“By far”: The most experimental band Iggy Pop had ever heard
Iggy Pop has seen a thing or two, and he’s certainly heard a thing or two more.
The Godfather of Punk pioneered the jabbing, toussling, high-energy genre with a self-assuredness that comes from knowing your craft, and knowing it well. His career spans over five decades, and includes a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2010, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award a decade later. To be such an illustrious figure in the industry, he must know it inside out. And knowing the music industry is knowing the way it sounds – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the weird.
In his youth, Iggy worked at a record store. There, he received his classical music education from older men with greasy beards who were experts in their own niches. It was during this time that Iggy came across the Irish punk band, Them. Like many, he heard their popular track, ‘Gloria’, first.
As per Music Radar, Iggy reminisced on this time: “At about that time I was listening to all the good English groups,” he wrote in an essay, “Plus Bob Dylan, plus anything that came from San Francisco, plus Love, plus tons of garage rock.”
That wild highway of genres might’ve provided him with some truly raucous listens, but it was Them that blew his mind into smithereens: “Them was by far the most experimental, but also had a kind of doomed quality that I liked, because I could see that these guys weren’t cute, didn’t know how to dress and did not have a commercial touch except for the one hit, ‘Gloria’,” the star wrote.
Them were formed in Belfast in 1964, the same year ‘Gloria’ took off. Most notably, the band launched the career of singer Van Morrison; as a group, they couldn’t withstand internal volatility, and line-up changes every five minutes, though they have a wild, interesting discography usually favoured by Morrison fans.
Iggy’s commentary on his experience of the badly-dressed experimental group might read harshly, but he’s right: a musical group is more than the sounds that they make together. Image, aesthetics, and frontmanship must be considered, and can add to or detract from the noise work on offer. Iggy never did manage to see Them live, but he might as well have, as the entirety of the University of Michigan campus decided to cover ‘Gloria’ around the time of its soaring popularity.
“Every band covered it, including my own,” Iggy admitted.
In the end, despite the stripped-back experimentalism that struck a chord with the punk legend, Them’s attempt to break into the mainstream killed their future. The spontaneous, urgent sound was lost in the jarring, dreary atrophy of turning from a hot-shot garage band to a commercial product. Shame.
By now, Iggy will have heard many more outlandish and chaotic creative renderings than the garage rock group, while hosting a new music show on Radio 6 for 12 years. However, after over a decade on the airwaves, Iggy recently announced a hiatus. Thankfully, he plans to turn in 2027, and Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker will be stepping into his shoes in the meantime. Might Cocker give ‘Gloria’ a spin?
