Josh Homme on the impact of Iggy Pop: “It took balls to be him”
Some artists never get the appreciation they deserve unless it’s in hindsight. While they may have been able to push the boundaries of their genre whenever they got behind the glass or in front of the stage, a few artists never get to enjoy their music being acclaimed until well after they’ve left the business, either passing away before it gets celebrated or getting referenced by the next generation of rock stars. Although artists like The Velvet Underground may have waited years to receive the recognition they deserve, Josh Homme thought every aspiring rocker needs to take cues from this artist.
When looking at Homme’s track record for making caustic rock and roll, it’s clear to see where he gets many of his influences. Starting in the stoner rock outfit Kyuss, Homme would play songs with the same sludgy guitar tone as Black Sabbath, embracing the sounds of Tony Iommi’s riffs and daring to tune even lower.
Although Homme knew that he could play that style of music forever, the only way for him to grow would be to fold Kyuss into his next act, Queens of the Stone Age. Featuring an ever-evolving lineup, Homme would swap out different musicians on nearly every record he made, leading to every album sounding different outside his voice.
This carousel of musicians also allowed Homme to work with a myriad of artists that he loved, from Elton John contributing to ‘Fairweather Friends’ off of Like Clockwork to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top laying down tasty blues licks on ‘Burn the Witch’ from Lullabies to Paralyze. Outside of his main outfit, though, Homme also saw his celebrity status as a way to give back to his heroes.
While Homme would be given production duties on Arctic Monkeys’ desert rock opus Humbug, he would later work with Iggy Pop to bring about his career comeback on Post Pop Depression. Despite being known as one of the founders of punk rock and writing phenomenal tunes with The Stooges and his solo career, Homme thought that Pop’s legacy had yet to be truly recognised.
Outside of his rock and roll pioneer work, Pop was known for opening up the doors for being deliberately unsophisticated in rock, which struck a nerve with artists like David Bowie. Homme wouldn’t even be the first to help Pop achieve mainstream success, as Bowie had written various songs with Pop and even contributed to albums like The Idiot.
When reflecting on the frontman’s legacy, Homme thought every rock band needed to take notes from what Pop did for the genre, saying, “It took balls to be him: a little guy with a big d*ck scaring people in Detroit. Everyone should take a knee for Iggy. He deserves it. He never got [the respect or the acclaim], mostly by his own hand, but he made the sh*t that’s spawned more bands than any other person, ever”.
Pop’s influence is also evident whenever Homme gets onstage, never losing that sense of wild abandon that can come from putting on a great rock and roll show. Homme may have found his voice as a guitarist and frontman, but Pop has been laying down the blueprint for how to make rock and roll sound amazing for decades.
