Slipped disc #12: Iggy Pop

Although Bob Dylan sang ‘The Times Are A-Changing’ four decades ago, he couldn’t have predicted that it would be into an spreading dystopia. It became even more evident just a few months ago, the moment we got the advance CD of Iggy Pop’s latest disc. It was plain [and pain] to realise - it wouldn’t sell.

It obviously wasn’t due to quality but the public’s expectations coached to be rather specific and clamorous, rigid, when it comes to the rockier end and, in particular, HM martinets. Back in the day, when Black Sabbath were cementing foundations for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, their album ’IV’ contained a ballad, some contemporaries would call it, “a soppy, tear-monger, hanky-waster.” Yep, the recent remake by Ozzy and Kelly, ‘Changes’.

Those days are long gone and we apparently have some… genre-Puritanism? Style-segregation? Current fans of music can hardly tolerate anything but what they admire their idols for. Celeb-age has also brought in focusing even tighter on fewer facets of acts: it is pretty transparent that today’s ‘heroes’ are not even two-dimensional [alike the animations] but strictly one-sided. It sadly reflects the damage done by the government’s educational policies, parental disinterest and ignorance to instruct their offspring in finer points of arts, and entertainment industry’s chasing the damn profit by dumbing down and then f**king some!

The hype-dermic ploy has worked and there is an epidemic of a single-flavoured or, even - counter-quality releases. That’s the world a legend, a Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop faced with his ’Skull Ring’. The man’s even bent backwards to pinpoint the milestones of (his) musical history: instigation, inspiration and influence by re-assembling The Stooges (for 4 tracks), worked with Green Day (on a couple of cuts) and then canned a song with the neo-punks, Sum 41.

Mr Pop then spices up a couple of compositions with sexy-cum-scary Peaches… With another half-a-dozen pieces credited to Iggy and The Trolls, there is only one song that has the man solo. An album of collaborations then, a solid record that has one menhir [© ‘Asterix’ - registered trademarks Ed] of a problem.

Pop’s problem is the same one The Rolling Stones endure: however good the new material is, it will never measure up with the past. People will always [alas, in smaller numbers in Pop’s case] flock to see these acts live but not really care for any new discs.

8/10