It's been 40 years since the release of Iggy Pop's The Idiot. Iggy Pop and Lou Reed were already the godfathers of anything alternative, but here was the classic album of Pop's
canon, drenched in synths and minimalistic dancey rhythms, with nary a
guitar to be found. Still, the synthesizer represented an
emergent dystopian modernity, viewed as scientific and dehumanizing, that would
haunt the otherwise poppy 80s through artists like Tubeway Army. And it was on The
Idiot that the roar of guitars was replaced by a funky and robotic foray
into more Apollonian territory, with Pop singing over Kraftwerk-flavored art
rock, tunes with Gothic overtones, and even proto-industrial
electronica. Most of its songs would be celebrated by proponents of the various
genres of post-punk, demonstrating conclusively just how far ahead of its time
the LP was. (On a discordant note, The Idiot was the soundtrack to Joy Division singer Ian
Curtis’ suicide, found spinning in the room where Curtis hanged himself. You can hear Curtis loud and clear in the LP's closer "Mass Production.")
Opener "Sister Midnight" is based on a riff by guitarist Carlos Alomar and, and
reminds one, of Station to Station (Alomar pivotal in that LPs iconic sound). "Calling Sister Midnight," sings Pop to the accompaniment of a gargantuan bass
riff, "Well, I'm an idiot for you." The lyrics all Oedipal over mom.
"Funtime" is a rollicking
number about having a rollicking good time, with Iggy singing, "Hey I'm feeling
lucky tonight/ I'm gonna get stoned and run around" while the backing vocalists
punctuate his every utterance. What says more about every wild teens
informative years than that? Then Alomar
comes through with a pair of savage solos, the latter of which finds the
backing singers crying, “Wooooaaah!” and screaming before the song ends with a
shout. It punctuates the LPs stellar production.
I admit I prefer Bowie's
later, sleeker version of "China Girl," but Pop's bravura vocal performance
really brings the bizarre lyrics (for a love song, anyway) to life. "I'd
stumble into town/Just like a sacred cow/Visions of swastikas in my head" — sentiments one isn't likely to encounter in the average love song. "I'll give you television," he promises his China girl, "I'll give
you eyes of blue,/ I'll give you men who want to rule the world" he croons before she
tells him to shut the fuck up. There’s more to it than the poppy Bowie version
with its classic MTV era video, but despite its familiarity, it is one of the
less important tracks on the LP. Its follow-up "Dum Dum Boys," on the other hand, is the perfect
era song, so Bowie, so Reed, but definitively Pop.
Despite their narcotic
proclivities, David Bowie and Iggy Pop were good for each other.
Their counterintuitive logic led them to clean up their lifestyles by
moving from L.A. to Berlin, the heroin capital of the world (the Hollywood Hills made only of Cocaine), but the duo showed a
surprising degree of restraint while living there. The 18
months they spent together would turn out to be the most productive period in both their lives. Iggy managed to release two albums in 1977. The Idiot, named after the Dostoevsky novel, was a far cry from the
Stooges. Minimalist, electronic and experimental, it was recorded at the famous
Château d’Hérouville in Val d’Oise, before being finished off in Munich and
Berlin. It remains Pop's seminal LP.
The Idiot was followed up
with the better selling Lust for Life. The unlikely musical germ of an idea for
the LP came when Bowie attempted to imitate the Armed Forces Network call
signal with his ukulele (he was apparently waiting for Starsky and Hutch to
come on the television in Germany). The Armed Forces Network "was one of the
few things that was in English on the telly," said Bowie, "and it had this
great pulsating riff at the beginning of the news." The insistent beat was
reinforced by drummer Hunt Sales and his brother Tony on bass, while guitarist
Carlos Alomar said its driving rhythm was so dominating that to play something
on the offbeat was out of the question.
The two LPs together reflect the Berlin period as succinctly as
the iconic trilogy by Bowie; indeed these could have been Bowie LPs with a
guest singer. Not to underrate Pop at all, but Bowie's imprint is clear here,
from the backing vocals to the sad, reflective sax, the sound is the Thin White Duke's. It's
the lyrics that exceed Bowie's efforts in the
period. Like Springsteen, Bowie's best lyrics (particularly on Hunky Dory) were
in the initial parts of his career. By "Heroes", the lyrics were less integral,
while on Low, nearly non-existent.
While I discovered Iggy
Pop through Lust for Life, it's the Idiot that I turn to 40 years on. Of all of Iggy Pop's albums, including those with The
Stooges, The Idiot is by far the darkest, yet the most accessible. It creeps under your skin
and sets up camp, creeping up to your psyche, just to give it a tap every now
and then. It may give you nightmares about disco zombies, incest, Nazis or
being chopped up in an assembly line. The Idiot may have been Pop's new beginning,
but it is certainly not for beginners. Ease your way in, but make sure you get there.
