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The Idiot by Iggy Pop

The Idiot

Release Date: 6/29/1992

Recording Date: 1/1977

Tracks: 8

Length: 00:38:49 Hrs

Label: Virgin

Type: CD,CS

Genre/Styles:
Hard Rock, New Wave, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Proto-Punk, Punk/New Wave, Album Rock, Detroit Rock

Album Tracks (8)

Song Title
Length
1.
Sister Midnight
04:23
2.
Nightclubbing
04:18
3.
Funtime
02:53
4.
Baby
03:20
5.
China Girl
05:12
6.
Dum Dum Boys
07:12
7.
Tiny Girls
03:03
8.
Mass Production
08:28

What the Critics Say

In 1976, the Stooges had been gone for two years, and Iggy Pop had developed a notorious reputation as one of rock & roll's most spectacular waste cases. After a self-imposed stay in a mental hospital, a significantly more functional Iggy was desperate to prove he could hold down a career in music, and he was given another chance by his longtime ally, David Bowie. Bowie co-wrote a batch of new songs with Iggy, put together a band, and produced The Idiot, which took Iggy in a new direction decidedly different from the guitar-fueled proto-punk of the Stooges. Musically, The Idiot is of a piece with the impressionistic music of Bowie's "Berlin Period" (such as Heroes and Low), with it's fragmented guitar figures, ominous basslines, and discordant, high-relief keyboard parts. Iggy's new music was cerebral and inward-looking, where his early work had been a glorious call to the id, and Iggy was in more subdued form than with the Stooges, with his voice sinking into a world-weary baritone that was a decided contrast to the harsh, defiant cry heard on "Search and Destroy." Iggy was exploring new territory as a lyricist, and his songs on The Idiot are self-referential and poetic in a way that his work had rarely been in the past; for the most part the results are impressive, especially "Dum Dum Boys," a paean to the glory days of his former band, and "Nightclubbing," a call to the joys of decadence. The Idiot introduced the world to a very different Iggy Pop, and if the results surprised anyone expecting a replay of the assault of Raw Power, it also made it clear that Iggy was older, wiser, and still had plenty to say; it's a flawed but powerful and emotionally absorbing work. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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