Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor, and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited many times since.[1] Often called the "Godfather of Punk",[2][3] he was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Stooges. Pop also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, for his solo work.[4]
Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg
April 21, 1947
Muskegon, Michigan, U.S.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S
- Singer
- musician
- songwriter
- actor
- Vocals
- guitar
- drums
- keyboards
1960s–present
Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll (progressing later towards more experimental and aggressive rock), 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.[5] He had a long collaborative relationship and friendship with David Bowie over the course of his career, beginning with the Stooges' album Raw Power in 1973. Both musicians went to West Berlin to wean themselves off their respective drug addictions and Pop began his solo career by collaborating with Bowie on the 1977 albums The Idiot and Lust for Life, Pop usually contributing the lyrics. Throughout his career, he is well known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics, poetic lyrics and distinctive voice.[6][7][8] He was one of the first performers to do a stage-dive and popularized the activity.[9][10] 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.[10]
Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the course of his career, including garage rock, punk rock, hard rock, heavy metal, art rock, new wave, grunge, jazz, blues and electronic.[11][12] Though his popularity has fluctuated, many of Pop's songs have become well known, including "Search and Destroy" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by the Stooges, and his solo hits "Lust for Life", "The Passenger" and "Real Wild Child (Wild One)". In 1990, he recorded his only Top 40 U.S. hit, "Candy", a duet with B-52's singer Kate Pierson. Pop's song "China Girl" became more widely known when it was re-recorded by co-writer Bowie, who released it as the second single from his most commercially successful album, Let's Dance (1983). Bowie re-recorded and performed many of Pop's songs throughout his career.
Although Pop has had limited commercial success, he has remained a culture icon and a significant influence on a wide range of musicians in numerous genres. The Stooges' album Raw Power has proved an influence on artists such as Sex Pistols,[13] the Smiths,[14] and Nirvana.[15] His solo album The Idiot has been cited as a major influence on a number of post-punk, electronic and industrial artists including Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Joy Division,[16] and was described by Siouxsie Sioux as a "re-affirmation that our suspicions were true: the man is a genius."[17]
Film, television and radio career[edit]
As an actor Pop has appeared in a number of movies, including Sid and Nancy (a non-speaking cameo role), The Color of Money, Hardware (voice only), The Crow: City of Angels, The Rugrats Movie, Snow Day, Coffee and Cigarettes (opposite Tom Waits, in the third segment of the film, "Somewhere in California"), Cry-Baby, Dead Man, Tank Girl and Atolladero, a Spanish science fiction Western. He was wanted to play Funboy in the original The Crow movie, but his recording schedule would not permit him. In February 2009, he played the character Victor in the movie Suck. Pop was featured alongside indie starlet Greta Gerwig in the film Art House, which premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2010.
Pop has also appeared in many television series, including Tales from the Crypt, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, where he played Nona's dad in the second and third season, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in which he played Yelgrun in the episode "The Magnificent Ferengi". With the Stooges, he was featured in an episode of MTV's Bam's Unholy Union as the main band performing at Bam Margera's wedding. Additionally, a portion of the music video for Pop's "Butt Town" was featured on an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head. Pop voiced Lil' Rummy on the Comedy Central show Lil' Bush, and also provided the voice for a character in the English-language version of the 2007 animated film Persepolis.
Pop has been profiled in several rockumentaries and has had songs on many soundtracks, including Crocodile Dundee II; Trainspotting; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Haggard; Arizona Dream; Repo Man; Black Rain; Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare; Shocker; and Kurt Cobain: About a Son.
Pop worked with Johnny Depp on several films: they appeared together in Cry-Baby and Dead Man. Pop provided the soundtrack for The Brave, which was directed by and starred Depp, and music for Depp's 1993 film Arizona Dream.
Pop also voiced a cameo in the American Dad! episode "American Dream Factory" as Jerry, the drummer, in Steve Smith's band.[99] He makes an appearance in FLicKeR, a 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan about Brion Gysin and the Dreamachine. Pop played himself as the DJ of the fictional rock station Liberty Rock Radio 97. 8 in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. The Stooges song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" was featured on the same station. Pop also featured as a voice talent in the 2004 Atari video game DRIV3R (as Baccus and other characters),[100] which was produced by Reflections Interactive. Pop appears as a character in the Adult Swim animated comedy/adventure series The Venture Bros.. He is one of the bodyguards, along with Klaus Nomi, of David Bowie, who is "The Sovereign" of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Pop has some unclear super-powers, which he uses when he and Nomi turn against Bowie.
In 2012, Pop played the conscience of a clown named Elliot (Denis Lavant) in the French film L'Étoile du jour (Morning Star) directed by Sophie Blondy.
In 2013, Pop appeared briefly in the French film Les gamins then he voiced The Caterpillar in the television series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.[101]
In 2014, Pop presented (narrated) the BBC documentary Burroughs at 100.[102] William Burroughs profoundly affected Pop's writing, inspiring lyrics in the famous "Lust for Life". It was aired in the US on This American Life on January 30, 2015, in the episode "Burroughs 101", commemorating his 101st birthday.
Pop voiced the character Texas Red on the Adult Swim animated comedy Mr. Pickles, which ran from 2014 to 2019.[103]
Pop hosts a weekly radio show and podcast titled "Iggy Confidential" on BBC Radio 6 Music.[104] In it he covers an eclectic range of music from punk to jazz, and champions new artists such as Shame, Fat White Family, False Heads, and Sleaford Mods.
Based on Kai Grehn's German translation of Walt Whitman's poetry cycle in 2005, a radio drama and bilingual double-CD audio book "Kinder Adams/Children of Adam" was released by Hörbuch Hamburg in 2014, including a complete reading by Pop.[105]
In 2015, Pop had a starring role as Vicious in the Björn Tagemose-directed silent film Gutterdämmerung opposite Grace Jones, Henry Rollins and Lemmy.[106]
Pop also featured in the Rammstein documentary Rammstein in Amerika that same year.
In 2016, Pop was featured as a main subject in the documentary Danny Says starring alongside Danny Fields, Alice Cooper, Judy Collins, Wayne Kramer, Jac Holzman and more.[107] In the same year, Pop starred in Toby Tobias' thriller Blood Orange in which he plays an aging rock star.[108] Also during 2016, Jim Jarmusch directed Gimme Danger, a documentary movie about the band.[109]
Also in 2016, he participated, with Michel Houellebecq and others, in Erik Lieshout's documentary To Stay Alive: A Method.[110]
In 2017, Pop appeared in Song to Song directed by Terrence Malick, opposite Michael Fassbender.[111][112]
In early 2019, Pop executive produced a four-part documentary series entitled PUNK for Epix.[113]
Pop also appears as a zombie in the 2019 Jim Jarmusch film The Dead Don't Die.[114]
In 2021 Pop appeared with Nico Rosberg - 2016 Formula One champion - in a video advert for the German State Railways' (Deutsche Bahn) high speed train services. The backing music was Pop's song 'The Passenger'. Pop also participated in the Detroit City FC public investment fund, contributing $1,000 to the club.[115]
Pop's music has also appeared in the soundtracks to the films Dogs in Space and He Died with a Felafel in his Hand.
Classical scholarship[edit]
In 1995, a newly founded journal of classical scholarship, Classics Ireland, published Pop's reflections on the applicability of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to the modern world in a short article, "Caesar Lives" (Vol. 2, 1995).[122][123] Pop also relates how reading Gibbon while on tour in the Southern United States inspired him to a spontaneous soliloquy he called "Caesar".
Personal life[edit]
Pop lives near Miami, Florida.[124] He has been married three times: to Wendy Weissberg for several weeks in 1968 before divorcing her in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on November 25, 1969;[125] to Suchi Asano (from 1984 until their divorce in 1999);[126] and to his longtime partner Nina Alu, whom he married in 2008. He has a son, Eric Benson, born in 1970 from a relationship with Paulette Benson.[127]
At age 23, Pop had a relationship with 13-year-old Sable Starr.[128][129][130] Since the emergence of the MeToo movement, he has faced criticism for this. Look Away, a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry, is named after an Iggy Pop song about Starr.[131]
Pop was diagnosed with scoliosis, with one leg being one and a half inches shorter than the other.[132]
In the 1990s, Pop became friends with Johnny Depp, Jim Jarmusch, and tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw. Shaw said the four wore matching rings depicting a skull, and all but Pop received a similar skull-and-crossbones tattoo.[133]
Admirers
Portrayals
References
Honours[edit]
In 2017, shortly after his 70th birthday, Pop was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Consul general in Miami on behalf of the French government.[158]
A photo of Pop on stage with fans at the Sydney Opera House in 2019 taken by Antoine Veling won the Culture Category of the Sony World Photography Awards.[159]
