Exclusive photos by PAUL MCALPINE
Written by DONNA BALANCIA
PORTLAND, Ore. – Audiences clamor to see Iggy Pop perform, as the world’s original punk rocker and beloved musician breaks attendance records with sold-out shows around the globe. At age 20, back in Michigan, could Iggy Pop have ever have predicted his success?
When he was starting out in late 1960s, the so-called “Progenitor of Punk” created songs and performance ideas that may have seemed foreign to most. Iggy Pop broke the third wall with stage-diving, wearing then-unusual ripped and torn jeans and long-sleeve gloves, and he produced industrial-sounding audio that captured the sounds of his working class upbringing in the midwest.
Iggy may not be every music-lover’s cup of tea, so to speak, but he has crafted a career that ignites the imagination. And photographer Paul McAlpine has covered most of it and has observed the punk rocker evolve over the years. McAlpine has covered many famous bands including Queen and Aerosmith, but it has been his work with Iggy Pop that has produced his most compelling images and great inspiration.
After all, Iggy, as an early “alternative music” frontman, is considered the inventor of the stage dive, interactively breaking the barrier between the performer and the fans. And he’s also done that with his wide range of music, assembling a catalogue that covers everything from beautiful acoustic love songs to raucous, loud or atonal bangers complete with “not-suitable-for-work” lyrics or ideas.
Like his nickname based on the iguana, Iggy Pop likes the hot weather, and he enjoys the sun and sand of his adopted city of Miami, a convenient locale as many of his gigs are in Europe. His tropical lifestyle reflects the well-deserved pace at which he now moves. His prior iterations cover many phases: there was scrappy, youthful inventiveness with his band Iggy and The Stooges, he achieved renown with his 1980s solo career, and these days he teams with legendary veterans as well as young, famous upstarts, who all seem to know all the words and chords to his songs.
At 78, Iggy’s inspired to keep pushing. He just put on a physical and impressive performance before loving fans in Portland at the Project Pabst Fest, where his longtime photographer, Paul McAlpine captured the rocker in his element. 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 Iggy 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.
Meanwhile, there is a slight 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 Iggy 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.
Photographer McAlpine, who has photographed Iggy going back to the early days, and is the author of a book based on his work with the rocker called “Iggy Pop Bare & Real,” said his rockstar friend and subject has worked hard for success, which has come later in life.
“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 Iggy’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 headline gigs in major stadiums and arenas today.
“In the age of AI, Iggy’s pure honesty,” McAlpine said. “He invented the stage dive. Over the years my whole attraction to him has been his honesty. And I don’t know if they realize it or not, but that’s why the audiences are attracted to him. 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 today, McAlpine said artificial intelligence may be a threat to all creative endeavors 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 him. Here’s a 78-year-old man fearlessly climbing into the audience among the kids, it’s amazing, really.”
In the lead photo McAlpine took at the festival, he described the fans clamoring to reach out and touch the Miami-dwelling “Godfather of Punk.”
“The guys are in the back,” McAlpine 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,” he said. “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 real, he’s honest. And he sings about things that are important to us all, like in “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,” McAlpine said. “He’s giving the people strength. When it gets to the point where the arms of the fans are out there, they want to touch him and receive what he’s got to give.”
Check out the music of Iggy Pop here:
