Posted on 02/25/2007 12:16:36 PM PST by TFFKAMM
THERE are the Stooges, from Ann Arbor, Mich., accidental inventors of punk, in the summer of 1970, on nationwide television. And there’s Iggy Pop, their singer: bare torso and sausage-casing jeans, silver gloves, dog collar, chipped front tooth.
The song is “TV Eye,” and they have gotten wickedly good at their primitive groove — as good as they will ever get. Iggy weaves in and out of the beat: one second borne by the music, one second abstracted from it. Suddenly he does a violent knock-kneed dance and slips into the audience, gone except for his wounded-animal noises.
“There goes Iggy, right into the crowd,” says the host of the special NBC program “Midsummer Rock.” It’s Jack Lescoulie, an announcer on the “Today” show, the Al Roker of his day. In his late 50s he looks like the anti-Stooge: professional, good-natured, well fed, well insured.
After a commercial break we see Iggy crawling on the stage. “Since we broke away for our message, Iggy has been in the crowd and out again three different times,” Mr. Lescoulie says. “They seem to be enjoying it, and so does he.” The camera centers on a scrum of teenagers looking downward. Iggy surfaces, hoists himself up so he’s standing on shoulders, and remains aloft, pointing forward like the prow of a ship. Next he’s scooping something out of a jar, wiping it on himself, flinging it around. “That’s peanut butter,” Mr. Lescoulie says, incredulous.
I’M going to be straight,” Iggy Pop said recently, talking about that film, which circulated for years in certain circles and is now of course available on YouTube. "I was more than a little high..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
There's a great scene in Coffee and Cigarettes with Iggy and Tom Waits.
I had the chance to see Iggy and the Stooges a couple of times back in 68, 69, and then Iggy with David Bowie around 75. Iggy's dad taught English at a local high school, the one I did my student teaching at. I've always been a big Iggy fan.
When I get back to my office, I'm going to post a link to an mp3 of my daughter's and my version of "No Fun." Please don't tell me not to. It would break my heart.
You can tell me if I'm wrong, but I think the Stooges came first--1967-68?
Stooges and MC5 emerged right around the same time. Played a lot of gigs together.
"Iggy Stooge" was like a nickname. Iggy Popp was his stage name. James Osterberg was his real name.
I grew up in Dearborn and the first time I ever heard Spirit was around 1967 while listening to Dick Summer on WBZ Boston late at night. Fresh Garbage was the first song I heard by them.
I saw the MC5 several times and was in 9th grade when Kick Out the Jams came out. You can imagine all the family arguments caused when kids started bringing that album home.
The first time I ever heard of Alice Cooper was when I hear Frank Zappa talking about him in 1968. Then he played at the Detroit Pop Festival in 69. I never saw Coop until 72, though.
I like to listen to Alice's syndicated FM show at night. He's quite an interesting guy and he plays some good non-commercial songs from time to time.
Yeah, 1967 is correct. They were around LONG before the Ramones.
He's just now 60?
He looked 60 20 years ago.
Why not share with us what you think is good, Oh Enlightened One?
Gee.
I guess Woody *might* have been too stoned to comprehend....;))
Yngwie is amazing.
With that attitude (one that I share) it is surprising that you don't like Iggy Pop, at least for his "screw you" attitude!
The thing about Iggy, The Pistols, Ramones, The Nuge, Stuck Mojo et. al is their attitude, not their musical talent or compositional genius.
Your time on FR is immaterial. I will not bust on you for being a Newby, 'cause I was one as well.
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