Project 1001: The Idiot by Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is a legendary singer. I’m not sure that was something he considered when he started more than 50 years ago or if he did consider it thought becoming a legend was even possible. Hell, he may have thought as a young man he wouldn’t make it to 2024. Who knows? In any event, this album was the first music fans heard from Iggy subsequent to his self-imposed stint in a mental institution after the Stooges imploded.1 Because it sounds different than the Stooges, some fans may have been wondering, “What the hell, Iggy?!”. But for me this record, produced by David Bowie, shows that Iggy was more than a rebellious, angry bastard looking to tear everything down. He showed that he’s a serious artist and was in this thing for the long haul, however long that may turn out to be. There is lots to like here including the original “China Girl”, which would go on to be a big hit for Bowie a few years later. My Rating:
“The first song cut for what became Iggy Pop's seminal 1977 solo debut album, The Idiot, the Oedipal plod of ‘Sister Midnight’ was a relentless slice of mutant funk”, as described by Dave Thompson for AllMusic.2
Kris Needs wrote a favorable review praising The Idiot for ZigZag magazine in 1977:
This new Iggy is far removed from the screaming demon on Fun House and Raw Power. I love those albums, but a bloke has got to move on, and Iggy has.
"Yeah, I'm almost like him", he screams in the final seconds of 'Mass Production', the closing cut. You sure are, Ig. Very much like "him" – if you take "him" to be David Bowie, the bloke who handled keyboards on the tour. This album half belongs to David – he co-wrote all the tracks, arranged and produced it, as well as being featured on various instruments, (though it don't say so on the cover).
It's another Mott The Hoople job. When Bowie wrote and produced 'All The Young Dudes' it was like he was projecting himself through Ian Hunter and the group...like he'd sucked them in and spat them out as miniatures of himself.
Same thing's happened here. Sometimes Iggy sings just like David, especially when he goes down deep. The backings could be straight off Low (which was recorded later at the same studios – The Chateau and Hansa in Berlin). Ain't nothing wrong with that, 'cos I think Low is great...I love that dense, pounding, scarey sound which also characterises this album. But it's Iggy's show, and I'm glad it's back on the road.
This is a very strange album, morbid, obscure and unsettling. Like Low it's aimed squarely at the cold, mechanical future. An attempt to recycle the 'Search And Destroy' style on record might have sounded posed and hackneyed in the light of the New Wave. Iggy was unique in 1972. Now he's moved on.3
Robert Christgau’s 1977 review:
The line on Iggy is that this comeback album with Bowie and friends proves his creative power has dissipated. I say bullshit. The Stooges recorded prophetic music, but only some of it was great: because Iggy's skill at working out his musical concept didn't match his energy and inspiration, the attempted dirges fell too flat and some of the rockers never blasted off as intended. Dissipated or not, the new record works as a record. By now, Iggy barbs his lyrics with an oldtimer's irony, which suits the reflective tone Bowie has imposed on the music just fine. In retrospect, it will appear that this was Iggy's only alternative to autodestruct. Not true, perhaps, but retrospect favors artifacts. As do I. A-4
The review by Rolling Stone, also from 1977:
Iggy Pop has always been the greatest rock comedian. As leader and frontispiece for that most extreme wing of rock nihilism represented by the Stooges, he at once defined and ridiculed the options left to punk rockers after “My Generation.” The nihilist attitude meant plenty when it was a reaction to the pop status quo best exemplified by Dick Clark, but once nihilism itself became the status quo it was trivialized into mere decadence, a fashionable synonym for boredom.
Iggy’s criticism is a brilliant, if depressing, argument in defense of that much debated assertion that rock is dead. The Idiot, recorded by Bowie, sung in a tired growl excoriated from Jim Morrison via Ray Manzarek, and steeped in the so-called “minimalist” ambiance currently so fashionable among young bands who’ve spent too much time listening to Iggy and taking him seriously, is the most savage indictment of rock posturing ever recorded.
Iggy Pop has always been the greatest rock comedian. As leader and frontispiece for that most extreme wing of rock nihilism represented by the Stooges, he at once defined and ridiculed the options left to punk rockers after “My Generation.” The nihilist attitude meant plenty when it was a reaction to the pop status quo best exemplified by Dick Clark, but once nihilism itself became the status quo it was trivialized into mere decadence, a fashionable synonym for boredom.
Iggy’s criticism is a brilliant, if depressing, argument in defense of that much debated assertion that rock is dead. The Idiot, recorded by Bowie, sung in a tired growl excoriated from Jim Morrison via Ray Manzarek, and steeped in the so-called “minimalist” ambiance currently so fashionable among young bands who’ve spent too much time listening to Iggy and taking him seriously, is the most savage indictment of rock posturing ever recorded.
Iggy’s point, of course, is that rock is better off dead, but his is not the sentimental, transcendental approach to death. The Idiot is, on the contrary, a necrophiliac’s delight, and Pop’s next move may well go beyond fleshtearing into live barbecue.5
Stooges fans were not universally on board with the updated musical direction of Iggy on The Idiot. Simon Reynolds wrote,
“How you feel about The Idiot probably depends on the sequence in which you encountered Iggy’s work. If, like me, you’re neurologically wedded to the unleashed Iggy of The Stooges and Fun House…you’ll never be entirely comfortable with the poise and control that Bowie encouraged Iggy to adopt for The Idiot…overall, Stooges fans keep waiting for Iggy to cut loose…Too often on The Idiot it feels like he’s been forced to wear a tux and bow tie, and the effect is haggard and enervated, or like he’s crooning through a belch.
Still, The Idiot was hugely influential. The jump from Raw Power to this suppressed, inhibited style resonated with Briths post-punk bands like Magazine and Joy Division. 6
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Seth Jacobson wrote:
Bowie, who had worked with Iggy Pop on 1974’s Raw Power pulled together a band and brought Pop to Berlin, where the Thin White Duke was mining a rich seam of inspiration. Out went the wild abandon of the Stooges’ raucous guitar and rhythm section, and a more cerebral, subdued sound developed in the songs the pair co-wrote. Keyboards and bass featured heavily, leading Iggy to dub the sound “James Brown meets Kraftwerk”.7
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 169. The Idiot by Iggy Pop
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #728
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on March 18, 1977. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star Is Born)”9
• Number one album: A Star Is Born (Soundtrack) by Barbra Streisand & Kris Kristofferson10
• Number one movie: Rocky by John G. Avildsen11
• Most watched TV programs: Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, M*A*S*H, Charlie’s Angels, The Six Million Dollar Man, Baretta, One Day at a Time, Three’s Company, All in the Family, Welcome Back Kotter, The Bionic Woman, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie12
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Trinity by Leon Uris13
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Roots by Alex Haley14
Some other albums released that month
• Foreigner by Foreigner
• Go for Your Guns by The Isley Brothers
• Dandy in the Underworld by T.Rex
• Islands by The Band
• Live at the London Palladium by Marvin Gaye
• Welcome to My World by Elvis Presley
• Every Face Tells a Story by Cliff Richard
• Let There Be Rock by AC/DC
• Whatever Happened to Slade by Slade
• Works Volume 1 by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
• Commodores by Commodores
• Something Magic by Procol Harum
• Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk
• Harbor by America
• Love Storm by Tavares
• Angel by Ohio Players
• Anytime...Anywhere by Rita Coolidge15
Sport
• Mar 20 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Mark Hayes wins in windy conditions, 2 strokes ahead of runner-up Mike McCullough.
• Mar 26 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Delta State beat Louisiana State University 68-55 in Minneapolis.
• Mar 27 American tennis star Chris Evert wins her 4th and final WTA Tour Championship 2–6, 6–1, 6–1 against England's Sue Barker at Madison Square Garden, NYC.
• Mar 28 39th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Marquette beats North Carolina, 67-59; Warriors' first title; coach Al McGuire retires. Butch Lee named MOP. 16
Notable Births
• Mar 11 Andre Nickatina [Adams], American rapper ("Conversation with a Devil "), born in San Francisco, California.
• Mar 11 Becky Hammon, American Basketball HOF point guard (WNBA: NY Liberty, SA Stars; Russia Olympics 2008, 12) and coach (first female to coach an NBA team; SA Spurs 2020; LV Aces), born in Rapid City, South Dakota.
• Mar 12 Ben Kenney, American rock guitarist and bassist (The Roots, 2000-03; Incubus, 2003-present), born in Brielle, New Jersey.
• Mar 17 Ebon Moss-Bachrach, American actor (The Bear), born in Amherst, Massachusetts.
• Mar 17 Richard Swift [Ochoa], American singer and songwriter (The Black Keys), born in California (d. 2018).
• Mar 24 Jessica Chastain, American Academy Award-winning actress (Mama; The Help; The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and film producer, born in Sacramento, California.
• Mar 24 Matthew Lopez, American playwright and screenwriter (1st Latino writer to win Tony for Best Play for "The Inheritance"), born in Panama City, Florida.
• Mar 24 Natalie Hemby (Wrucke), American Grammy Award-winning country music songwriter (Miranda Lambert - "Only Prettier"; "Automatic"; Toby Keith - "Drinks After Work"), and singer (The Highwomen), born in Bloomington, Illinois.
• Mar 24 Olivia Burnette, American actress (The Torkelsons), born in San Clemente, California.
• Mar 25 Édgar Ramírez, Venezuelan actor (Carlos), born in San Cristóbal, Venezuela.17
Historical Events
• Mar 11 Hanafi Siege, 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., journalist and police officer killed, after 39-hour standoff remaining hostages released.
• Mar 12 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet bans the Christian-Democratic Party.
• Mar 12 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat pledges to regain Arab territory from Israel.
• Mar 15 US House of Representatives begins 90 day test of televising its sessions.
• Mar 16 US President Jimmy Carter pleads for a Palestinian homeland.
• Mar 18 US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea & Cambodia.
• Mar 18 Vietnam hands over remains of 12 KIA to US.
• Mar 20 Parisians elect former PM Jacques Chirac as 1st mayor in a century.
• Mar 23 Elvis Presley begins his final concert tour.
• Mar 24 Lily Tomlin is the first woman to appear solo in a Broadway show in "Appearing Nitely" (special Tony award 1977).18
Notable Deaths
• Mar 14 Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (Freedom Summer, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), dies of breast cancer at 59.
• Mar 19 Buck Shaw, American College Football HOF coach (NC State, Nevada, Santa Clara, California, Air Force; NFL: SF 49ers; NFL Championship 1960 Philadelphia Eagles), dies of cancer at 77.
• Mar 22 Hymie Shertzer, American jazz and session saxophonist (Benny Goodman; NBC's Tonight Show), dies at 67.
• Mar 23 Bennie Green, American swing jazz and soul trombonist (Earl Hines), dies at 53.19
Jacobson, Seth, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 387.
Reynolds, Simon, Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and It’s Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century, p. 554.
Jacobson.
Ibid.