Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Iggy Pop: The Godfather Of Punk

Iggy PopIggy Pop born James Newell Osterberg in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1947. Although he has had only limited mainstream success, Iggy Pop is considered an innovator of punk rock, hard rock, and other related styles.

He is sometimes referred to by the nicknames "the Godfather of Punk" and "the Iguana", and is widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers of all time.

Iggy Pop's career began in the late 1960s as the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s rock band who were influential in the development of the nascent hard rock and punk rock genres. "I don't think there was anything wired or weird about the Stooges when we started. We were just creative." Iggy Pop said in an interview with The Rolling Stone.

Pop earned a place in punk rock history by popularizing many of the stage routines that are now commonplace among musicians: he was among the first to stage dive and crowd walk. Moreover, early in his career, he was known to cut himself on stage. Although Pop has never recorded a Top 10 album or best-selling single, his impact on rock music is widely acknowledged.

Pop's solo album The Idiot has been cited as a major influence on post-punk, electronic and industrial artists such as Joy Division and Nine Inch Nails. Mark E. Smith, Johnny Marr, Henry Rollins, Nick Cave and Jack White have all been quoted as saying that the Stooges' Fun House LP was "the greatest rock record ever made".