The 1968 anthem Iggy Pop absolutely loathed: “This is what I’ve lived through”
While he may have arrived on the scene much too early to have been considered punk at the time, there’s absolutely no doubt that Iggy Pop was an instrumental and inspirational figure who allowed the scene to even come into existence.
There was always something about the boisterousness of him and his band, The Stooges, that set them apart from all of their contemporaries, and even though it was plucking its inspiration from the same places as many of the other acts that emerged in the 1960s, with rock and roll and blues providing the backbone of their identity, the way they tweaked the formula was frankly visionary and ahead of its time.
That being said, a large amount of their primal attitude came from a frustration at permutations within the mainstream, and the music that was being released to a wide audience in the late ‘60s when The Stooges first formed was, as far as they were concerned, vapid and lacking in substance. What Iggy wished to do as a result was create something that countered this stagnation, but it meant having to put up with being exposed to some of the worst acts while they worked out how they could infiltrate the mainstream.
During a 2007 interview with Pitchfork, the Detroit icon was quizzed on whether he thought that the early years of the Stooges and how they managed to connect to the disenfranchised youth were different to how acts break through in the modern era. While there were some concerns about there being a greater impetus on mass appeal and the homogeneity of music, Iggy argued that there were still examples of trite music managing to strike a chord with the same target audience they wanted to attract.
“When we started out playing, it was the kids in the high schools and junior highs that liked us,” he argued, “and we definitely weren’t singing.”
Given how a large amount of the pop landscape was made up of acts who made sure their vocals were crisp and clean, with a huge importance being placed on lyricism that was easy to interpret and connect with, this insinuation that the Stooges weren’t a band that ‘sang’ in the traditional sense set them apart.
However, despite him suggesting that good lyricism was something that people valued at the time, he then went on to recall how their earliest experience of supporting an act with a national fanbase was just their second gig, and that it truly exemplified the turgid side of pop music during the period.
“Our second show was for Blood, Sweat & Tears, and they were singing that terrible lyric for ‘Spinning Wheel’,” he continued, “And it was so typical.” While Pop went on to recite the lyrics word for word, which, when written down, come across as incredibly hackneyed, the fact that he was able to recall the exact lyrics of a song from 1968 that he vehemently detested even surprised him, which says something about how its stupidity was able to stick with him.
“Isn’t it amazing?” he added. “I can still recite it, every word. This is what I’ve lived through in this goddamn fucking music business. I have loaded my potentially excellent mind with the crap that these pigs are pouring on it.”
While Pop still maintains a heavy amount of vitriol for Blood, Sweat and Tears, they themselves are still considered pioneering figures by the masses for having the foresight to combine jazz, rock and pop before the likes of Steely Dan had even entered the world. However, while there are certainly more irritating examples of god-awful pop from the period, it’s clear that Iggy was so incensed by their mere existence, he’s been plagued by their biggest hit ever since their unfortunate encounter.
