The Iggy and Lou Interviews Part 2
Hooray Success! That Iggy Pop is a Delightful Young Man
Little Jimmy Osterberg’s mother raised him right. Sure, the shirtless glam rock demon better know as Iggy Pop might have cut himself on stage and he maybe took out his giant penis and let it vibrate on an amplifier and he might have even introduced stage diving to a group of unwitting fans, maybe causing a contusion or two. But when it was time to sit down across from a talk show host and the cameras were rolling, the man was all class and charm. Don’t believe me? Well, I got some videotronic proof all cued up for you. For a self-proclaimed “inane dork” who identified with Alfred E Newman and Howdy Doody, once Iggy settled in for a sit down he was surprisingly intelligent, engaging and downright polite. Seriously. Check it out.
Iggy Explains Rock n’ Roll to Tom Snyder
Quick note- this entire episode is in the Tubin’ Linx below. It’s a pretty bizarre watch. Iggy follows a seven or eight year old Ricky Schroeder!
From the jump, this is the clip that best illustrates the stark contrast between brusque Lou Reed and affable Iggy. Snyder drops all kinds of snark bait from the very beginning.
But Iggy and his music are only intrusive to squares, and my man Tom is hip.
Well, he’s not too cool to ask about Iggy’s monitors and more importantly, Iggy is not too cool to provide a patient and thorough answer. If Reed was in his place here, he would have dropped a 400 megaton spite bomb on poor Mr Snyder.
Instead, he casually bleeds and drinks his wine, careful not to let his missing tooth make him spill. When watching footage of Iggy from this era, one begins to notice that sometimes he has both front teeth and others he does not. That’s our Iggy!
Like everyone else, Tom has to ask about the self-mutilation. Iggy knows this comes with the territory. There’s an old showbiz adage, if you cut yourself as part of your act, eventually Tom Snyder’s gonna ask you about it. That’s how it goes, right?
And then he delivers that whole lecture on Dionysian vs Apollonian art. Go ahead, Professor Osterberg! In all of these interviews you can see a through line of silliness and self-deprecation mixed with sincerity, confidence and pride in his art. He’s such a sweet boy! How can you not love him?!
Stupid Igg Tricks
Iggy and Dave. Just two Midwestern boys done good shootin’ the shit. Pop was a fairly frequent guest of Dave’s on NBC and CBS, and you can see why. They get along quite well. You can tell Iggy likes it there. He sings with Paul and the World’s Most Dangerous Band instead of bringing his own.
Letterman starts with asking him about his formative experience of living in a Michigan trailer park. Now this is one of the most fascinating things I learned about Iggy Pop when I saw Gimme Danger (trailer linked below)- to look at him and to have just a cursory understanding of what he’s about you would assume that he hated his parents and ran away at fifteen. Nope. He loves his mom and dad and spends time on the golf course with Poppa Pop when he gets off tour.
A quick word about Iggy trying not to curse on network television- he’s not good at it. Circumventing the word shit with that whole flush the toilet bit on Snyder and here with the P-R-I, etc...Love it.
And another mention of self-mutilation and a dental debacle.
I think the audience is surprised that a guy who looks like this would use terms like “cross the proscenium” and “hebrephenic.”
The whole thing about the overweight girls doesn’t age well, but it was 1982.
When they talk about Bowie, Iggy’s gratitude and admiration really shine through. That moment when Dave tries to pivot to golf is pretty precious and awkward.
I will say I’d give my left pinky toe to play golf with Iggy Pop.
There are a couple more Iggy on Dave clips below- enjoy!
Talkin’ Nihilism with David Bowie and Dinah Shore
Now this one is truly one of the strangest combinations to ever hit the tube, Iggy and David Bowie on The Dinah Shore Show. They perform two songs from his extremely dark and twisted record The Idiot on the squarest of afternoon talk shows. The dynamic between Dinah and Iggy is instantly sweet, she treats him like a supportive but concerned aunt, “I’m gonna call you Jimmy....”
Accompanying Dinah on the couch is vaudeville legend Rose Marie, who by this point had seen it all twice. She may not be Iggy’s ideal audience, but I think she appreciates that he gets an audience’s attention.
I’m pretty sure this is the first and only time in daytime talk history that the phrase “I love nihilism” has been uttered. That David Bowie was a trailblazer even when he wasn’t trying!
I love when Dinah compliments Iggy for committing violence on himself instead of others as if Emily Post would approve- “That’s considerate.”
Not sure if I want to know that story about Iggy leaving that 13 year old girl at the airport. Runs counter to my “Iggy is a nice boy” narrative.
Now Bowie pointing out that his music is neck up while Iggy’s sound lives in his overstuffed crotch is pretty precious, but the pull quote of this entire show is when Jimmy/Iggy proclaims he helped “obliterate the Sixties.” Thank you, Mr. Pop!
After all the pleasantries have been exchanged and all the nice has been made, Iggy and David hit the stage again to do “Sister Midnight” which contains a line about having a dream about having sex with one’s mother (changed here of course- instead of mother was in my bad I believe he says the turtles were in my bed???)
Then housewives all across the country turned off their TVs, poured their husbands an after-work scotch and put a roast in the oven.
“I’m the Most Inane Dork...”
Again- self-deprecation coupled with pride. He’s an inane dork. Alfred E Newman. A nerd before nerd meant smart, when it meant freak. But he makes a good piece of art. Amen.
Igg Drops Some Anthropological Science
Love this backstage clip of Iggy pounding booze out of a red solo cup and pontificating about rock n’ roll anthropology. Who among us hasn’t? But who among us has done it this well?
Tubin’ Linx
Full Tom Snyder Show- Whole episode of Tom Snyder show that was excerpted above. Cued it up with about 30 seconds of Ricky Schroeder’s interview left just to set the mood.....
Late Night with David Letterman 1988
“Success” On Austin City Limits
Gimme Danger trailer You haven’t seen Jim Jarmusch’s excellent documentary about The Stooges? I won’t tell if you go watch it NOW!!!!