The man, the myth, the legend that is Iggy Pop was born under the name of James Newell Osterberg, Jr in Muskegon, Michigan on April 21st 1947. James is the last remaining legend of the 70’s trio which included the both late and greats of Lou Reed (Lewis Allen Reed), and David Bowie (David Robert Jones). Hanging around the streets of New York, and coming together at one of the clubs of that time, CBGB, they came together with their fellow artists, goofballs, thespians, and weirdos alike. Iggy has always been a while child in every sense of the word. He has always had an insane stage presence, which he’d gotten after seeing Jim Morrison perform at a little show back in the 60’s. He’s got unstoppable energy, a knack for everything odd, and has also allegedly invented crowd surfing.
Throughout his career he’s gone from punk rock godfather, to artsy singer, to now of a somewhat commercial success. You might have heard some of his songs that he did with the stooges like “Search and Destroy” with the Levi commercials, or his solo “Lust for Life” with the Carnival Cruises. Mr. Pop has recently come out with an album called “Post Pop Depression” which is a collection of all his different musical tastes and transformations throughout the years. With him on the album includes some other heavy hitters in the industry, including: Josh Homme and Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age, and Matt Helders from the Arctic Monkeys. The album was recorded in Joshua Tree’s Rancho De La Luna, and was released on March 18th of this year. After the release they went about doing their one and only tour for said album.
I attended the last concert that they had in the states, which was at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles at the end of April. He started off with one of his classics, “Lust for Life” and bounced to and fro on the stage, just as his nature has already been. Having recently celebrated his 69th birthday earlier that week he still seemed to be in the celebratory mood. Even at such an age, he can still dance and out maneuver people a quarter of his age. He bounced back and forth throughout his different albums over the decades. A few from “The Idiot” album with the hits of “Nightclubbing” and “Sister Midnight,” and most of the songs from Post Pop Depression. About halfway through the show he did “China Girl,” which was originally written by David Bowie, The crowd went from energetic and lively to very somber. It got very quiet, and I got misty-eyed myself, not only for our recent loss of the superstar, but also because Iggy had lost an old friend / brother. It was a very touching moment for those in attendance at The Greek. Right after that he took a ten minute break to cool his jets, and then finished up with the rest of the depression album. It was a great night. I’ve been an Iggy fan for ten plus years, so it was a great pleasure to see the living legend in his natural habitat. He seemed to be in good spirits and still does a lot to please his audience. He threw himself out to crowd surf a few times, which threw a couple of the older generations off. He also had a bit of a conga line as well with about 75 clumped people long. Iggy is one of the last members of the greats in rock n roll history and with him being in good shape, I’m sure that he has more than a few good years left in him. I’m looking forward to seeing him again next time he’s in my neck of the woods.