A single exception: The only album Iggy Pop made with hits in mind
When we talk about the punk movement, we frequently discuss bands such as Sex Pistols and The Clash, who gave people permission to harness their anger to pave the way to embrace individualism within their art; Iggy Pop was parading around London doing exactly the same thing long before them.
One of the precursors to punk was the pub rock scene. This was a small group of artists who grew tired of modern gig culture. Sure, The Rolling Stones have some great songs, but why would you pay a premium to watch them in a field so large you can’t even work out which band member is which? Pub rock was intended to take music back to the people, cramming crowds into small rooms and allowing artists to get in the audience’s faces, and a lanky frame that frequently stood out in the scene is Iggy.
He had an exciting way of both playing and performing music, which broke boundaries as he was confrontational with his style, and also made music that went against societal norms. His style, Pop admits, being a voracious appreciator of various genres, was inspired by a Doors concert that he went to when he saw what Jim Morrison was getting away with.
“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’, and the album had taken off,” recalled Pop, “So, here’s this guy, out of his head on acid, 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.”
Seeing Morrison gave Iggy Pop this newfound confidence to bin any ideas he had about civil performance and instead embrace something which leans on the side of chaos. You can see that in his live performance style, but it also plays into his sound. Pop was never looking for commercial success; he made music that was a reflection of his mind, that was true to himself and bled (often literally) authenticity with every decibel.
Of course, every artist’s career comes with a couple of exceptions, and while the majority of Pop’s work, both with The Stooges and as a solo artist, came from a place of channelling candour rather than numbers, there was one album he broke that rule. He admits that when working on Party, he purposefully wrote a song with the intention of it being a commercial hit.
“Never once, except when I did the song ‘Bang Bang’ with Tommy Boyce on my last Arista album [Party], and never since then have I ever gone in the studio trying to get a commercial hit,” he said, “I always went in with a very specific idea of the sound I wanted, and once I’d recorded I’d try and make it sell as much as I could, but I only went in thinking of a sound I wanted.”
