James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally asIggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist ofproto-punk bandthe 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 the50 Great Voices byNPR due to his distinctive voice. In 2010, he was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Stooges. Pop also received aGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 for his solo work.[4] Throughout his career, he is well known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics, poetic lyrics and unique voice.[5][6][7]
Initially playing a raw, primitive style ofrock 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 sometimes involved acts ofself-mutilation by Pop.[8] He had a long collaborative relationship and friendship withDavid Bowie over the course of his career, beginning with the Stooges' albumRaw Power in 1973. Both musicians went toWest Berlin to wean themselves off their respective drug addictions and Pop began his solo career by collaborating with Bowie on the 1977 albumsThe Idiot andLust for Life, Pop usually contributing the lyrics. He was one of the first performers to do astage-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.
Although Pop has had limited commercial success, he has remained a cultural icon and a significant influence on a wide range of musicians in numerous genres. The Stooges' albumRaw Power has proved an influence on artists such asSex Pistols,[13]the Smiths,[14] andNirvana.[15] His solo albumThe Idiot has been cited as a major influence on a number ofpost-punk, electronic andindustrial artists includingDepeche Mode,Nine Inch Nails andJoy Division,[16] and was described bySiouxsie Sioux as a "re-affirmation that our suspicions were true: the man is a genius."[17]
James Newell Osterberg Jr. was born inMuskegon, Michigan, on April 21, 1947, the son of Louella (née Christensen; 1917–1996)[18] and James Newell Osterberg (1921–2007),[19] an English teacher and baseball coach atFordson High School inDearborn, Michigan.[20] He is of English, German, and Irish descent on his father's side, and Danish and Norwegian ancestry on his mother's side. His father was adopted by a Swedish-American nurse surnamed Osterberg.[21] The family lived in atrailer park inYpsilanti, Michigan.[10]Ron Asheton later described him as having been a conventional teenager: "He hung out with the popular kids that wore chinos, cashmere sweaters, and penny loafers. Iggy didn't smoke cigarettes, didn't get high, didn't drink."[22]
Osterberg began to play drums in the fifth grade, first starting with rubber pads glued to plywood, before his parents bought him a drum set.[22] In a 2007Rolling Stone interview, he explained his relationship with his parents and their contribution to his music:
Once I hit junior high inAnn Arbor, I began going to school with the son of the president ofFord Motor Company, with kids of wealth and distinction. But I had a wealth that beat them all. I had the tremendous investment my parents made in me. I got a lot of care. They helped me explore anything I was interested in. This culminated in their evacuation from the master bedroom in the trailer, because that was the only room big enough for my drum kit. They gave me their bedroom.[23]
Osterberg began his music career as a drummer in various high school bands inAnn Arbor, Michigan, includingthe Iguanas, who covered several records such asBo Diddley's "Mona" in 1965.[24] He then began exploring localblues-style bands such asthe Prime Movers (with brothers Dan andMichael Erlewine), which he joined at 18 years old. The Prime Movers gave him the nickname "Iggy" for having played in the Iguanas.[25] According to biographer Jim Ambrose, the two years he spent in the band made him aware of "art, politics, and experimentation".[26]
Osterberg eventually dropped out of theUniversity of Michigan[27] and moved to Chicago to learn more about blues. While in Chicago, he played drums in blues clubs, helped bySam Lay (formerly of thePaul Butterfield Blues Band) who shared his connections with Pop.[28] Inspired byChicago blues as well as bands likethe Sonics,MC5 andthe Doors, he formedthe Psychedelic Stooges. The band was composed of Osterberg on vocals,Ron Asheton on guitar, Asheton's brotherScott on drums, andDave Alexander on bass. Their first show was played at a Halloween party at a house in Detroit, Michigan. Members of the MC5 were also in attendance. Osterberg became interested in Ron Asheton after seeing him perform in the Chosen Few (a covers band), believing "I've never met a convincing musician that didn't look kind of ill and kind of dirty, and Ron had those two things covered!"[29] The three nicknamed Osterberg "Pop" after a local character named Jim Popp,[30] who he was said to have resembled after shaving his eyebrows.[31]
The seeds of Pop's stage persona were sown when he sawthe Doors perform in 1967 at the University of Michigan and was amazed by the stage antics and antagonism displayed by singerJim Morrison.[10] Morrison's extreme behavior, while performing in a popular band, inspired the young Pop to push the boundaries of stage performance. Other influences on Pop's vocals and persona wereMick Jagger andJames Brown:
I attended two concerts by the Doors. The first one I attended was early on and they had not gotten their shit together yet. That show was a big, big, big influence on me. They had just had their big hit, "Light My Fire" andthe album had taken off. ... So, here's this guy, out of his head onacid, dressed in leather with his hair all oiled and curled. The stage was tiny and it was really low. It got confrontational. I found it really interesting. I loved the performance ... Part of me was like, "Wow, this is great. He's really pissing people off and he's lurching around making these guys angry." People were rushing the stage and Morrison's going "Fuck you. You blank, blank, blank." You can fill in your sexual comments yourself. The other half of it was that I thought, "If they've got a hit record out and they can get away with this, then I have no fucking excuse not to get out on stage with my band." It was sort of the case of, "Hey, I can do that." There really was some of that in there.[32]
In addition to Jim Morrison and the Doors' influence on the band, Pop also attributes the Stooges getting jump-started after seeing an all-girl rock band fromPrinceton, New Jersey, called the Untouchable. In a 1995 interview withBust, he relates:
And the other thing was we went to New York. We had gone to New York a couple of months before that just to check out the scene, and we had never been to a place like New York ... we went down around Eighth Street there where all the young tourists hang out, and we met these girls from New Jersey, from Princeton, they had a band called The Untouchable, and we're like, "Oh, you've got a band, sure, ha ha ha," and they said "Well, come to our house and see us play." And we didn't have anywhere to crash, and they played for us, and they completely rocked, and we were really ashamed.
In 1968, one year after their live debut and now dubbedthe Psychedelic Stooges, the band signed withElektra Records, again following in the footsteps of the Doors, who were Elektra's biggest act at the time (according to Pop, guitaristRon Asheton calledMoe Howard to see if it was all right to call the band "The Stooges", to which Howard responded by merely saying "I don't care what they call themselves, as long as they're notTheThree Stooges!" and hung up the phone). Pop himself told the story in the 2016 Jim Jarmusch documentary film about the Stooges,Gimme Danger. The Stooges' first albumThe Stooges (on which Pop was credited as "Iggy Stooge") was produced byJohn Cale in New York in 1969. Both it and the follow-up,Fun House, produced by Don Gallucci in Los Angeles in 1970, sold poorly. Though the release ofFun House did not receive the recognition expected, it was later ranked No. 191 inRolling Stone's '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' in 2003.[33] Shortly after the release ofFun House, the group disbanded because of Pop's worseningheroin addiction.
In 1971, without a record deal, the Stooges kept performing in small clubs with a five-piece lineup that included both Ron Asheton andJames Williamson on guitars and Jimmy Recca on bass, Pop having fired Dave Alexander the previous year when he turned up for a gig unable to play because of his chronic alcoholism. That year Pop andDavid Bowie met atMax's Kansas City, a nightclub and restaurant in New York City.[34] Pop's career received a boost from his relationship with Bowie when Bowie decided in 1972 to produce an album with him in England. With Williamson signed on as guitarist, the search began for arhythm section. However, since neither Pop nor Williamson were satisfied with any players in England, they decided to re-unite the Stooges. Ron Asheton grudgingly moved from guitar to bass. The recording sessions produced the rock landmarkRaw Power. After its release,Scott Thurston was added to the band on keyboards/electric piano and Bowie continued his support, but Pop'sdrug problem persisted. The Stooges' last show in 1974 ended in a fight between the band and a group ofbikers, documented on the albumMetallic K.O. Drug abuse stalled Pop's career again for several years.
After the Stooges' second breakup, Pop made recordings with James Williamson, but these were not released until 1977 (asKill City, credited jointly to Pop and Williamson).[14] Pop was unable to control hisdrug use and checked himself into amental institution, theUCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, to try to clean up. Bowie was one of his few visitors, continuing to support his friend and collaborator. In 1976, Bowie took Pop as his companion on theStation to Station tour. This was Pop's first exposure to large-scale professional touring, and he was impressed, particularly with Bowie's work ethic. Following a March 21, 1976, show, Bowie and Pop were arrested together formarijuana possession inRochester, New York, although charges were later dropped.[35]
Bowie and Pop relocated to West Berlin to wean themselves off their respective drug addictions. "Living in a Berlin apartment with Bowie and his friends was interesting…" Pop recalled. "The big event of the week was Thursday night. Anyone who was still alive and able to crawl to the sofa would watchStarsky & Hutch."[36]
Iggy Pop on October 25, 1977, at the State Theatre in Minneapolis
In 1977, Pop signed withRCA Records. Bowie helped write and produceThe Idiot andLust for Life, Pop's two most acclaimed albums as a solo artist, the latter featuring one of his best-known songs, "The Passenger".Lust for Life featured another team of brothers,Hunt andTony Fox Sales, sons of comedianSoupy Sales. Among the songs Bowie and Pop wrote together were "China Girl", "Tonight", and "Sister Midnight", all of which Bowie performed on his own albums later (the last being recorded with different lyrics as "Red Money" onLodger). Bowie also played keyboards in Pop's live performances, some of which are featured on the albumTV Eye Live in 1978. In return, Pop contributed backing vocals on Bowie'sLow.[37]
"Artistically, I really like those two records,The Idiot andLust for Life," Pop said. "But I was personally just miserable… David was a really good friend to me in many ways, but… he hadhis whole thing going on and a whole apparatus of people around him, and problems that he had to face. For more than a year, I lived in the room next door, and I had a good friendship, but it wasn't the same as being ina band."[38]
Pop had grown dissatisfied with RCA, later admitting that he had madeTV Eye Live as a quick way of fulfilling his three-album RCA contract. He moved toArista Records, under whose banner he releasedNew Values in 1979. This album was something of a Stooges reunion, with James Williamson producing and latter-day StoogeScott Thurston playing guitar and keyboards. Not surprisingly, the album's style harkened back to the guitar sound of the Stooges.New Values was not a commercial success in the U.S. but has since been highly regarded by critics.
The album was moderately successful in Australia and New Zealand, however, and this led to Pop's first visit there to promote it. While in Melbourne, he made a memorable appearance on theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation's nationwide showCountdown. During his anarchic performance of "I'm Bored", Pop made no attempt to conceal the fact that he waslip-synching (shoving the microphone down his pants at one point), and he even tried to grab the teenage girls in the audience. He was also interviewed by hostMolly Meldrum, an exchange which was frequently punctuated by the singer jumping up and down on his chair and making loud exclamations of "G'day mate" in a mockAustralian accent. HisCountdown appearance is generally considered one of the highlights of the show's history and it cemented his popularity with Australian punk fans, since then he has often toured there. While visiting New Zealand, Pop recorded a music video for "I'm Bored" and attended a record company function where he appeared to slap a woman and throw wine over a photographer.[39] While in Australia, Pop was also the guest on a live late-night commercial TV interview show on theTen Network. TheCountdown appearance has often been re-screened in Australia.
During the recording ofSoldier (1980), Pop and Bowie argued with Williamson over various aspects of the project. Williamson recalled, "I was not at all happy with a number of aspects of that record including the band, the material and the recording facilities. So I was unhappy in general and vice versa".[40] Williamson left the project. Bowie appeared on the song "Play it Safe", performing backing vocals with the groupSimple Minds. During a live performance in Brooklyn in 1981, Pop smashed a microphone into his own face, knocking out a front tooth.[41]BothSoldier and its follow-upParty (1981) were commercial failures, and Pop was dropped from Arista.
In 1980, Pop published his autobiographyI Need More, co-written with Anne Wehner, an Ann Arbor arts patron. The book, which includes a selection of black and white photographs, featured a foreword byAndy Warhol. Warhol wrote that he met Pop when he was Jim Osterberg, at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1966. "I don't know why he hasn't made it really big," Warhol wrote. "He is so good."[42]
The 1982 albumZombie Birdhouse onChris Stein's Animal label, with Stein himself producing, was no more commercially successful than his Arista works. In 1983, Pop's fortunes changed when David Bowie recorded a cover of the song "China Girl". The song had originally appeared onThe Idiot and was a major hit on Bowie's blockbusterLet's Dance album. As co-writer of the song, Pop received substantialroyalties. OnTonight in 1984, Bowie recorded five more of their co-written songs , two fromLust for Life, one fromNew Values, and two new songs), assuring Pop financial security, at least for the short term. The support from Bowie enabled Pop to take a three-year break, during which he overcame his resurgent heroin addiction and took acting classes.[43]
Additionally, Pop contributed the title song to the 1984 filmRepo Man (withSteve Jones, previously of theSex Pistols, on guitar, andNigel Harrison andClem Burke, both ofBlondie on bass and drums) as well as an instrumental called "Repo Man Theme" that was played during the opening credits.[44]
In 1985, Pop recorded some demos with Jones. He played these demos for Bowie, who was sufficiently impressed to offer to produce an album for Pop: 1986'snew wave-influencedBlah-Blah-Blah, featuring the single"Real Wild Child", a cover of "The Wild One", originally written and recorded by Australian rock 'n' roll musicianJohnny O'Keefe in 1958. The single was a Top 10 hit in the UK and was successful around the world, especially in Australia, where it has been used since 1987 as the theme music for theABC's late-night music video showRage.Blah-Blah-Blah was Pop's highest-charting album in the U.S. sinceThe Idiot in 1977, peaking at No. 75 on theBillboard 200 chart.
Also in 1985, Pop andLou Reed contributed their singing voices to the animated filmRock & Rule. Pop performed the song "Pain & Suffering" in the final sequence of the film.[45] Pop's music appeared on the soundtrack to the 1986 filmDogs in Space.
In 1987, Pop appeared (along withBootsy Collins) on a mostly instrumental album,Neo Geo, by Japanese composerRyuichi Sakamoto. The music video for "Risky", written and directed by Meiert Avis, won the first MTV Breakthrough Video Award.[citation needed] The groundbreaking video explorestranshumanist philosopherFM-2030's ideas ofNostalgia for the Future in the form of an imagined love affair between a robot and one ofMan Ray's models in Paris in the late 1930s. Additional inspiration was drawn fromJean Baudrillard,Edvard Munch's 1894 paintingPuberty, andRoland BarthesDeath of the Author. The surrealist black-and-white video uses stop motion, light painting, and other retro in-camera effects techniques. Meiert Avis recorded Sakamoto while at work on the score forThe Last Emperor in London. Sakamoto also appears in the video painting words and messages to an open shutter camera. Pop, who performs the vocals on "Risky", chose not to appear in the video, allowing his performance space to be occupied by the surrealist era robot.
Pop's follow-up toBlah Blah Blah,Instinct (1988), was a turnaround in musical direction. Its stripped-back, guitar-based sound leaned further towards the sound of the Stooges than any of his solo albums to date. His record label dropped him, but theKing Biscuit Flower Hour radio show recorded theInstinct tour (featuring guitaristAndy McCoy andAlvin Gibbs on bass) in Boston on July 19, 1988. Working with rock attorney Stann Findelle, Pop scored more movie soundtrack inclusions in 1989: "Living on the Edge of the Night" in theRidley Scott thrillerBlack Rain; and "Love Transfusion", a song originally written byAlice Cooper (who does backing vocals) andDesmond Child,[46] inWes Craven's Shocker. Also, at the same time, Pop, dissatisfied from RCA's decisions, revoked copyrights of his RCA releases, assigned it to his companyThousand Mile, and signed a contract withVirgin Records, which was a unique hybrid of distribution deal for his RCA releases and a recording contract for new albums. Virgin first reissuedLust for Life andThe Idiot in 1990, thenTV Eye Live 1977 in 1994.
In 1990, Pop recordedBrick by Brick. The album was produced byDon Was and featured members ofGuns N' Roses andthe B-52's as guests. HisKiss My Blood video (1991) was directed byTim Pope and filmed at theOlympia in Paris. The video attracted much controversy, as it included footage of Pop performing with his penis exposed to the audience.Brick by Brick featured his first Top 40 U.S. hit, "Candy", a duet with B-52's singerKate Pierson.
In the early to middle 1990s, Pop would make several guest appearances on theNickelodeon showThe Adventures of Pete and Pete. He played James Mecklenberg, Nona Mecklenberg's father.
In 1991, Pop and Kirst contributed the song "Why Was I Born (Freddy's Dead)" to the soundtrack of the filmFreddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The song also plays over the end credits of the film, with a compilation of clips from theA Nightmare on Elm Street series running alongside the end credits. In the same year, Pop sang a leading role in theJohn Moran operaThe Manson Family.
In 1992, he collaborated withGoran Bregović on thesoundtrack for the movieArizona Dream byEmir Kusturica. Pop sang four of the songs:In the Deathcar,TV Screen,Get the Money, andThis is a Film. Also in 1992, he collaborated with the New York City bandWhite Zombie. He recorded spoken word vocals on the intro and outro of the song "Black Sunshine" as well as playing the character of a writer in the video shot for the song.
In 1993, Pop releasedAmerican Caesar, including two successful singles, "Wild America" and "Beside You". The following year Pop contributed toBuckethead's albumGiant Robot, including the songs "Buckethead's Toy Store" and "Post Office Buddy". He appears also on theLes Rita Mitsouko albumSystème D where he sings the duet "My Love is Bad" withCatherine Ringer.
In 1996, Pop again found mainstream fame when his 1977 song "Lust for Life" was featured in the filmTrainspotting. A new video was recorded for the song, with clips from the film and studio footage of Pop dancing with one of the film's stars,Ewen Bremner. A Pop concert also served as a plot point in the film. The song has also been used in TV commercials forRoyal Caribbean and as the theme music toThe Jim Rome Show, a nationally syndicated American sports talk show.
In 1996, Pop releasedNaughty Little Doggie and the single "I Wanna Live". Pop was injured during a show in 1997 when he dove from the stage of thePolaris Amphitheatre and the crowd failed to catch him, resulting in a dislocated shoulder and tendon damage.[50] Around this time, heremixedRaw Power to give it a rougher, more hard-edged sound; fans had complained for years that Bowie's official "rescue effort" mix was muddy and lacking in bass. Pop testified in the reissue's liner notes that on the new mix, "everything's still in the red". Also in 1997, Pop was credited with the soundtrack to the filmThe Brave.[51][52][53]
Pop co-produced his 1999 albumAvenue B withDon Was, releasing the single "Corruption". Pop also sang on the 1999Death in Vegas UK Top-10 singleAisha. The same year he appeared onHashisheen: The End of Law, a collaborative effort byBill Laswell, reading on the tracks "The Western Lands" and "A Quick Trip to Alamut".
Pop's 2003 albumSkull Ring featured collaboratorsSum 41,Green Day,Peaches, andthe Trolls, as well as Ron and Scott Asheton, reuniting the three surviving founding members ofthe Stooges for the first time since 1974. Pop made a guest appearance onPeaches's song "Kick It" as well as the video. Also in 2003, the first full-length biography of Pop was published.Gimme Danger – The Story of Iggy Pop was written by Joe Ambrose; Pop did not collaborate on the biography or publicly endorse it.
Having enjoyed working with the Ashetons onSkull Ring, Pop reformed the Stooges, with bassistMike Watt (formerly ofthe Minutemen) filling in for the lateDave Alexander andFun House saxophonistSteve Mackay rejoining the lineup. That year, Pop openedMadonna'sReinvention World Tour in Dublin.
Pop and the Stooges played the Glastonbury Festival in June 2007. Their set included material from the 2007 albumThe Weirdness and classics such as "No Fun" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog". Pop also caused controversy in June 2007 when he was interviewed on theBBC's coverage of theGlastonbury Festival. He used the phrase "paki shop", apparently unaware of its racist connotations, prompting three complaints and an apology from the BBC.[55]
On March 10, 2008, Pop appeared atMadonna's induction into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame at theWaldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Together with the Stooges, he sang raucous versions of two Madonna hits, "Burning Up" and "Ray of Light". Before leaving the stage, he looked directly at Madonna, quoting "You make me feel shiny and new, like a virgin, touched for the very first time", from Madonna's hit song "Like a Virgin". According to guitarist Ron Asheton, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform in her place, as a protest to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for not inducting the Stooges, despite six appearances on the nomination ballot.[56] Pop also sang on the "No Fun" cover byAsian Dub Foundation on their 2008 albumPunkara.
On January 6, 2009, original Stooges guitarist and Pop's self-described best friendRon Asheton was found dead from an apparent heart attack. He was 60 years old.
In 2009, James Williamson rejoined the band after 29 years.[57]
On December 15, 2009, it was announced that the Stooges would be inducted intoThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010. Pop had "about two hours of a strong emotional reaction" to the news.[58]
AuthorPaul Trynka completed a biography of Pop (with his blessing) calledOpen Up and Bleed, published in early 2007. In February 2007, Pop and the Stooges played atBam Margera'swedding and Pop appeared on the single "Punkrocker" with theTeddybears in aCadillac television commercial. Pop was also the voice of Lil' Rummy on theComedy Central cartoonLil' Bush and confirmed that he has done voices forAmerican Dad! andGrand Theft Auto IV,[59] which also included the Stooges song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" (though the game's manual credited Iggy Pop as the artist).
Iggy Pop at Beale Street Music Festival,Memphis in May, 2007
Pop guested onProfanation, the new album by theBill Laswell-helmed groupPraxis, which was released on January 1, 2008.
Pop collaborated withDanger Mouse andSparklehorse on the albumDark Night of the Soul, singing the track "Pain".
Pop's fifteenth solo album,Préliminaires, was released on June 2, 2009. Inspired by a novel by French authorMichel Houellebecq calledLa Possibilité d'une île (2005; Trans. asThe Possibility of an Island by Gavin Bowd, 2006), Pop was approached to provide the soundtrack for a documentary film on Houellebecq and his attempts to make a film from his novel. He describes this new release as a "quieter album with some jazz overtones", the first single off the album, "King of the Dogs", bearing a sound strongly influenced byNew Orleans jazz musicians such asLouis Armstrong andJelly Roll Morton. Pop said that the song was his response to being "sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music". The album is available on legal download sites, CD, and a deluxe box set is available at only 6000 units worldwide. This box set contains thePréliminaires album, a collector "Les Feuilles Mortes" b/w "King of the Dogs" 7 inch, the cover of which is Pop's portrait byMarjane Satrapi, and a 38-page booklet of drawings also by Marjane Satrapi.
In January 2009, Pop was signed up as the face ofSwiftcover, the UK-based online insurance company.[60] He fronted a £25 million TV ad campaign forSwiftcover, using the strapline "Get a Life".[61] The advert was then banned by the Advertising Standards Authority on April 28, 2009, for being misleading – it implied that Pop himself had an insurance policy with Swiftcover when at the time the company did not insure musicians.[62]
Pop also sings on "We're All Gonna Die" onSlash's first solo albumSlash, which was released in April 2010.[63] He appeared as a character in the video gameLego Rock Band to sing his song "The Passenger" and also lent his voice for the in-game tutorial.[64] With reference to the song "The Passenger", Pop has appeared on NZ television advertising phone networks, showing that he could get a band to play together by conference call. He was inducted as part of the Stooges into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010.
After a March 2010stage diving accident, Pop claimed he would no longer stage dive. However, he did so on three occasions at a concert in Madrid, Spain on April 30, 2010,[65] and did similarly at London'sHammersmith Apollo on May 2, 2010.[66] On July 9, 2010, Pop again stage dived atRock Zottegem, Belgium, causing bleeding from the face.[67] In June 2010, Pop appeared at Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto with the reformed Stooges on the NXNE main stage. In 2011 he teamed up with the Lilies, a collaboration betweenSergio Dias ofOs Mutantes and French group Tahiti Boy & The Palmtree Family, to record the single "Why?".
Pop lent his image toPETA's campaign against the annual Canada seal hunt.[68]
On April 7, 2011, at age 63, Pop performed "Real Wild Child" on thetenth season ofAmerican Idol; theLos Angeles Times music blog "Iggy Pop & Hiss" described Pop as being "still magnetic, still disturbing".[69] He is also featured onKesha's song "Dirty Love" on her second albumWarrior.[70] In 2012, Pop was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[71] On August 25, 2013, Iggy and the Stooges co-headlined RiotFest 2013's Day 2, performing in Toronto and Denver along withthe Replacements.[72] Stooges drummerScott Asheton died of a heart attack in March 2014 at the age of 64.
On October 14, 2014, Pop gave the fourth annualBBC MusicJohn Peel Lecture inSalford, on the topic of "Free Music in a Capitalist Society".[73] He used the lecture to discuss his experiences of the music industry, and his reflections on the effect of the internet on the consumption of music and the broader media.[74]
In January 2015, it was announced that Pop contributed the theme song toAlex Cox's filmBill, the Galactic Hero.[75] He also collaborated withNew Order on the song "Stray Dog" of their albumMusic Complete released in September of that year. Pop also collaborated withTomoyasu Hotei on the songs "How The Cookie Crumbles" and "Walking Through The Night" from the albumStrangers, also released that same year.[76]
On June 22, 2016, Stooges guitaristJames Williamson made an official statement saying that the Stooges were no more:
The Stooges is over. Basically, everybody's dead except Iggy and I. So it would be sort-of ludicrous to try and tour as Iggy and the Stooges when there's only one Stooge in the band and then you have side guys. That doesn't make any sense to me.[77]
Williamson also added that touring had become boring, and trying to balance the band's career as well as Pop's was a difficult task.[78]
In 2016, Pop recorded an album withJosh Homme titledPost Pop Depression. The album was released on March 18, with a tour of Europe and North America entitledPost Pop Depression Tour to follow, starting from March 28.[79][80] On both sides of the Atlantic, the album set a new peak chart position for Iggy Pop albums, becoming his first US Top 20 album[81] and first UK Top 5 album.[82]
On October 28, 2016, Pop released the double live albumPost Iggy Pop Depression: Live At The Royal Albert Hall on Eagle Rock Entertainment (on DVD+2CD and digital formats).
In January 2020, Pop received aGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[4] In April 2020, he released an alternate mix of his "China Girl", as part of a seven-disc deluxe box set, due to feature expanded remastered versions ofThe Idiot andLust for Life.[87] In December, Pop featured on a rework ofElvis Costello's song "No Flag" from Costello's 2020 albumHey Clockface. The song was a re-recording, with Pop providing the vocals, translated to French for this version.[88] A new digital track by Pop was also released, titled "Dirty Little Virus". Lyrically, it is about theCOVID-19 pandemic.[89] That year, he also collaborated withMorrissey on his upcoming albumBonfire of Teenagers.[90][91]
In April 2021, French singer Clio released a duet with Iggy Pop titled "L'appartement".[92] On his new albumBreathe by Hammond master Lonnie Smith, Pop provides vocals on two tracks, "Why Can't We Live Together" (a cover version of the Timmy Thomas original) and on "Sunshine Superman" (a cover version of the Donovan original). The album was released in March 2021.[93]
Pop collaborated with Belgian composer and violinist Catherine Graindorge on three tracks on her new EPThe Dictator. It was released in September 2022.[94] "Frenzy" was released late 2022 ahead of Pop's nineteenth studio albumEvery Loser: the track featuredDuff McKagan andChad Smith.[95] The album was produced byAndrew Watt.[96] Upon release in January 2023.Every Loser received favourable reviews withNME dubbing it "a high-velocity joyride full of delightful doses of wit and grit".[97] In 2024 he re-recorded "The Passenger" in duet withSiouxsie Sioux: their orchestral version with a slower tempo was conceived for a commercial.[98]
In May 2025, he collaborated with the champagne brandDom Pérignon for a campaign named "Creation is an Eternal Journey".[99]
Pop worked withJohnny Depp on several films: they appeared together inCry-Baby andDead Man. Pop provided the soundtrack forThe Brave, which was directed by and starred Depp, and music for Depp's 1993 filmArizona Dream.
Pop also voiced a cameo in theAmerican Dad! episode "American Dream Factory" as Jerry, the drummer, inSteve Smith's band.[102] He makes an appearance inFLicKeR, a 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan aboutBrion Gysin and theDreamachine. Pop played himself as the DJ of the fictional rock station Liberty Rock Radio 97. 8 in the video gameGrand 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 2004Atari video gameDRIV3R (as Baccus and other characters),[103] which was produced by Reflections Interactive. Pop appears as a character in theAdult Swim animated comedy-adventure seriesThe Venture Bros.. He is one of the bodyguards, along withKlaus Nomi, ofDavid 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 2014, Pop presented (narrated) the BBC documentaryBurroughs at 100.[105]William Burroughs profoundly affected Pop's writing, inspiring lyrics in the famous "Lust for Life". It was aired in the US onThis American Life on January 30, 2015, in the episode "Burroughs 101", commemorating his 101st birthday.
Pop voiced the character Texas Red on theAdult Swim animated comedyMr. Pickles, which ran from 2014 to 2019.[107]
Pop hosts a weekly radio show and podcast titled "Iggy Confidential" onBBC Radio 6 Music.[108] In it he covers an eclectic range of music from punk to jazz, and champions new artists such asShame,Fat White Family,False Heads, andSleaford Mods. He also championed Mik Artistik, whose song "Sweet Leaf of the North" was named by Iggy as one of his favorite songs of the 2010s.[109]
Based onKai Grehn [de]'s German translation ofWalt 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.[110]
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 theDetroit City FC public investment fund, contributing $1,000 to the club.[120]
The Passenger was, as of 2007, the putative name for a biographical film about Pop's early career with the Stooges. The film was to be directed byNick Gomez andElijah Wood was to play Pop.[121][122][123]
Pop liked the script but refused to take part in the film. He said:
The script ain't chopped liver ... It was a work of art. But subjectively, I don't want to be involved in any way. A producer and the writer sent me a very decent letter and asked me to write back if I didn't want them to do it ... I don't feel negative about it at all.[124]
He also called Wood "a very poised and talented actor".[125]
In 1995, a journal of classical scholarship,Classics Ireland, published Pop's reflections on the applicability ofEdward Gibbon'sDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire to the modern world in a short article, "Caesar Lives" (Vol. 2, 1995).[127] Pop also relates how reading Gibbon while on tour in the Southern United States inspired him to a spontaneoussoliloquy he called "Caesar", which was included on his 1993 albumAmerican Caesar.
Pop lives near Miami, Florida.[128] He has been married three times: to Wendy Weissberg for several weeks in 1968 before divorcing her inCuyahoga County, Ohio, on November 25, 1969;[129] to Suchi Asano (from 1984 until their divorce in 1999);[130] 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.[131]
At age 23, Pop allegedly had a relationship with 13-year-old groupieSable Starr.[132][133][134] Since the emergence of theMeToo movement, he has faced criticism for his relationship with Starr. The documentaryLook Away, a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry, is named after an Iggy Pop song about Starr from the albumNaughty Little Doggie.[135][136]
Pop was diagnosed withscoliosis, with one leg being one-and-a-half inches shorter than the other.[137]
In the 1990s, Pop became friends withJohnny Depp,Jim Jarmusch, and tattoo artistJonathan Shaw. Shaw said the four wore matching rings depicting a skull, and all but Pop received a similar skull-and-crossbones tattoo.[138]
Music journalistLester Bangs was one of the first writers to champion the Stooges in a national publication. His piece "Of Pop and Pies and Fun" forCreem Magazine was published about the time of the Stooges' second albumFun House. Another music journalist,Legs McNeil, was especially fond of Iggy and the Stooges and championed them in many of his writings.
Kurt Cobain consistently listedRaw Power as his No. 1 favorite album of all time in the "Favorite Albums" lists that featured in hisJournals.[139]
In August 1995, all three Stooges albums were included in British music magazineMojo's influential "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" feature.Fun House was placed the highest, at 16.[140]
Australian bandRadio Birdman took their name, although incorrectly, from the lyrics of the Stooges song "1970".[141]
In 2004,Rolling Stone ranked the Stooges No. 78 on their list of 100 of the most influential artists of the past 50 years.[142]
Layne Staley said that he was a big fan of both The Stooges and Iggy Pop.[143]
Slash included their self-titled debut amongst his favorite studio albums.[144]
Peter Hook included their live album Metallic K.O. amongst his favorite albums.[145]
In 2023,Rolling Stone ranked Pop at number 176 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[146]
"Ten Percenter", a track on theeponymous debut album by Frank Black, is about Iggy Pop.
Portrayals
In the filmVelvet Goldmine,Ewan McGregor portrays Curt Wilde, a character loosely based on Pop.[147] McGregor performs the Stooges songs "TV Eye" and "Gimme Danger" in the film.
Iggy played himself as a puppet in the short filmSquirrel Mountain 'Iggy to the Rescue, that also featured him performing the song "Frozen Peas", along with his touring guitarist Kevin Armstrong.[150]
InThe Venture Bros., Iggy (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) appears alongsideKlaus Nomi as one of The Sovereign’s bodyguards, with The Sovereign portrayed asDavid Bowie.
A photo of Pop on stage with fans at the Sydney Opera House in 2019 taken by Antoine Veling won the Culture Category of theSony World Photography Awards.[165]
^"But somewhere between his last album, "Naughty Little Doggie", and his latest one, "Avenue B", the godfather of punk turned 50 ...", inChristman, Ed (August 7, 1999), "Iggy Pop opens a 'window into the soul' on Virgin's contemplative 'Avenue B'",Billboard, vol. 111, p. 14,ISSN0006-2510
^"Looking remarkably healthy for a man who nurtured a world-class drug habit for many years, the "Godfather of Punk" Iggy Pop is set to close the Other Stage on Saturday night." in"Godfather of punk still has lust for life",Western Daily Press, p. 30, June 5, 2007
^Pop, Iggy; Wehner, Anne (1982). "Foreword by Andy Warhol".I Need More: The Stooges and Other Stories. Karz-Cohl Publishing. p. 7.ISBN978-0-943828-50-3.
^"Iggy Pop (visual voices guide)".Behind The Voice Actors (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information). RetrievedSeptember 28, 2021.
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