Iggy Pop

**James Newell Osterberg Jr.** (born April 21, 1947), better known as **Iggy Pop**, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Designated the "Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of influential proto-punk band The Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited multiple times since.

Initially playing a raw, primitive style of rock and roll, the Stooges sold few records in their original incarnation and gained a reputation for their confrontational performances, which often involved acts of self-mutilation by Pop. He had a long collaborative and personal friendship with David Bowie over the course of his career, beginning with the Stooges' album Raw Power in 1973. With both musicians having relocated to West Berlin to wean themselves off their respective drug addictions, Pop began his solo career by collaborating with Bowie on the 1977 albums The Idiot and Lust for Life with Pop usually contributing the lyrics.

Throughout his career, Pop is well known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics, poetic lyrics and distinctive voice. He was one of the first performers to do a stage-dive and popularized the activity. Pop, who traditionally (but not exclusively) performs bare-chested, also performed such stage theatrics as rolling around in broken glass and exposing himself to the crowd.

## Links to Kershaw

Kershaw in his autobiography, No Off Switch and on the No Off Switch blogsite mentioned an event where he requested the singer to do Louie Louie at a gig in Leeds University, which he helped organised:

> *"On the afternoon of the gig, approaching soundcheck time, I saw the familiar huddle that was always the band’s arrival making its way down the Refec towards me and my Crew buddies by the stage. I stepped forward to introduce myself. It was Iggy all right and I extended my hand and said hello to him and his band members. He was charm itself. During the soundcheck we were standing together by the stage, Iggy waiting to try out his vocals. “Do you still do Louie Louie?” I asked him. It was one of my favourite rock & roll songs, I explained, fail-safe in its simplicity, that I collected versions of it and I told him how much I’d enjoyed his reading of it on Metallic KO. “Nah, I’m afraid not,” he said. “We haven’t played that in a long time.” Cut to seven hours later and the Refec floor is bouncing and booming as thousands of feet pound the parquet for an encore. The band climbs back on stage, the crowd goes wild again and Iggy, now stripped to the waist, leans on the microphone stand and leers at his disciples. There is a hush. He looks across at me, winks, and turns to the band. “Okay, you guys. How about we give ’em Louie Louie and get outta this goddam fucking whorehouse?” BA-BA-BAM, BA-BAM, BA-BA-BAM… The Refec goes nuts. A few minutes later, winding past my position by the house lights, and on his way downstairs to the dressing room, Iggy gave me a hard, friendly punch in the chest. And a big grin. “Betcha the best fucking gig we ever played, Andy!”* [1]
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## Shows Played

   1986
* 14 August 1986: Search And Destroy (LP - Raw Power) Columbia
* 28 October 1986 (John Peel): Blah-Blah-Blah (LP - Blah-Blah-Blah) A&M

2004
* 15 February 2004: Louie Louie (2xCD - Metallic KO) Jungle

## External Links

* Wikipedia
* Discogs
* Official Website