Iggy Pop remembers his unusual upbringing, living in a trailer, stage diving, why he likes to hurt himself in concert and working with David Bowie. (August 1982)
The Conversation
thank you very much for being here hey
thank you I I was reading your book last
night and it's a very interesting uh
piece of work you put together you were
ra born and reared as they say in the
midwest that's and uh um but and you
lived in a lived in a trailer right yeah
yeah and I haven't grown up in a trailer
does you have any thoughts that that
affects a person one way or the other as
opposed to living in a stationary house
yeah absolutely cuz you know cuz
everybody well first of all like you
know there's like trailer trash you ever
heard the term you know no well there's
just a it's a kind of a fly night
connotation you know and plus like
things like uh you know like if your dad
walks in the front door right and he
closes the door like the house shakes a
little bit you know so it's kind of like
you know God is home or something you
know
no listen Dad wait a minute no no it's
it's it's uh I don't know I'm glad I did
you know yeah at least it at least it
made me different you know
but but at the at the time did you did
was it affecting you adversely with your
peers or it was no big deal well not
with my peers just with the pr Etc that
I went to school with you know oh yeah
uh uh now tell me tell me about also uh
I kind of liked it cuz it was like ahead
of its time you know yeah my father's a
Visionary did they still live in a house
trailer no they uh they just sold it uh
just a few months ago and they've uh
they've uh moved down to uh somewhere in
the Carolinas yeah uh now tell me about
uh hurting yourself on stage and cutting
yourself and then uh tossing yourself
into the audience is that
still well okay first yeah Tom Snider
asked me about that no it it it didn't
it never did hurt you know it's a funny
thing about the it's a funny thing about
like uh you know you get a good band you
know and you get them cooking and if the
Beats right and it's a good riff like uh
nothing hurts somehow you know it's sort
of a you get in a bit of a a state you
know I suppose it has to do with your
adrenaline but uh but afterwards that's
in trouble you know
[Music]
um sometimes sometimes sometimes you
know it would it would be just just the
sort of thing like I had to get a new
tooth for your show this
morning it was a real pain you know
because I didn't want to use
novacan because otherwise I wouldn't be
able to enunciate you know so but but
that was that was just a sheer accident
where I was I was getting so into it
that I just smooshed the mic in my in my
tooth by mistake but then other times
you know i' I'd sort of uh just fling
myself at the audience because uh
because tell me about difference tell me
oh okay now now uh in the book you
described the first time you really
started to to cut yourself with
drumsticks you were drumming then right
yeah and you were no no that was no I
was I was singing by that time okay now
tell me about the time that you the
first first decision the first time you
made the decision to jump into the
audience to cross the prium as it were
yes
um okay there were yeah there were three
stages to that the the very first time I
did it it was the it was the second gig
I'd ever played in my life and uh and I
I uh I opened up for Frank Zappa and the
mother's mother's of invention and uh
and I knew he was going to be
interesting MH and uh it was about
minutes into my set and it was going
nowhere and so I thought what am I going
to do listen you know there's like uh
there's like , bands here in the
Detroit area just one place to play you
know uh I got to stand out right so uh
like uh just like a little kid like you
know it's a bit hoph frenic of me like
uh I just sort of went like have you
ever seen when little kids don't get
attention and they just go like like
that and pretend they're going to fall
on the floor well I really did you know
you know and and that that's that
created a stir then
what did you land on did you just go
right on over well it was funny I what
i' planned I'd planned to land on I I
sort of spotted a a pair of very plump
uh young
ladies and it was it was my intention
that that they would they would be uh
best suited to cush in the fall yeah
but but uh I didn't you know I I didn't
reckon I figured they'd be lucky you
know they'd be lucky to have like you
know part of the show sure well you know
too I mean I I mean they they weren't
like uh you know they weren't uh
ravingly attractive or anything so I
figured you know maybe they'd like some
company but instead they
just the the the waves the waves parted
and I walked the gymnasium
[Applause]
for uh so I my illusion was shattered
and my so was my tooth and my lip and
everything and the third time I got into
it it was it was just because uh the
audience was was such a bunch of uh well
they were they were just so ignorant you
know as to the value of of what we were
doing my my band of stes at the time
that uh you know was a it was a sort of
a Collegiate uh soyo Blues worship type
audience uh uh in Boston and uh I just
decided I refus to be ignored like this
and uh then things started getting
serious and it became swne Dives you
know uh have you ever really been
injured badly aside from a tooth here
and there you know uh not until not
until recently on this tour uh uh I got
I got very very badly hurt in Edmonton
uh where is it Alberta some Outpost up
there and uh it was it was surely
accidental you know it hurt my ankle
really badly but no no never through uh
never through those sort of antics I
want to ask you one question and I know
I know we don't have time to do it so
what do I do I just ask you anyway um
tell me about your relationship with
David buy he was an important part of
your life wasn't he what's in his what's
in his uh G what what do you want to
know okay let me I tell you what we'll
pause we're going away and then we'll
come back and we'll let you think this
over and talk more what
they here uh this is a beautiful uh
cover of this album It's remarkable
thank you this is tell me about the the
uh where this was taken I was hanging
out in Haiti uh in a town called Jack
Mel which is a sort of a very
controversial controversial section of
the country and uh it's it's extremely
Rural and this was taken in a in a
Haitian nightclub uh and in during broad
daylight because they don't put rules on
the nightclubs generally and uh and I
was just out scouting I I had I had the
title zombie birdhouse right already for
the for the album so I thought well if
that's what it's called I got to go back
to Haiti and take some pictures
beautiful colors in this so I just went
out scouting for the most beautiful
nightclub I could find you know uh
mentioned David back to David yeah right
um uh
I met him I was out of work in what
years ago or so I'd been I'd been
dumped for the you know I think the
second of what's now the eenth time by
some record company or the other and uh
I was just I was in New York sort of
scouching around looking looking for a
gig you know and uh he was in town and
uh what turned out to be an admirer of
my work and uh I I met him in a bar you
know done at Max's and uh he invited me
for breakfast uh the next morning and I
I ate about four four mounds of
breakfast cuz I was real hungry you know
and and uh just we sort of hit it off so
uh aside from being unemployed was this
a a bad time in your life generally I
mean were you oh one of many yeah yeah
you know just the usual you know it's
discouraging to be uh to be to sound
different you know cuz I'm not different
but my music sounds a bit different yeah
were you abusing yourself in other ways
I'm uh yeah maybe maybe a little too much
fun occasionally oh uh it wasn't fun
anymore yeah no um so anyway but you
know aside from that no but I was you
know I was I was you know I was uh
together enough to to seek work and uh
and uh so uh you know we discussed uh
going to England and making an album
which turned out to be raw power
yeah which is uh which you know which
was sort of like this just sort of uh
unleashing this incredibly uh incredibly
tense and band called The called the
Stooges from Detroit uh he sort of
Unleashed us for an album helped you
know helped us out Bas basically just uh
you know uh not so much artistically on
that one as much as just having the the
sense to sell you know to sell his
manager on me and let me let me ask you
one more question n you play golf don't
you yes wait let's get sorry you ask me
anyway since since since
then since since
uh since then he uh he became he became
uh my mentor to an extent and I'd
influenced him equally uh musically and
we uh we have enjoyed a very uh a very
fruitful uh intellectual relationship
for for years now may I ask you about
your golf yeah I would bet if you ask
people on the street they would probably
not pick you you know Tom Watson Iggy
Pop it doesn't right right I know I've
tried to I I keep trying to tell people
I play you know because I don't want to
I I don't want to you know come off with
some unbalanced character you know I
mean I play you play pretty well right I
used to play I used to play pretty well
I had a four or five handicap when I was
uh when I was much younger like to
I practically lived on the course and uh
and uh now I play I play like a good
solid weeks out of the year with my
father you know you and I go down and
just just shoot golf for for a few weeks
whenever I you know usually whenever I'm
just off a tour because I'm generally
like you know just wiped and uh and golf
is uh you know golf something for for
for us to do together and uh I also I
get really often the controlled power of
it I don't know if you play but like you
know you just hit this little tiny ball
and you can hit it like you know it's no
problem for me to like hit that exit
sign like at least six out of times
let's do that then the hell with it
let's get a bucket of balls in here and
a couple clubs no really and you know
and it's it's just a tremendous feeling
to it I like the control the Precision
and the and the feeling of power you
know to to like take only four strokes
to to put a ball in a inch yeah but you
ever bounce one off your ankle did you
ever do that I mean you you wind up and
then Kaboom right off your ankle pretty
uncomfortable I bounced them off a few
other people
yeah uh it was I'm really happy that you
had the time to come by here this is a
pleasure meeting Mr Iggy Pop ladies and
gentlemen thank you sir
thank you