (Apres, Preliminaires, Avenue B), you're gonna leave with a headache and perhaps some bruises if you were close to the stage.