Fun fact #2: The two men behind the driving rhythm of the song--and let's face it, what makes the song the classic that it is--were Hunt and Tony Sales, whose other claim to fame is that they are the sons of the late comedian, Soupy Sales who had his heyday in the sixties and seventies.
Born James Osterberg, Jr. in 1947 in Muskegon, Michigan (been there, not worth the trip), Iggy Pop got his start in music in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where in the late sixties he was a founding member of the seminal band The Stooges (punk and alternative pioneers, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees). Outside of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, there aren't many artists who were more influential on the punk and alternative scenes than Iggy Pop and the Stooges. During his time with the Stooges, Pop developed a reputation for bizarre and outrageous behavior in his stage shows, as well as an overwhelming heroin addiction. Due in large part to said addiction, the Stooges went their separate ways in the seventies (though they'd reunite in 2003 and still perform together occasionally to this day), at which point Pop hooked up with David Bowie, who produced a couple of Pop's albums, as well as writing a few great tunes together (including Bowie's hit, "China Girl"). Though Pop has never had a great deal of commercial success (he never put an album or a song anywhere near the top ten on the Billboard charts), he has still managed to tour and continue releasing LPs for the better part of nearly fifty years, and happily was able to overcome his heroin addiction in the eighties.
Released in 1977 on the appropriately titled LP, Lust for Life, "Lust for Life" (lyrics by Iggy Pop) has been considered both a paean to heroin and a paean to surviving it (I lean toward the latter, but, hey, I'm a glass half-broken kind of guy). While not a hit in the U.S. in its initial release, the song was given a new life in the nineties when it was included in the (great) movie, Trainspotting, replete with a music video (back in the day when music TV stations actually played music videos) which featured Iggy dancing happily throughout. It also came in at #149 on Rolling Stone's list of the five hundred greatest songs of all-time.
"Lust for Life" opens with sixty seconds of one of the most powerful drum and bass riffs (the rhythm was actually borrowed from the Morse code inspired call signal of the Armed Forces Network) in the history of pop music before Iggy Pop so much as sings a single word. And it never lets up throughout the song, helping drive Pop's vocals as well as its celebratory nature. Pop never lets up either--and by the end of the song you're left convinced he really does have a lust for life and wishing you had one, too. In the end, it's a testament to the power of rock and roll, and its ability to squeeze both the best and worst of this world into a few minutes of pop music heaven.
Rap sheet: "Oh love love love/That's like hypnotizing chickens...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
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