Here is a new feature here at Speak A&D, the Hero of the Week. This column will shed a light on one of my personal heroes, from art, music, film, literature, or whatever. Someone worthy of praise, admiration, or have been an extraordinary influence on me.
The inaugural Hero of the Week is the living legend Mr. James Osterberg, AKA Iggy Pop.
Iggy came from the wilds of Ann Arbor, Michigan (the only good thing to ever come out of Ann Arbor).
Top Ten Reasons Iggy Pop is the Hero of the Week
10. His small but funny role opposite (another hero) Tom Waits in Cigarettes & Coffee.
9.5 Ewan McGregor played him as Curt Wilde in cult rock film Velvet Goldmine.
9. His 1977 masterpiece The Idiot was still spinning on the turntable when the body of (another hero) Ian Curtis was found after committing suicide.
8.5 Andy Warhol wrote the introduction to his autobiography, I NEED MORE.
8. The reissue of Funhouse by The Stooges featured liner notes by (another hero) Jack White, who totally accurately stated, "I remember screaming in my head, 'This is Detroit!' And that's what Fun House is to me, the very definition of Detroit rock & roll, and by proxy the definitive rock album of America. The record's passion, attitude, power, emotion and destruction are incalculable."
7. Fronted The Stooges, the greatest (at least tied) American rock n roll band of all time. The Stooges personify the punk kill-or-be-killed attitude that informed a million bands after, from The Sex Pistols to Them Crooked Vultures.
6.5. His solo Letterman performance of Mask. Watch the faces in the audience - hilarious.
6. His small but incredibly memorable role in underrated classic Dead Man. Watch this.
5. The moment Ig says, “Jesus, this is Iggy” on Turn Blue from Lust For Life. Makes me laugh every time. Also when he says “Oh you slay me” on Success, and the line "we're gonna get stoned, and uh, run around" from Funtime too. Without fail, I laugh out loud everytime.
4. Worked with Bowie during his legendary Berlin Trilogy. Classics all.
3. Wrote the twin 1977 masterpieces The Idiot and Lust For Life which continue to be an enormous influence on my life and work.
2. The Stooges second album, Funhouse, is a perfect album - the best (tied) American rock n roll album of all time. Oh, and he wrote Raw Power. Yeah.
1. The man has been, and still is, the living embodiment of rock and roll. Nobody does it better.
God bless the Ig, the world is a better place with you in it.
