The Murder of a Virgin: The blood-curdling show that could have killed Iggy Pop
By now, Iggy Pop has settled into a sweet role as Godfather of Punk, spending his days hanging out with his bird Biggie, recommending new tunes on the radio and still occasionally getting his kit off on stage. But back when he first broke out in the 1970s, first as the leader of The Stooges and then with his solo project, Iggy Pop was wild and, in one instance, completely terrifying as one live show began to feel more like a bloody ritual.
There are countless crazy Iggy Pop stories. There’s the time when he got David Bowie to smuggle drugs into a psychiatric hospital for him, or when he dressed in a gorilla suit and terrified Elton John. He’s fought biker gangs, snorted all kinds of mysterious substances, spat blood at this audience and all manner of those weird and wild things that have kept rock fans fed on good stories for a long time.
But this one feels like fun and more outrightly frightening. It was August 11th, 1974. The Stooges had recently disbanded with his other band members, citing Pop’s worsening heroin addiction as the reason why. But the musician carried on his crazed rock campaign into his solo career and landed in Los Angeles ready to do his first solo show.
Promotors, by now, likely knew what they were getting themselves in for when they booked Iggy Pop. The Stooges were no strangers to smashing places up or leaving their crowds in a frenzy. In 1973, a rumour had even gone around that Iggy Pop was asking New York promoters for a million-dollar fee to get up on stage at Madison Square Gardens and kill himself. Andy Warhol claimed he was planning to do it at a special New Year’s Eve event, but luckily, the plan never came to fruition. But it was clear that booking the musician was essentially agreeing to book a potentially dangerous liability. His debut solo show was no exception to the rule.
He titled the performance “The Murder of a Virgin”, which should have immediately raised alarm bells. It took place at Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, a favourite venue and watering hole of LA’s alternative scene. The venue was familiar with carnage. Writer Richard Cromelin said of the place, “Once inside, everybody’s a star,” adding, “Weekend nights usually see at least one elaborate, tearful fight or breakdown.”
But Iggy Pop was bringing a different type of chaos. When he got on stage, he growled down the mic, “Do you want to see blood?” Then got his guitar player, dressed in a Nazi uniform, to whip him over and over while the crowd watched on.
It gets worse. After that, the musician, at the peak of his addiction, began hurling racial abuse at his crowd, trying to goad someone, anyone, into stabbing him with the knife he’d brought on stage and was now waving about. When no one took him up on the offer, he ended the ‘performance’ by carving a giant, bloody X into his chest.
Unsurprisingly, no one cheered for an encore.
