The band Iggy Pop compared to Christ: “Kind of like Jesus”
There are a number of cities in the US that have earned the right to claim that they’re the most important in the history of American music, but considering it appears as a David alongside the Goliaths of New York City and Los Angeles, Detroit has done an exceptional job of ensuring that people recognise its significance.
The first association that many people make between Detroit and music is the dominance of Motown, Berry Gordy’s influential label that was home to countless chart-dominating performers such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder, among others. However, as the landscape of the former ‘Motor City’ shifted, so did the identity of its culture, with more modern musical movements such as techno and hip hop both establishing significant bases within the city.
However, in the midst of all of these important genre permutations lies punk rock, which, while not the scene the city is best known for, still has a rich history within its limits. While the emergence of the MC5 and Death in the early 1970s showed that Detroit was remarkably ahead of the rest of the country in the adoption of this more raucous style, there’s one act that everyone looks to as being the godfathers of the genre, whether within the city or beyond.
The Stooges, fronted by the pioneering figure of Iggy Pop, are not just responsible for having put Detroit punk on the map, but for having been years ahead of most other bands who proclaimed to be the true progenitors. But, while those who were part of the wider movement that emerged in the 1970s purported to be taking this approach as an act of rebellion against the music around them, The Stooges instead chose to embrace it.
Though Iggy may have been instrumental in the development of punk, it’s evident that he’s always had a deep admiration and appreciation for everything else that the city has produced and is a keen follower of modern music to this day. He particularly tends to show a fondness for those who appear to be flying the same flag as he did, embracing the punk spirit while also incorporating external influences so as not to limit themselves.
It feels fitting, then, that modern-day post-punk bastions and fellow Detroiters Protomartyr would ask Pop to write a mini-essay to introduce their forthcoming seventh album, Hotel Usona, and in the midst of his eloquent appraisal of the band, he made a weighty proclamation about their messianic qualities.
“What is a Protomartyr?” Pop asks in his stream of consciousness, “I don’t really know, but I imagine it may refer to an earthly being who wants a little more than the usual shit out of life. A person or persons who want to be part of something beautiful and interesting, with the understanding that you may pay a price for that, and that others who come after will have an easier time. Kind of like Jesus.”
While it’s not quite at the same level as John Lennon’s infamous quote about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus Christ, likening the band to the Lord is testament to just how important they’ve become as the modern face of Detroit’s punk scene. With a markedly moody demeanour about them, pugilistic riffs and rhythms coming from all angles and an almost nihilistic philosophy about frontman Joe Casey’s lyricism, drawing a parallel between Protomartyr and Jesus feels almost antithetical, but in spite of the band’s bleakness, what they offer in abundance is hope for the future of the city’s ever-inventive music scene.
A protomartyr by definition is the first individual to die for a cause, and in the case of the band who take this moniker, the cause they’re dying for is the sanctity of their city’s musical legacy. They might not be the first to do it, but you’d hope they’ll be recognised and worshipped for their efforts in centuries to come. Kind of like Jesus.
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