Jazz & Pop

Listen to the new Iggy Pop albun Préliminaires (out May 25) on

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Now I Wanna Be King Of The Dogs

From Iggy's upcoming album Préliminaires

OPEN UP AND READ

With the lingering disappointment of The Weirdness and the endless sea of Iggy DVD I didn't need more Iggy Pop, but while browsing for a summer vacation book I could find nothing else. Well that's just fine because Open Up And Bleed could not be better. Not the authorized biography, but written with Iggy's blessing, Paul Trynka perfectly captures the tale of Jim Osterberg and his alter ego Iggy Pop from pre-Stooge to present with all the gory details intact. Essential.

buy it now

Pop Hall Of Fame

Yes it's true, Iggy and the Stooges finally made the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. Not for their three trailblazing pre-punk classics however.
They were there to sing for Madonna, the Queen Of Rock and...um...well she played CBGB's once or something. Oh yeah and she sold a lot of records too. Maybe this was the MTV awards cause I saw John Cougar there too.

BURNING UP

I think I just saw the Stooges play Burning Up and Ray Of Light for Madonna at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.
Could this be possible?

Elton and the Stooges

from the guardian

Several of the band's fans, including Ben Edmonds of Creem magazine, conspired to raise their morale with an endorsement by Elton John. Elton was sweeping across the US on a hugely successful stadium tour and he decided to signal his support for the band, plus his own general zaniness, by renting a gorilla suit and planning a one-ape stage invasion during the Stooges stint.

Creem had prepared a photographer for the stunt. Unfortunately, no one had prepared Iggy. Indeed the previous night he had disappeared with the usual local 'Rich Bitch', to use the Stooges' term of endearment. Early in the morning she brought him back to the band's hotel unconscious; he had gobbled down her entire supply of Quaaludes. Drummer Scott Asheton and a friend of the band, Doug Currie, were called to lift his dead weight out of her Corvette; carrying him into the hotel, they dropped him and were overcome with a giggling fit, seeing him peacefully sleeping, sprawled over a spiky Mediterranean bush.

He was still hardly conscious that evening when Doug and Scotty carried him into the club, and after a quick discussion of what to do, Doug announced he had some speed. James Williamson managed to find a syringe, and they duly shot their singer full of methamphetamine sulphate in order to get him on his feet.

For a couple of seconds, as Elton emerged from the wings in his gorilla suit, Iggy thought he was hallucinating, or else a real gorilla was raiding the stage. The Creem photograph documenting the event is hilarious, showing James Williamson transfixing the uppity ape with a malevolent glare that signals, he says, his intent to 'take him out. He lucked out, because he was smart enough to take his head off to let people know who he was, just in time.'

Should Have Known Better

from blogcrtics.org:
For you younguns what don't remember 1970, the Stooges were a pre-punk garage band with no discernible skills as composers or performers who made three albums of crap. Look, a chainsaw ripping through an old growth redwood has "raw power," but you wouldn't call it music. These guys wouldn't know a real song if it bit them in the ass, but David Bowie, among other people who should have known better, figured Iggy Pop as a brilliant primitive artist. Personally, I prefer the infamous Shaggs album, which at least had personality. Lacking any actual songs or skill though, the Stooges never had anything resembling a hit and broke up.

Still, what else have they got to do? Thirty odd years later, they've made a couple of albums while they wait around to die. Weirdness is their new one. Perhaps they have belatedly-developed talent as composer and musicians.