How the army inspired Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust For Life’
Before punk exploded in the 1970s, inspiring legions of young people to take aim through a DIY, three-chord approach and shameless attitude, there was Iggy Pop and The Stooges. Alongside artists like The Velvet Underground, MC5 and The Sonics, the Stooges were an example of a ‘60s band that paved the way for punk.
Experimental and garage rock outfits typically honed an abrasive sound that would come to shape the sonic palette of punk, and Pop, with his reckless on-stage behaviour, was the ultimate proto-punk hero. Inspired by The Doors’ elusive yet controversial frontman Jim Morrison, who was known for his memorable, often shocking performance style, Pop let all inhibitions fly as he fronted the Stooges.
From nudity to self-mutilation, Pop built up quite the reputation as an unforgettable frontman, flailing around the stage with little care in the world. He subsequently inspired David Bowie with his iconic performances, who even based his Ziggy Stardust persona on the singer.
The pair became close friends in the 1970s, moving to Berlin together in the hopes of kicking their crippling drug habits. It was 1976, and they decided to use their time in Europe to create music. The result of this period was David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, Pop’s solo debut, The Idiot, and his follow-up Lust for Life.
The latter album arrived just a few months after the first, with Bowie and Pop working with Colin Thurston to produce the record. Lust for Life contains two of Pop’s best-known songs – the title track and ‘The Passenger’. The former, which takes inspiration from William S. Burroughs and, potentially, Pop’s own drug habit, is well-known thanks to its use in popular culture, such as in the opening sequence of Trainspotting.
However, the popular song has unlikely origins. The pair were inspired by the American Forces Network News, with Pop telling Q Magazine, “Once a week the Armed Forces Network would play Starsky & Hutch and that was our little ritual”. He revealed that they found the iconic riff from the broadcast, explaining how AFN played “an ID when they came on the air, a representation of a radio tower, and it made a signal sound, ‘beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-ba-beep.’”
This was exactly what they were looking for. “And we went, ‘Aha we’ll take that!’. David grabbed his ukulele, worked out the chords, and away we went,” he added.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise two of the 20th century’s most influential and innovative musicians would take inspiration from such an arbitrary source, transforming a random sound into one of the most recognisable riffs in music history.
