Every punk band of the past and present has borrowed a thing or two from Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The band’s first three albums set the standard for the genre and Pop himself was the first to master an unhinged performance style that often endangered himself as well as spectators. As punk reached its peak in the late ’70s, Pop moved on, recording his first solo albums with David Bowie. Lust For Life and The Idiot, both released in 1977, remain Pop’s most acclaimed records.
Born and raised in Michigan, Pop began playing drums and recorded his first records with a high school group called the Iguanas. When he moved on to the local blues scene, his new bandmates nicknamed him ‘Iggy’ for his appearance in the first band. Experiencing Jim Morrison and the Doors in concert inspired Pop’s performance style. His own band the Stooges began recording in 1968, but by ’71 had broken up due to Pop’s worsening heroin addiction. The band reunited but broke up again in ’74 when their last concert ended in a fight between the band and a group of bikers. Pop’s drug problems left him homeless for a while, then compelled him to check himself into a mental institution.
David Bowie was one of Pop’s few visitors at the mental hospital in the ’70s. He took Pop along on his Station to Station tour, where Iggy was impressed by the scope of the tour and the work ethic Bowie displayed. The partnership between Bowie and Iggy Pop continued through the mid ’80s, although Pop regressed to his earlier drug abuse ways and withdrew from music for a few years.
Iggy Pop scored his only top 20 single in 1990 with Candy, a duet with Kate Pierson of the B-52’s, taken from his first gold record Brick by Brick. In the ’90s, a second crop of punk bands appeared, owing their existence to the early work of the Stooges, and the band’s music was covered by a wide range of musicians from Duran Duran and R.E.M. to Tom Jones.
2016 saw Pop record his first top 20 album with Post Pop Depression. The album also received a Grammy nomination, but lost out on the award to the final album from his old friend David Bowie, Blackstar.
