"I think I helped wipe out the sixties" - Iggy Pop
From Iggy Pop's most melodious and soft period, the Blah-blah-blah album in the mid-nineties. He had decided, he said an interview, that it sucked being an underground idol but not earning any money, so his primary goal with this album was there "not being any obvious reasons it couldn't be played on radio. Radio neglect has hurt me more than anything in the past."
I think he succeeded, it's a very good pop-rock album, probably helped along a lot by David Bowie pitching in on compositions, as he did on two others of Iggy's best, The Idiot and Lust For Life in the seventies.
Very interesting interviews of both guys here:
Iggy said later that he didn't feel that further collaborations with Bowie would be a good idea, though he didn't explain why. I suspect that such explosive collaborations are very emotionally draining.
Oh, he's done good work without Bowie, a lot of it. But then some of his late albums, like Skull Ring and Beat Them Up, sucked dry cum from a dead hell hound.
Another good tune from Blah blah blah:
A pretty good live version I just now found:
It's interesting that a song like Fire Girl and one like Search and Destroy (Heart Full Of Napalm) can come from the same throat. Either vocally and emotionally/artistically. They just seem so incompatible. Although I'm one of those who like both.
7 comments:
'Fire Girl' was really good. That last vid was difficult to watch. :-(
It's interesting how similar they sound. I don't know much of either of their work but, when you put them together like this, it's pretty interesting to hear the similarities in their voices.
Pretty nice of Bowie to help Iggy out so much.
Funny: all the hairstyles of Iggy and...the name of his album. :-)
Yes, he has a strong underlying sense of humor.
The last vid was harsh, yes. I think it was a fan-made one, with visuals from Apocalypse Now.
I was wondering what movie that was (I didn't spend any time lookin' around on the vid). Thought I saw Matt Damon for a sec! Don't think I missed much not seeing that movie! :-/
It was powerful, but grim.
Matt Damon wouldn't have been born yet, maybe, the young guy looking like Charlie Sheen is his father Martin Sheen.
Yeah I saw him in the credits so wondered if it was him. I just didn't know what film it was (or if it was clips from various films) at first. :-) Thanks.
Yeah, Search and Destroy is like my all-time favorite song. But for some goofy reason, I've never gotten around to getting Blah Blah Blah.
I've never heard Iggy give a straight answer on why he won't collaborate with Bowie again, but I think it's cause he gets tired of being associated with him all the time. A bit of an ego thing going on there probably.
It's my theory that there has to be a strong ego ("self") behind any strong performance in any field, and there will always sooner or later come conflicts with other strong selves.
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