Is Iggy Pop overrated?

The problem isn't Iggy or any other musician. The problem is that music fans (and most critics) have lost the ability to convey modulated approval or disapproval. It's hyperbole or bile, no middle ground. It's as though saying, "Yeah, that was pretty good" marks you as some kind of pussy.

Lust For Life
TV Eye
New Values
Zombie Birdhouse
Instinct
American Caesar

I remember seeing Iggy on Letterman in '88 or thereabouts promoting Instinct - not knowing all that much about him - and thinking he was this crazy wildman. He did the interview with his shirt off, and was all twitchy and scatterbrained like he was on blow, and he just seemed incredibly cool.

He's very good at presenting himself.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0008/smith.php

Myself, I have no use for these:

Zombie Birdhouse
Instinct
American Caesar

But I did always kinda like *Soldier* (especially "Dogfood.") I haven't heard TV Eye (or Kill City, for that matter) (or hell, Lust for Life or The Idiot even!) for so long that I forget whether they were actually any good or not. *New Values* is GREAT, however.

You Creed fan!

He does have some very dodgy recent tunes though. By recent i mean the last 10 to 15 years.

I'd say that in my opinion the initial solo albums are pretty darn overratted. Although it's overlong, American Ceaser is a great songwriter-showcase album. And Avenue B ain't that bad either...

My mom says that Iggy really is great live. Makes me want to see him live. I'm sure he's great. But doesn't he get tired?

That's a giant stack of crap.

But does Iggy play any instrument?

He occaisionally plays guitar. But to suggest that Ig's nothing more than a "performer" is doing the man a disservice. Not that I reccomend anyone buy it, but if you listen to the Complete Funhouse Sessions boxset, you'll find that Ig is entirely plugged into the creative process, and not just some hooting mountain gorilla they throw onstage.

Duh Iggy is more talented than ol' Kurt.

It's SO much more than that, gurl.

I've heard more inspired sounds come from the depths of my toilet than "In Bloom".
-- Alex in NYC (vassife...)

Go home, dad, you're drunk. ;)

So Alex, why did you shove your head into your toilet agian?

And his post-bowie albums are shite because???

He is in exactly the same league as Morrissey, great singer, great editor, but like Moz he needs a Marr to bounce ideas off of.

was looking for a Iggy- soldier thread. it's a pretty good album with a few killer tunes. i love the way he says "grriiiinnnd" in "i need more".
i actually spent almost a week hanging out with him ~1985. he's really one of the nicest people and a voracious reader - always carried a few books, even when he's just going to lunch.
i had a Stooges cassette a friend had laid on me and we started listening and he was all:"i always wish i could rerecord those songs". it seemed like he hadn't listened to that stuff in a long long time

In answer to the first question: yes, very. But I've managed to avoid hearing much of his music too, so it's not impossible I could change my mind.

I probably just don't like rock music.

they did a thing on him on npr's series on "great voices" where he said that sinatra's control over an audience is what inspired him to be a showman

that was fascinating

SHOUT! FACTORY TO RELEASE NEW
IGGY POP COMPILATION
ROADKILL RISING: THE BOOTLEG COLLECTION
1977–2009

http://cart.shoutfactorystore.com/store_assets/eoc/productimages/b3eoc/sho/826663124835.jpg

Los Angeles, CA – Shout! Factory has announced the May 17 release of a comprehensive live 4-CD set of newly remastered bootleg tracks by Iggy Pop, titled Roadkill Rising: The Bootleg Collection 1977–2009. Sequenced by decade, the set focuses on key songs by The Stooges and tracks culled from Pop’s extensive solo catalog, including his hits and an array of covers.

Order the set from ShoutFactory.com and receive a gift with purchase: Iggy Pop – Live in San Francisco – November 27, 1979, a previously unreleased concert CD not available anywhere else, limited to 400 numbered copies http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5257387.

This collection is a part of a series of “official” bootleg releases by Shout! Factory, with the blessing and participation of artists who can now exact a measure of quality control to provide fans with only the best performances, highest quality recordings, and superior packaging with photos and original illustrations. Previous releases in the series include Emerson Lake & Palmer’s A Time And A Place and Todd Rundgren’s For Lack Of Honest Work. Several more releases are currently in the works.

Roadkill Rising features tracks recorded all over the world, including major tracks such as “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “Lust For Life,” “Real Wild Child,” “China Girl,” one of many co-writes with David Bowie. Among the other artists Pop covers here are Them (“Gloria”), The Kinks (“You Really Got Me”), Richard Berry (“Louie, Louie), and The McCoys (“Hang On Sloopy”).

I was recently reading his Bio (back to back with the Keith Richards one; they make a good pair) and went through the whole catalog. He's never bowled me over to begin with. I have a feeling that being around at the time and seeing him live would probably have made a difference. Eventually I decided that he's crucial simply because Spacemen 3 couldn't have existed without him.

Reviving this thread because I ranked all of Iggy's albums for Stereogum. Have at me!

Well done.

Commenters are super pissed that I ranked Blah-Blah-Blah higher than The Idiot.

that is an excellent overview.

Commenters are super pissed that I ranked /Blah-Blah-Blah/ higher than /The Idiot/.

A terrific reading – I learned something! I've put down Brick by Brick more times than any catalog album I've read about. And what a relief to see Blah Blah Blah so high.

*read

One kinda weird thing about all of Iggy Pop's discography is that for a guy that is known for playing live, there really was no real effort to try to film and/or record him live and release that to the public. By all counts I have heard over the years, Iggy was always good live. It seems downright an oddly missed opportunity.

The Stooges' first reunion tour is on DVD. I was gonna go to one of the Michigan shows, but then there was a huge power grid blackout and it was postponed. I was like, eh, it'll come out on DVD. And it did! I did catch them all the times they came through Chicago after that, glad I did.

Wow, New Values over Raw Power. That's crazy, but okay! Just glad you got #s 1-2 right.

16. American Caesar (1993)

This isn’t Peak Iggy, but it’s definitely Peak ’90s Iggy.

But then you go and put Naughty Little Doggie and Avenue B over it. Huh?

I listened to Naughty Little Doggie last week for the first time in 20 years, and OMG, "Pussy Walk" is another one of his painful cringers, though it did make me laugh.

This makes me want to delve into the Arista albums of '79-81. I seem to recall a time circa 1984 when virtually everything by Iggy or the Stooges was out of print in the US. One exception was a budget compilation I had on cassette of highlights from the three Arista albums - although missing "Bang Bang," oddly. From the cuts on the comp I assumed New Values was the strongest of the three. I did have Soldier on tape, which was fun but erratic and silly too.

Was it this one? I had the vinyl. At one point my Iggy collection consisted of that, Blah-Blah-Blah, and a cutout of the original Skydog issue of Metallic K.O..

Exactly that one.

The first Iggy I ever had - or even maybe heard - was Zombie Birdhouse of all things

I like that album. "New Values" is f'kin' great btw.

Iggy Pop is not overrated. And The Idiot is a flawless album.

just had my first truly satisfying Spotify experience…

checking out Post-pop experience pointed me towards "Where the Faces Shine vol 1" which I did not know existed until today …oddly enough, never listened to TV eye live…had to evaluate every Iggy record after 1992 for the RS record guide update in 2004, but there's a lot of the 80s shit I never fucked with. So I gotta say the Sales Brothers/DB/ Scott Thurston (pretty interesting career that guy has had, huh?) band sounds awesome live, having only messed with The Idiot and L for L.

as I write, the third of the sixth shows is on deck: "Penetration" with Sonic Rendezvous Band. Kinda shocked that I didn't know til right now that he played with Smith and Scott A. again

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1063-invisible-hits-iggy-pops-decade-of-destruction/

An ilxor's piece with video and audio excerpts from the '70s.

The 1970 video footage in Ohio with the play by play announcer, linked in the Pitchfork piece, is a highlight (I think someone mentioned it previously here on an ilx thread as I had already seen it)

Iggy is in the album chart at number five.

He has not been in the albums top ten before.

xp lol "that's peanut butter."

thank the lord that clip exists ...

Just saw Iggy Monday night at Anthem in DC. Fun show. Opened with T.V eye, Raw Power, I got a Right. Also did The Passenger, Lust for Life, I wanna be your Dog. Moved around the stage a lot. Of course he didn't wear a shirt.

I was there! I never saw him live before and didn’t realize he was such a tiny guy.

Someone I know just saw him at this CBGB anniversary/tribute thing in NYC.

5'1" iirc..

lol

Looks like Joan Wasser was playing keyboards for him!

Besides his height, another thing that was surprising (but made sense) was his hearing issues. I saw him at the NYFF when they showed Gimme Danger and he had to have the post-screening questions repeated to him up close right into his ear.

Nick Zinner from Yeah Yeah Yeahs on guitar

I last saw him on a visit to NYC in 1980 where I saw him at the long gone Great Gildersleeves. I was a teen then.

How have you found the lineup? I was curious who was on the band.

Someone I know tagged Zinner in their Instagram story of Iggy Pop at Anthem and I saw Zinner had posted a photo of himself playing with Iggy in Brazil. James Redd recognized Joan Wasser on keyboard above.

Googling I just saw this-- Stereogum.com states in 2024 that he had a different all-star backing band that included Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Chavez frontman and freelance guitar hero Matt Sweeney, the Armed’s Uriah Hackney, Las Nubes leader Ale Campos, multi-instrumentalists Joan As Police Woman and Pam Amsterdam, and jazz trombonist Corey D. King.

And just to be clear regarding my grammar, I saw Iggy Pop in 1980 in NYC not Nick Zinner.

Reddit says a 2024 band was Urian Hackney - drums, Matt Sweeney - bass, Ale Campos - guitar. Nick Zinner - guitar, Joan Wasser - keys, Pan Amsterdam - trumpet, Corey D King - trombone

and I think that was the band at Anthem

tbc I myself didn't recognize Joan Wasser. A friend of hers– and of Garth Hudson, Jamie Saft, posted about it on Instagram.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Iggy with a horn section before.

It was fun!

“5'1" iirc..” WHAT? How could I be this shockingly old and not know that etc?

He is that tall only in the song "Five Foot One".

All the night he's working in the amusement park.

5"7 it seems.

So, Amber and Alice are both taller than Iggy.

Meantime, a new Iggy gig (check to see who the narrator of the accompanying documentary is)