Exclusive photos by PAUL MCALPINE
PORTLAND, Ore. – Audiences clamor to see Iggy Pop perform as the world-famous musician breaks attendance records around the globe. Would he have ever thought his career might have turned out like this when he was 20?
Back in those days he was just starting out, coming up with songs and performance ideas that may have seemed foreign to most. Iggy’s innovative, creative, and honest.
Iggy may not be every music-lover’s cup of tea so to speak, but he has crafted a career that ignites the imagination. After all, the early alternative frontman is considered the inventor of the stage dive, breaking barriers between the stage and the fans. And he’s done that with his wide range of music.
Iggy has inhabited several iterations. There was scrappy, youthful inventiveness with Iggy and the Stooges, he achieved wealth and renown with his 1980s solo career, and these days he teams with legendary veterans as well as young, famous upstarts who seem to know all the words to his songs. Everyone thinks Iggy is cool.
At 78, he’s inspired to keep pushing. He just put on a physical and impressive performance before loving fans in Portland at the Project Pabst Fest. There are European and South American dates coming up and he’ll wrap September in Boston, New York and a newly added show at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
While the stage may give him a “Lust For Life,” it brings pleasure and … pain. So what does a rock star do to keep in performance shape? Mick Jagger jogs and dances, Alice Cooper plays golf. Iggy practices Qichong, an Asian relaxation technique.
And there is indeed a remarkable difference from the young rebellious “punk rocker” screaming and injuring himself onstage for attention to today’s still rebellious but more seasoned entertainment professional. The fight he waged since the days of “Search and Destroy” (the song title was taken from a magazine headline sept 4 1972) has culminated in a remarkable career filled with friends, music and experiences that are real and honest.
The music he has written, performed and recorded covers the gamut of youthful rage to incredible love, varied tracks ranging from “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “Lust For Life” and “The Passenger” to “Never Fall In Love Again,” “Football” and the heartfelt “I Want to Go to the Beach.”
And his latest success comes in the form of the 2006 collaboration with Teddybears, “Punkrocker,” the track that puts the power punch in the new “Superman” film.
Paul McAlpine, who has photographed Iggy going back to the early days, said his rock star friend and subject has worked hard for success, one of life’s late rewards.
“We were all sitting around talking and someone said, ‘ If you live long enough people will appreciate your work,'” he said. “Really it’s only in the last 10 years he’s hit the height of his popularity.”
Judging by the crowds “the Godfather of punk” draws today, it is a good assumption that Iggy has definitely hit the height of popularity. But it took massive amounts of energy and creative thinking to go from the guys crammed in a van in the 1970s to the headline gigs in major stadiums today.
“In the age of AI he’s pure honesty,” McAlpine said. “He invented the stage dive. My whole attraction to him is his honesty. And I don’t know if they realize it or not, but that’s why the audiences are attracted to him too. A lot of people have gone back to real film, real vinyl. We’ve been through a lot as a country and people want to connect with honesty. Iggy’s honest.”
Like many other artists McAlpine said artificial intelligence may be a threat to creativity and he advises to proceed with caution.
“It’s a genie that will be let out of the lantern without restraint,” he said.
But does Iggy show restraint?
“Iggy’s not restrained at all,” McAlpine said. “His road manager Bill has to look after Iggy. Here’s a 78-year-old man fearlessly climbing into the audience among the kids, it’s amazing really.”
In the lead photo he took at the festival he describes the scene.
“The guys are in the back,” he said. “The staircase is off stage right and Iggy goes into the pit to the very center where there’s a walkway all the way to the sound board. I’m taking the pictures from the sound board and the walkway is in front of me Iggy comes in 20 feet and then he climbs into the audience. When he first went down the kids in the audience were holding cell phones. Then I think he came so close to them and they wanted to touch him, so all the phones went away. They want to touch him because he’s so he’s real, he’s honest. And he sings about things that are important to us all, like “The Passenger,” “this belongs to you and me.”
McAlpine said: “Television is a big tranquilizer for America. You see things you’re afraid to do. But we’re here to live life not watch it on TV and I think that’s what Iggy’s all about,” McAlpine said. “Iggy has passion. Like with going into the crowd, it’s ‘if you hurt yourself you hurt yourself.’ He’s giving the people strength. We’re in difficult times and it’s the honesty that brings the people to him. When it gets to the point where their arms are out there, they want to touch him and receive what he has to give.”
And what does McAlpine think will happen after the Washington, D.C. date on September 29?
“One would imagine Iggy just wants to go to the beach.”
– Written by Donna Balancia
Check out the music of Iggy Pop here:
