IGGY POP: A HEART FULL OF NAPALM

by John Dizon

Iggy Pop, a rock and roll icon who has survived and prospered throughout its evolution from the late '60's to the dawn of the new millenium, stands alongside Lou Reed as the most influential figure of the Punk Revolution. His unique approach to rock has been the stuff that legends are made of. Despite enduring both the lean years and the vilification of his peers for being a generation ahead of his time, this trailblazer is finally receiving the recognition he has so richly deserved.

Born James Jewel Osterburg, he was born and raised in a blue-collar environment in his native Michigan. He lived with his parents in a trailer park located along an upper-class school district. Despite his academic ability facilitated by a photographic memory, Osterburg found himself ostracized by the rich kids and became a loner. He fell in love with the Sixties rock scene and soon earned a reputation for being one of those who `turned on and tuned out'. He completed high school and went on to the University of Michigan, dropping out after just one semester.

One of Iggy's favorite anecdotes provides insight as to the character he was creating for the thunderous career ahead of him. At the age of eighteen, during the Vietnam Era, he reported to the local draft board where he was scheduled for a medical exam. A spark of inspiration resulted in the generously-endowed Iggy appearing naked before the physician with a massive erection. He was excused from the service shortly thereafter.

Nineteen-year-old Osterberg relocated to Chicago where he broke into the music business as a drummer for local soul bands. Platinum-haired James was regarded as an exotic oddity and did well, but his desire for the center stage spotlight was overwhelming. He decided to return to the garage scene in Detroit, the underground rock scene burgeoning despite the awesome impact of Motown Records in the music industry. He recruited Ron and Scott Asheton, on guitar and drums respectively, then took on the name Iggy Stooge. The legend of Iggy and the Stooges was born.

Iggy's penchant for the exotic and the bizarre quickly earned the fledgling band a reputation along the local club scene. They eventually got a showcase gig at the Michigan Union, where they were discovered by Elektra Records agent Danny Fields. He was there to scout the heralded MC5, but was fascinated by the opening act instead. At the end of the set, the Stooges had left the stage, their amps still roaring feedback. Iggy was still out there lurching about in a maternity dress, face painted white. Fields persuaded an Elektra bigwig to attend their next show, and the Stooges were signed to a contract deal shortly thereafter.

Their first album, The Stooges, was produced by Velvet Underground wizard John Cale. Two of the songs, "No Fun" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" were to become punk classics nearly a decade later. "1969" was a motif which would extend into a second Stooges album markedly different from the first.

Cale cleaned up the Stooges' sound, which rendered their feedback-laden sonic attack impotent. It provided insight as to the resons behind his Velvets' split, but did little to enhance the Stooges' marketability. Nevertheless, Elektra decided that the L.A. scene was more suited for what the Stooges were doing onstage. They proceeded to send the band westward where Iggy became an underground star overnight.

Producer Don Gallucci went further out on the limb than Cale, allowing the Stooges more artistic abandon on Side Two of their second album, Funhouse. As a result, the Stooges delivered with a vengeance. "1970" was a feedback volcano that spewed its virulence across the tracks, directly into "Funhouse" and "L.A. Blues". It seemed to lay the groundwork for their next album, which was to become the most important work in punk history. With Funhouse, the Stooges had finally captured their skull-crushing stage sound on vinyl and had brought a new evolutionary stage of the `garage' sound directly into the music market.

It seemed as if success was going to destroy Iggy Stooge. His incredible stage show had earned him the admiration of Doors' singer Jim Morrison, as well as fellow upstart and Detroit refugee Alice Cooper. He became drinking buddies with both rockers, and was being exposed to more drugs and alcohol than the Stooges thought possible back in Michigan. As a result, the Stooges seemed to be fading into oblivion as Iggy became more concerned with life in the fast lane than on the stage.

The demise of his close friend Jim Morrison quite possibly led to Iggy's depression and nosedive that followed soon afterward. The surviving Doors had seriously considered recruiting Iggy as their new front man. The negotiations had come so close that Iggy had even dyed his hair jet-black in anticipating this major career move. Only the Doors had decided to call it a career, and Iggy was seemingly back on the streets on a path of self-destruction.

It was the advent of glitter rock that inadvertantly resurrected Iggy's career. This new phase of rock and roll evolution brought England's David Bowie onto the scene, who stormed America with his transsexual `Ziggy Stardust' character. Bowie's newfound fame enabled him to marshal the talents of the biggest names in underground rock along his own road to notoriety. One of the stars he was most eager to make contact with was Iggy Stooge.

By 1972, Iggy was flat broke and living in the streets of LA. He recalls having to wear shorts underneath his jeans because of the size of the holes in the crotch. Locating Iggy was a task formidable enough for a private investigator, but eventually Bowie's connections at Columbia Records were able to track him down. They took him to breakfast that morning, and it was said that he wolfed down three plates of food before accompanying them back to their downtown offices.

Bowie and Iggy hit it off famously, and eventually Iggy was on his way to an enormous comeback. He changed his name to Iggy Pop, and quickly reestablished contact with the Asheton brothers. Only this time they joined forces with guitarist James Williamson, whose phenomenal ability seemed to have been destined for this fateful event in rock history.

Bowie's production company, MainMan, gave Iggy free rein behind the mixing board. It allowed him and Williamson the opportunity to lay down some of the heaviest tracks ever recorded within the underground genre. As a result, Raw Power,

the Stooges' third album, was released in 1973:

By this time, Creem Magazine, renowned for their vision and insight in bringing news of the rock world to its enormous adolescent following, had jumped onto the glitter bandwagon. Only they saw something even bigger coming down the pike, and immediately recognized the Bowie/Iggy/Lou Reed triumvirate as its prophets. This caused an furor among the rock establish-ment, most of whom relied heavily on such fanzines to promote record sales. The advent of disco music led to a schism between the rock factions, and Iggy became one of its most notorious revolutionaries.

Creem went so far as to help distribute Raw Power throughout the industry, with its efforts serving to widen the rift between the groups. A number of Southern rock bands (who were also trying to barge into the power vacuum) mailed back defaced copies of the album with hate mail graphically describing their dislike of the work. Rumors of members of Deep Purple having tied Iggy up in a blanket and threw him out a hotel window during a post-gig bash began to resurface. Nonetheless, the Stooges had made history and were going to see it through to the end.

The music industry's backlash against Iggy's notoriety began to take its toll. The Stooges began a hit-and-run campaign across the country, fueled by drugs and booze as they blasted their way through club after club. The stories grew weirder and weirder as the legend continued to grow. In Ohio, future Dead Boys' singer Stiv Bators handed Iggy a jar of peanut butter onstage, which he proceeded to smear all over his body before completing the set. In NYC, Iggy opened a show at Max's Kansas City by diving chest-first (Iggy always performs barechested) onto a stage littered with broken glass.

It reached a climax at the Michigan Palace in 1975, where a biker gang had come to jeer the Stooges out of the club. The Stooges weathered a storm of hurled bottles, a recording of which was captured on a bootleg tape eventually released as Metallic KO. Finally a 300-pound biker ended the show, along with the Stooges' career, by knocking Iggy out cold onstage.

The fledgling punk bands, just beginning their revolution in NYC, immediately held Iggy up as their new role model and punk icon. The Dictators began playing "Search and Destroy" as their show-stopper, while the Ducky Boys blasted "Raw Power" all over Brooklyn. Richard Hell and the Voidoids did "I Wanna Be Your Dog", while Stiv Bators became a virtual Iggy clone with the Dead Boys. Their rendition of "1970" helped them blow the Damned into oblivion during the Brits' debut at CBGB's in a memorable showdown. The Sex Pistols chose "No Fun" as one of their first EP cover tunes en route to their own invasion of America. Despite the fact that Iggy had once again retreated into the wings alongside David Bowie, his spirit remained onstage wherever a punk rocker hammered an instrument.

Iggy's swan song came in The Idiot, released in '77 under Bowie's influence. Bowie was experimenting with the new synthesized New Wave sound, resulting in a major break from the traditional atomic guitar attack which was Iggy's trademark. "China Girl", ironically, became Iggy's first breakthrough on the mainstream radio airwaves, while "Dum Dum Boys" seemed to be an ode to the Stooges with whom he had broke ties at last.

Just as for Lou Reed, Iggy's defection from punk led to mainstream recognition at last. He made a cameo appearance with Paul Newman in The Color Of Money, then had a main role in Cry Baby with Johnny Depp. He has been a guest of David Letterman, and has had several video projects aired on MTV.

Like Lou Reed, Iggy's legend as a `godfather of punk' enables him to stand alone as a pioneer in his field whose work inspired the final chapter in the history of rock and roll. His legacy will forever be remembered, not only among those who recall the `garage rock' revolution in Detroit during the Motown era, but by those who document the Punk Revolution along with the rise and fall of disco music and progressive rock in the Seventies.

Nobody could've done it better.