Iggy Pop Shares Thoughts on Mentor/Producer David Bowie in New Interview
Rock singers David Bowie, right, and Iggy Pop in Germany, 1977. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)
In a New York Times interview published Jan. 13, legendary proto-punk musician Iggy Pop shared his thoughts on the passing of 69-year-old David Bowie, the friend and collaborator that would kick off Pop’s solo career producing his first two albums following his tenure with the Stooges.
“The friendship was basically that this guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation — simple as that,” noted the 68-year-old Pop, adding that Bowie was “the [only] one who … actually really liked what I did and could get on board with it.”
The two artists shared a long friendship, having initially met in 1971. Five years after their meeting, Bowie invited Pop to travel with and observe him on tour. In 1977, he helmed production for Pop’s solo debut album, The Idiot. “He subsumed my personality, lyrically, on that first album,” Pop said of the professional collaboration.
Pop also shared Bowie’s contribution to what is most likely Pop’s most recognized solo hit, “Lust For Life.” The single, off the Bowie-produced album of the same title, was conceived while hanging out in Bowie’s Berlin apartment in 1977. While waiting for a broadcast of the sitcom “Starsky & Hutch,” the pair’s ears were caught by the network’s call signal: “Beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep,” recalled Pop.
The rhythm of the signal became the backbone of the tune, with Bowie whipping up a chord progression on ukulele and advising Pop, “‘Call it ‘Lust for Life,’ write something up.’”
Overall, Pop – a Detroit-bred, self-described “hick from the sticks” – recalls his friend as a provider of invaluable cultural advice. “I learned things that I still use today,” he noted. “I met the Beatles and the Stones, and this one and that one, and this actress and this actor and all these powerful people through him.
“And every once in a while, now at least, I’m a little less rustic when I have to deal with those people.”
Bowie died on Jan. 10, two days following his 69th birthday, following an 18-month battle with cancer.
