Gimme Danger

Okay, so I was leaving for work this morning, in a not horrible mood for it being morning and my having to go to work. I went to put on my boots, kiss Bif and Riley goodbye, when my subconscious picked it up and telegraphed it to the front of my brain.

Beth had one of the morning news shows on to distract her from the fussy baby, “Today” or “Good Morning Unemployed” or whatever, and they were doing a searing story of lost luggage on airlines. Gripping, honestly. But anyway, low and in the background was the unmistakable growl of Iggy Pop singing The Passenger.

Bif and I realized it at the same time and looked at each other with bemused smiles.

Couple this with the head hurting incongruity of a cruise line using his song Lust For Life in their commercials and I was agog with how cultural sensibilities shift with the years.

Here is the man that pretty much began punk rock, a man reviled by parents and guardians of good taste, a man who left shows with The Stooges cut and bleeding from crawling over broken glass. Here is a man whose name for many is synonymous with debauchery, excess and heavy heavy drugs. Here is music that was nowhere close to mass acceptance, music that was hated by many, but is now being used for softball "news" programs and to sell cruises to bloated, middle class mid-lifers with more money than sense of adventure.

To badly paraphrase Nietzsche, all great things must first wear horrifying masks. How long before Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People is the theme for Cover Girl advertising? When will video footage of executions be included on commercials for processed cheese?

And now we bring you a retrospective moment remembering good times with Iggy Pop:
On visiting Prague, we spent an evening in this absolutely charming basement bar, drinking 35 cent liters of beer and eating these toasty cheese and onion snack sandwiches. Over the speakers, hidden in dark and gothic archways in the corners, was the unmistakable sound of Iggy Pop. The album was apparently the best Best Of Iggy Pop album put together. We were already riding high on a travel bliss wave, but all this great Iggy Pop falling all over us was the best possible thing we would never have hoped for. We attempted to figure out the name of the album from the waitress, but she could only tell us in the most adorable Czech accent that it was "Iggy Pope". We spent the next couple weeks scouring record stores all over Europe trying to find this mix, but to no avail. We figure that it must have been the mixed tape of some Czech bartender with great taste.


Song Stuck In My Head Right Now: I'm gonna give it to Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges.