Iggy Pop-"The Idiot"
 

My dad gave me a bunch of vinyl for christmas including new stuff as well as a bunch of "oldies". Included in this was Iggy Pop's "the Idiot". Before he forced me to listen to it, my dad told me that he used to piss of his most indie homies with this record and i would like it. We listened to it; it's fucking insane! Everything goes perfectly together in a totally fucked up way. The whole thing sounds really dark, the production is extremely murky and bass heavy. This is made even more enjoyable by the odd synth noises and 80's drum sound, the whole thing is so cool and out there. Really , this record sounds like nothing else..it's such a DIRGE, its so slow and muggy sounding. The best thing on here is undoubtably the last track, Mass Production. It starts out with a echoed synth growl somewhere in the desert, or sea.. whatever. The sound gets louder and finaly hunt sales comes in with one of his messy, inventive fills and kicks into the most awesome "dirge" ever. the bass is heavy and unrelenting, Iggy howls in a haunting monotone. The best part is like halfway though when these weird out-of-tune "yow" noises take over. It's awesome.
Just wanted to know if anyone else had any love for this record/ song?:o

I've been hooked on Lust For Life, but the Idiot is awesome too.

That's exactly the point. I do think it's records like this one that made punk rock worthwhile. I mean the majority of so-called punk music is just boring and unchallenging, and I don't mean it as a criticism of their musicianship, but rather an overall lack of creativity. A lot of those groups were good for maybe one or two songs, and a lot of the time not even that. The hostile mentality toward chart music is also off-putting. Iggy sounds great singing over beats that wouldn't feel out of place on a disco record.

Anyway what I'm probably trying to say here is that I really like the Birthday Party a great deal, because that's usually what I do in the Non-Sonic Sounds section. But this is a thread about "The Idiot", which is good too.

Also, Stroszek is a great movie. It is my favorite movie. I guess it's considered a bit depressing, but when I watch it now I just think that it's very good.

I doubt I have any thoughts concerning its relation to the Berlin trilogy. There is much love for Bowie from me, though I still prefer Scary Monsters over any of the Berlin albums. That's not to put them down though, as I enjoy them all.

Bowie is my all time fave.

I love Low, and Lodger is awesome. Heroes doesn't really do it as much for me. Probably the least excessible of the trilogy.

For me with Bowie it goes something like. . .

1. Diamond Dogs
2. Low
3. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
4. Station to Station
5. Lodger
6. everything else

No one should like Diamond Dogs that much. It has some good tunes like We Are The Dead, but it also has crap like everything else. I'm exagerrating here but I hope you get my point.

More love for Scary Monsters (not a fan I take it?) and Station to Station. And Hunky Dory, which has Quicksand, which might be my favorite song of his.

I haven't listened to Scary Monsters in a long time. . . lost my copy. The title track is good, but I've always considered Ashes to Ashes to be a pretty cheesy song.

There isn't a single bad song on Diamond Dogs.

Future Legend- Awesome
Diamond Dogs- Awesome
Sweet Thing-Fucking Awesome
Candidate- Really Fucking Awesome
Sweet Thing reprise- fucking awesome
Rebel, Rebel- fucking awesome
When You Rock 'N Roll With Me- cute
We Are the Dead- Drop dead fucking awesome
1984- cool funky dancy tune
Big Brother- great/awesome song- I love the mellotron choral voices
Chant of the Ever-Circling Skeletal Family- the weakest track on the album, but a fitting outro for Big Brother


It isn't as revolutionary an album as Low per se. . . but it is my favorite. I used to listen to it when I was 5 or 6 because I liked how he howls in Diamond Dogs.

I'm gonna rep you for equating punk purists to retards.

I think that is sort of a hard argument to make, that "the idiot" didn't have any influence. By no means was it the first album that brought those kind of vibes to the table though.


By different mentality do you mean a retard mentality? The mentality that all music has to sound the same? The mentality that drives these kids to go see "punk bands" that sound like really shitty versions of Suicidal Tendencies and Black Flag even though it is 2007 not 1987? I mean, I fucking love punk. . . but I am not gonna listen to a bunch of new bands that are just living in the fucking past. I'd rather listen to the bands from the past and live there myself.

Iggy was never financially stable until Bowie's "Let's Dance" came out, because China Girl became a huge hit. He definitely never sold out. . . he got signed to a RCA because Bowie got them to, he didn't change his sound to get on RCA (and once he got on RCA, supposedly he spent his advance all on drugs.)


I don't really judge people by their music taste, but once I'm friends with them I'll start insulting it.

There was a time when I didn't like Ashes to Ashes. How wrong I was. Then again, maybe I just like it when he sings "Time and again I tell myself / I'll stay clean tonight" because that part is quite good.

But the rest of the album is even better really. I get stuck on It's No Game (Pt. 1 is much better than Pt. 2), Up the Hill Backwards, Kingdom Come, and Because You're Young.

Up the Hill Backwards reminds me of a song from this Bible cartoon video I used to watch when I was very young called The Amazing Book.

I don't like Rebel Rebel. It has never struck me as being a good song. It has some good lines but I never have the urge to listen to it. It's okay when he starts to sing You've got your transmission and etc, but the rest of the song doesn't do anything for me.

EDIT: It did make for a funny joke on Reno 911 however.

i think this should settle the whole "punk purist" discussion.


long live the minutemen

I like The idiot more than Lust for life.

Regarding the "electronic stuff", David and Iggy were hugely into Kraftwerk (and Can and Neu!) at the time. What's more I read that Kraftwerk met Iggy and told him they were big fans of the Stooges.

luxinterior you have great taste !

not listened to the idiot since my record player's stylus died - but remember it as bloody good - as is lust for life - possibly better than lust for life on mature (?) reflection
but without Bowie/Eno combo working with Iggy would he not have become the cartoon Stooge that he has become now, only earlier
but it's a dollar, i guess - shame that it is so... so... so Green Day *






*cockney rhyming slang for gay

Maybe Rebel Rebel is a guy thing. I think it is a really sexy song.