Is It Pop Music? Well, Kinda Sorta, Sometimes. Is It Iggy Pop Music? Oh, Yeah...

 

Well, some of y'all know me by now (cue: If you don't know me by now...). So it should not be a huge surprise, that once I turned my attention to James Newell Osterberg a.k.a. Iggy Pop, I would not only leaveiat at the Popster's French Chanson adventure. That was fun, and I posted it because there's a pretty big chance it wasn't something in your collection, but as usual, once I get involved with an artist, I get involved. Thus was born Pop/Osterberg, a highly personal collection of favorites from the man. And I say the man, because there ain't no Stooges to be found here. Firstly, I'm just not a big fan of The Stooges' noisy stuff, what are ya gonna do. Proto-punk this, classic that - I just can't really get into The Stooges and probably never really will - c'est la vie, as even Mr. Pop/Osterberg might say with his charming French accent. 

Instead you get nineteen tracks from throughout the man's career. There are obviously some of the big songs from The Idiot and Lust For Life, and I do have a penchant for the New Wave-ish music he turned to in the late 70s and early 80s, notably from New Values and Party. The latter one is especially hilarious, with Pop trying to embrace new trends and writing quote-unquote commercial material, then ending up singing "I'm gonna squeeze you like a tomato/ I'm gonna peel you like a potato", as on "Pleasure". I'm not sure whether we should laugh with Iggy or at him here, but it's all good fun either way.

FUBARed or secretly brainwashed by the music of my childhood, I of course have a soft spot for Iggy's stabs at commercial success with big, simple AOR rock like "Cry For Love" or his cover of "Real Wild Child (Wild One)", and listening to the latter, I'm amazed how much of a carbon copy Ric Ocasek's version for the Pretty Woman soundtrack is, maybe because they couldn't license the original? I'm also on the record for liking his songs from Brick by Brick, notably "Candy", the duet with Kate Pierson that might be hands down my favorite pop tune, uh, I mean Pop tune. Just marvelous stuff. 

This isn't some crazy deep dive, nor throwing together tons of rarities or what not, just a simple and personal collection of stuff I like from Iggy. Now, there is one song that you definitely haven't seen or heard before like this, whether that's a good thing or not I let you decide. Let's just say that I liked some of the poetry stuff he did with Tarwater, and one of such bits shows up in an unexpected place. Did I also mention that while the song rules, I always found the interminable - here's one that's decidedly not for the Tik Tok kids of today - intro of "Lust For Life" a little annoying? So, you do the math. Let's just say, there's a 141 2/3 % chance that these two ideas will collide. 

Considering Pop's eclectic tastes, having him to poetry readings amidst that minimalist music with Tarwater is not a big surprise. Having him, a man as fiercely staring down old age and mortality as anyone, read Dylan Thoma's classic "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" to a lonely jazz trumpet and an electroncic backing isn't either. But it would hve been to easy to let him and the reader get out of Pop/Osterberg on that note of calm defiance...so I programmed it as the penultimate track, leading straight into "Frenzy", an appropriately frenzied number from Every Loser, all piss and vinegar, like back in the days of yore. Pop warns us not to go gently into that good night, then doesn't, instead spitting out "I got a dick and two balls, that's more than you all" as the opening line, then leading a chorus with "I'm in a frenzy, you fucking prick/ I'm in a frenzy, you goddamn dick". Juvenile? Absolutely! Unbecoming of a senior citizen ? You tell me! But, you know, all chanson-loving, wine-drinking and poetry-reading aside, that's the way Iggy would wanna go out, I felt, so that's the way Pop/Osterberg should go out. 

So, some pop, some rock, some New Wave, and a lot of Pop with a Capital P. What's not to like?