Après

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lyrics: Vito Pallavicini, Pierre Delanoë, Claude Lemesle; music: Pasquale Losito, Salvatore Cutugno The cover photo is referring to the figure La Conscience played by Iggy Pop in the French movie L'Étoile du jour ( Morning Star) by Sophie Blondy.

Every Loser’ also delves into how punk has leaked into the greater pop culture subconscious since artists like Iggy incited the genre half a century ago. In ‘Neo Punk’, Pop rattles off the lines, “ I don’t have to sing, I’ve got publishing/ I’m a neo punk” and “ my hair is blue and my prescription too / I never have enough to do.” Punk and nostalgia’s chokehold on current culture seems to be grasping even tighter as of late. Recent music festival lineups, like Los Angeles’ Just Like Heaven and Las Vegas’ When We Were Young have rolled out sold-out events featuring post-punk and pop versions of the sound, headlined by artists like Interpol and My Chemical Romance. It’s now even made its way from the club stage to the runway. Every Loser’ has few subdued moments, like the slow-burning ‘Morning Show’, which hits on Iggy’s “disappointed areas where I don’t feel 100 per cent wunderbar”. There’s also the poetic ‘Atlantis’, a tribute to the miscreants and sinking land of the “shitty, shady, paradise” Pop calls home. Even with those fleeting serenades in tow, the album is begging to be played loud and live. “That’s what I like about it,” Iggy says One thing that comes with the particular game I’m involved in to make a living, depending on your position and phase of life, you get a lot of aggro from other places,” he says. “I’m not a celebrity culture person. I’m not gonna go out and tweet an insult to my enemies. It’s just not me. I had a lot of stuff saved up, if you will. A few things were pushing my buttons, and I just said it, it popped out.”

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Despite the downsides, however, it seems to be his winning formula. When asked what advice he’d offer to up-and-coming punks seeking longevity in their careers, he answers succinctly: “do two for yourself and one for the man.”

It really surprises me. I always assumed there would be an arc and things would quiet down after I hit 65,” he says. “That hasn’t been the case.” To those who thought Preliminaires was fun - and I think it's one of the most enjoyable albums Iggy has done post 70s - there are elements to enjoy here particularly Iggy's take on 'La Vie En Rose'. And it's the songs in French that work best probably because they're less familiar to English speaking ears. But I don't think any one of them would have made the cut on his previous album and you can't help but think 'out-takes'. Some really prosaic things lent themselves to that,” he says of the tide turning for his work. “Society and music in general went in a direction that made it easier for people to realise the virtues of the music I’m involved in,” he says, pointing to the popularity of hip-hop’s simple riffs and recent technological advances. Pop’s first commercial success came at an eerie time, five long decades after The Stooges released their self-titled debut and a short three months after his close friend and collaborator David Bowie had passed, aged 69. Iggy’s Bowie-produced seminal proto-punk albums in ‘70s, ‘Lust For Life’ and ‘The Idiot’, heavily inspired ‘Post Pop Depression’, with much of the album mirroring the production and arrangements of Pop’s first solo debuts. The album has been described as containing ″crooning vocals, Cole Porter covers, soft melodies, and an all-around sense of everything suave″. [5]Not that Iggy shies away from all commercial plugs. He’s taken part in Gucci campaigns, lending his svelte aesthetic to the brand’s bright tailored suits. There was also his appearance in Swiftcover insurance ads in the ‘00s, which were called “misleading” by the Advertising Standards Authority and “embarrassing” by Pop. Ouch. In March 2016, Pop released ‘Post Pop Depression’, a career highlight, and his first record to reach the Top 20 on the US Album charts in the United States. Co-written and produced by Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age and featuring Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and LA multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita, the album went on to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. Has the grandfather of punk mellowed with age? While it may appear that way, it really isn’t. How so? While it is true that Iggy achieved such legendary status as a Wildman from his early Stooges days in the late 1960’s. He’d threaten the audience. Cut himself with broken bottles hurled at him by the audience. Basically, he’d appear out of control. He was. But as the 70’s wore on, he started to change musically. He experimented with more somber music; Especially on his classic album, “The Idiot”. Teaming up with Bowie on that particular album, Iggy showcased his darker, more melancholy side. Songs like “Night clubbing” and even “Sister Midnight” came off like neo-modern cabaret songs.

When I started out, I didn’t know what publishing was,” Iggy says. “I didn’t understand you were paid money on the basis of intellectual property. Nobody told me, and I didn’t ask. When I was doing the first Stooges album, I thought that writing credits were just about glory. Now, these guys have lawyers, realtors, investment advisors, you name it.” And there's no redeeming the truly mediocre versions of 'Everybody's Talkin' and 'Michelle', which are amongst the worst stuff Iggy's ever done. Really just lazy in both performance, arrangement and song selection.Today he adds: “There’s also a bit of the punkier people who’ve made serious fortunes. Even Justin Bieber gets punk points for egging his neighbour’s house a few years ago,” he laughs, referencing the Canadian’s 2014 controversy. “That’s not something teenage heartthrobs used to do.”