113 Facts About Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop had a long collaborative relationship and friendship with David Bowie over the course of his career, beginning with the Stooges' album Raw Power in 1973.

Iggy Pop was one of the first performers to do a stage-dive and popularized the activity.

Iggy Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the course of his career, including garage rock, punk rock, hard rock, heavy metal, art rock, new wave, grunge, jazz, blues and electronic.

In January 2020, Iggy Pop received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Iggy Pop is of English, German, and Irish descent on his father's side, and Danish and Norwegian ancestry on his mother's side.

Iggy Pop's father was adopted by a Swedish-American nurse surnamed Osterberg.

Iggy Pop then began exploring local blues-style bands such as the Prime Movers, which he joined at 18 years old.

The Prime Movers gave him the nickname "Iggy Pop" for having played in The Iguanas.

Morrison's extreme behavior, while performing in a popular band, inspired the young Iggy Pop to push the boundaries of stage performance.

Iggy Pop himself told the story in the 2016 Jim Jarmusch documentary film about The Stooges, Gimme Danger.

Shortly after the release of Fun House, the group disbanded because of Iggy Pop's worsening heroin addiction.

In 1971, without a record deal, the Stooges kept performing in small clubs with a five-piece lineup that included both Ron Asheton and James Williamson on guitars and Jimmy Recca on bass, Iggy Pop having fired Dave Alexander the previous year when he turned up for a gig unable to play because of his chronic alcoholism.

Iggy Pop's career received a boost from his relationship with Bowie when Bowie decided in 1972 to produce an album with him in England.

Iggy Pop was unable to control his drug use and checked himself into a mental institution, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, to try to clean up.

Bowie and Iggy Pop relocated to West Berlin to wean themselves off their respective drug addictions.

Iggy Pop had grown dissatisfied with RCA, later admitting that he had made TV Eye Live as a quick way of fulfilling his three-album RCA contract.

Iggy Pop moved to Arista Records, under whose banner he released New Values in 1979.

The album was moderately successful in Australia and New Zealand and this led to Iggy Pop's first visit there to promote it.

Iggy Pop was interviewed by host Molly Meldrum, an exchange which was frequently punctuated by the singer jumping up and down on his chair and making loud exclamations of "G'day mate" in a mock Australian accent.

In 1980, Iggy Pop published his autobiography I Need More, co-written with Anne Wehner, an Ann Arbor arts patron.

In 1983, Iggy Pop's fortunes changed when David Bowie recorded a cover of the song "China Girl".

The support from Bowie enabled Iggy Pop to take a three-year break, during which he overcame his resurgent heroin addiction and took acting classes.

Additionally, Iggy Pop contributed the title song to the 1984 film Repo Man as well as an instrumental called "Repo Man Theme" that was played during the opening credits.

Iggy Pop played these demos for Bowie, who was sufficiently impressed to offer to produce an album for Pop: 1986's new wave-influenced Blah-Blah-Blah, featuring the single "Real Wild Child", a cover of "The Wild One", originally written and recorded by Australian rock 'n' roll musician Johnny O'Keefe in 1958.

In 1987, Iggy Pop appeared on a mostly instrumental album, Neo Geo, by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Iggy Pop's follow-up to Blah Blah Blah, Instinct, was a turnaround in musical direction.

Also, at the same time, Iggy Pop, dissatisfied from RCA's decisions, revoked copyrights of his RCA releases, assigned it to his company Thousand Mile, and signed a contract with Virgin Records, which was a unique hybrid of distribution deal for his RCA releases and a recording contract for new albums.

The video attracted much controversy, as it featured much footage of Iggy Pop performing with his penis exposed to the audience.

In 1991, Iggy Pop and Kirst contributed the song "Why Was I Born " to the soundtrack of the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Iggy Pop sang four of the songs: In the Deathcar, TV Screen, Get the Money, and This is a Film.

Iggy Pop recorded spoken word vocals on the intro and outro of the song "Black Sunshine" as well as playing the character of a writer in the video shot for the song.

In 1993, Iggy Pop released American Caesar, including two successful singles, "Wild America" and "Beside You".

Iggy Pop appears on the Les Rita Mitsouko album Systeme D where he sings the duet "My Love is Bad" with Catherine Ringer.

In 1996, Iggy Pop again found mainstream fame when his 1977 song "Lust for Life" was featured in the film Trainspotting.

In 1996, Iggy Pop released Naughty Little Doggie, with Whitey Kirst returning on guitar, and the single "I Wanna Live".

Iggy Pop testified in the reissue's liner notes that on the new mix, "everything's still in the red".

Iggy Pop co-produced his 1999 album Avenue B with Don Was, releasing the single "Corruption".

In 1997, Iggy Pop was credited with the soundtrack to the film The Brave.

On January 1,1998, Iggy Pop made a guest appearance on Paramount Television's science fiction series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Iggy Pop played a Vorta in an episode based upon the film The Magnificent Seven, titled "The Magnificent Ferengi".

Iggy Pop sang on the 1999 Death in Vegas UK Top-10 single Aisha.

Iggy Pop sang on the tracks "Rolodex Propaganda" and "Enfilade" by At the Drive-In in 2000.

For New Year's Eve 1997, Iggy Pop was the headliner for the annual Australian three-day concert the Falls Festival.

Iggy Pop gave one of the most memorable performances in the history of the festival.

Iggy Pop made a guest appearance on Peaches's song "Kick It" as well as the video.

That year, Iggy Pop opened Madonna's Reinvention World Tour in Dublin.

Iggy Pop caused controversy in June 2007 when he was interviewed on the BBC's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival.

Iggy Pop used the phrase "paki shop", apparently unaware of its racist connotations, prompting three complaints and an apology from the BBC.

On March 10,2008, Iggy Pop appeared at Madonna's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

Iggy Pop sang on the "No Fun" cover by Asian Dub Foundation on their 2008 album Punkara.

On January 6,2009, original Stooges guitarist and Iggy Pop's self-described best friend Ron Asheton was found dead from an apparent heart attack.

Iggy Pop had "about two hours of a strong emotional reaction" to the news.

Iggy Pop produced 2001's Beat 'Em Up, which gave birth to The Trolls, releasing the single "Football" featuring Trolls alumni Whitey Kirst and brother Alex.

In 2005, Iggy Pop appeared, along with Madonna, Little Richard, Bootsy Collins, and The Roots' Questlove, in an American TV commercial for the Motorola ROKR phone.

Author Paul Trynka completed a biography of Iggy Pop called Open Up and Bleed, published in early 2007.

Iggy Pop guested on Profanation, the new album by the Bill Laswell-helmed group Praxis, which was released on January 1,2008.

Iggy Pop collaborated with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse on the album Dark Night of the Soul, singing the track "Pain".

Iggy Pop describes this new release as a "quieter album with some jazz overtones", the first single off the album, "King of the Dogs", bearing a sound strongly influenced by New Orleans jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton.

Iggy Pop said that the song was his response to being "sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music".

In January 2009, Iggy Pop was signed up as the face of Swiftcover, the UK-based online insurance company.

Iggy Pop appeared as a character in the video game Lego Rock Band to sing his song "The Passenger" and lent his voice for the in-game tutorial.

Iggy Pop was inducted as part of the Stooges into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15,2010.

In June 2010, Iggy Pop appeared at Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto with the reformed Stooges on the NXNE main stage.

Iggy Pop lent his image to PETA's campaign against the annual Canada seal hunt.

Iggy Pop is featured on Kesha's song "Dirty Love" on her second album Warrior.

In 2012, Iggy Pop was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

On October 14,2014, Iggy Pop gave the fourth annual BBC Music John Peel Lecture in Salford, on the topic of "Free Music in a Capitalist Society".

Iggy Pop used the lecture to discuss his experiences of the music industry, and his reflections on the effect of the internet on the consumption of music and the broader media.

In January 2015, it was announced that Iggy Pop contributed the theme song to Alex Cox's film Bill, the Galactic Hero.

Iggy Pop collaborated with Tomoyasu Hotei on the songs "How The Cookie Crumbles" and "Walking Through The Night" from the album Strangers, released that same year.

Williamson added that touring had become boring, and trying to balance the band's career as well as Iggy Pop's was a difficult task.

In 2016, Iggy Pop recorded an album with Josh Homme titled Post Iggy Pop Depression.

On both sides of the Atlantic, the album set a new peak chart position for Iggy Pop albums, becoming his first ever US Top 20 album and first ever UK Top 5 album.

In 2017, Iggy Pop composed and performed vocals on the Oneohtrix Point Never song "The Pure and the Damned" on the soundtrack for the crime film Good Time.

On July 27,2018, Iggy Pop released a joint EP with Underworld, titled Teatime Dub Encounters.

In January 2020, Iggy Pop received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In December, Iggy Pop featured on a rework of Elvis Costello's song "No Flag" from Costello's 2020 album Hey Clockface.

The song was a re-recording, with Iggy Pop providing the vocals, translated to French for this version.

On his new album Breathe by Hammond master Lonnie Smith, Iggy Pop provides vocals on two tracks, "Why Can't We Live Together" and on "Sunshine Superman".

Iggy Pop collaborated with Belgian composer and violinist Catherine Graindorge on three tracks on her new EP The Dictator.

Iggy Pop was wanted to play Funboy in the original The Crow movie, but his recording schedule would not permit him.

Iggy Pop was featured alongside indie starlet Greta Gerwig in the film Art House, which premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2010.

Iggy Pop voiced Lil' Rummy on the Comedy Central show Lil' Bush, and provided the voice for a character in the English-language version of the 2007 animated film Persepolis.

Iggy Pop has been profiled in several rockumentaries and has had songs on many soundtracks, including Crocodile Dundee II; Trainspotting; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Haggard; Arizona Dream; Repo Man; Black Rain; Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare; Shocker; and Kurt Cobain: About a Son.

Iggy Pop worked with Johnny Depp on several films: they appeared together in Cry-Baby and Dead Man.

Iggy Pop provided the soundtrack for The Brave, which was directed by and starred Depp, and music for Depp's 1993 film Arizona Dream.

Iggy Pop makes an appearance in FLicKeR, a 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan about Brion Gysin and the Dreamachine.

Iggy Pop played himself as the DJ of the fictional rock station Liberty Rock Radio 97.

Iggy Pop featured as a voice talent in the 2004 ATARI video game DRIV3R, which was produced by Reflections Interactive.

Iggy Pop is one of the bodyguards, along with Klaus Nomi, of David Bowie, who is "The Sovereign" of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

Iggy Pop has some unclear super-powers, which he uses when he and Nomi turn against Bowie.

In 2012, Iggy Pop played the conscience of a clown named Elliot in the French film L'Etoile du jour directed by Sophie Blondy.

In 2013, Iggy Pop appeared briefly in the French film Les gamins then he voiced The Caterpillar in the television series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

In 2014, Iggy Pop presented the BBC documentary Burroughs at 100.

William Burroughs profoundly affected Iggy Pop's writing, inspiring lyrics in the famous "Lust for Life".

Iggy Pop voiced the character Texas Red on the Adult Swim animated comedy Mr Pickles, which ran from 2014 to 2019.

In 2015, Iggy Pop had a starring role as Vicious in the Bjorn Tagemose-directed silent film Gutterdammerung opposite Grace Jones, Henry Rollins and Lemmy.

Iggy Pop featured in the Rammstein documentary Rammstein in Amerika that same year.

In 2016, Iggy Pop was featured as a main subject in the documentary Danny Says starring alongside Danny Fields, Alice Cooper, Judy Collins, Wayne Kramer, Jac Holzman and more.

In 2017, Iggy Pop appeared in Song to Song directed by Terrence Malick, opposite Michael Fassbender.

In early 2019, Iggy Pop executive produced a four part documentary series entitled PUNK for Epix.

Iggy Pop appears as a zombie in the 2019 Jim Jarmusch film The Dead Don't Die.

In 2021 Iggy Pop appeared with Nico Rosberg - 2016 Formula One champion - in a video advert for the German State Railways' high speed train services.

Iggy Pop's music has appeared in the soundtracks to the films Dogs in Space and He Died with a Felafel in his Hand.

Iggy Pop liked the script but refused to take part in the film.

Iggy Pop called Wood "a very poised and talented actor".

Iggy Pop relates how reading Gibbon while on tour in the Southern United States inspired him to a spontaneous soliloquy he called "Caesar".

Iggy Pop has been married three times: to Wendy Weissberg for several weeks in 1968 before divorcing her in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on November 25,1969; to Suchi Asano ; and to his longtime partner Nina Alu, whom he married in 2008.

Iggy Pop has a son, Eric Benson, born in 1970 from a relationship with Paulette Benson.

At age 23, Iggy Pop had a relationship with 13-year old Sable Starr.

Iggy Pop was diagnosed with scoliosis, with one leg being one and a half inches shorter than the other.

Shaw said the four wore matching rings depicting a skull, and all but Iggy Pop received a similar skull-and-crossbones tattoo.

In 2017, shortly after his 70th birthday, Iggy Pop was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Consul general in Miami on behalf of the French government.