This is a clip from The Venture Bros’ Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II) which aired in 2006.
I never thought back in the late ‘70s when I knew Klaus Nomi that one day he’d be a cartoon action hero. But upon reflection nothing about Klaus should surprise me. Here he is teaming up with Iggy Pop to defeat David Bowie. Tons of subtext for a cartoon.
This was brought up in the comments to Marc’s last Iggy-centric post - it raised some interesting points, so I thought it would be good to expand on, and to fill in the details.
He may be one of the greatest performers in modern music, the definition of a rock’n’roll animal, but to a section of the planet Iggy Pop is now best known as being that guy in those car insurance ads. This wasn’t a simple case of Iggy licensing music to an ad (as has happened before) - he actively participates in the adverts. The fact that he did them is not news but the campaign has had a few twists and turns along the way. For the benefit of the folks who don’t know the story, here’s the low down.
The Iggy Pop/Swiftcover insurance adverts debuted on British TV in January 2009. In February 2009 it was acknowledged that Swiftcover didn’t insure musicians (who were part of a “danger group” that also included gamblers, bailiffs, professional sports people, bouncers and, um, models.) An investigation was launched by the Advertising Standards Authority (after a grand total of 12 complaints - not a lot but, hey, they made a good point) and in April 2009 the ad was banned for being misleading. The company weakly claimed that they didn’t hire Iggy Pop as a musician, but rather as an actor who “loves life.”
Well, either Swiftcover turned punk fuckin’ rock or they decided to protect their investment in Iggy as, in May 2009, they changed their minds and started covering musicians in their insurance policies. Unfortunately they still don’t cover gamblers, bailiffs, bouncers, sports people or models. It’s not clear exactly why the firm won’t cover these professions, but at least now musicians can claim with them, thanks to Mr Pop. Pity about those models though - perhaps their dainty little feet don’t contain enough muscle power to properly work a set of pedals? A company spokesperson gave this statement to the Telegraph:
Tina Shortle, marketing director of swiftcover.com, said: “Insurance premiums are based on a number of different data, including the historic claims costs for specific occupations. This means that we do not provide cover to some professions that, according to that data, have a higher level of claims costs.”
The adverts returned to the telly, and 2010 saw the appearance of the “Little Iggy” puppet. The puppet is meant to symbolize Iggy’s wildman rock’n’roll past, and how the Iggster is constantly battling to keep it under control when all he wants to do is have a quiet game of golf.
Now, regardless of your views on whether respectable artists and musicians should sell anything except themselves, credit should be due to the technical side of this campaign. The “Little Iggy” puppet is so close to the real thing that it’s creepy - the first time I saw it on a billboard I had to do a double-take and if that’s not effective advertising, I don’t know what is. The hair, the hang-dog face, the knotted muscly torso - it’s incredibly like him. Who would have guessed that in the 21st century Iggy Pop would have gone from iconic rock’n’roll wild child to insurance salesman to being at the vanguard of uncanny valley?
Iggy’s notorious 1977 performance of “Lust For Life” on Dutch TV show TopPop was a media sensation. Frustrated by having to lipsynch with no band, Iggy went apeshit and tore up some scenery, knocked over some potted plants and body slammed a stagehand. It got him tons of press and record sales. “Lust For Life” was propelled into the Dutch Top Ten.
Iggy’s no fool, so when he returned to Holland the following year he was prepared for another bit of performance art and so were the press. As you can see in the sequence where he is lipsynching to “I Gotta Right” he’s surrounded by a ring of cameramen. While not as dramatic as the previous year’s telecast, Iggy still gave an intensely deranged performance.
Iggy made no attempt whatsoever to even pretend to be singing the songs. Instead he used his body as a diversion from the artificiality of the moment and made it real. Almost mocking the situation
As I watched these clips it hit me that Iggy is among a very small handful of artists who are keeping Antonin Artaud’s Theater Of Cruelty and Julian Beck’s Living Theater concepts alive. Can you a imagine a more inspired bit of casting than to have Iggy portray Artaud in a film of the French provocateurs life. “I Wanna Be Your Frog.” Or the Bunuel version: “I Wanna Be Your Andalusian Dog.”
An inspired bit of photoshopping by the folks at Cherrybombed. The picture was used in tandem with an article about The Stooges and Grinderman sharing the bill at Australia’s massivie music fest Big Day Out.
French TV host and provocateur Yves Mourousi interviews Iggy Pop in 1977.
The exceedingly hip Mourousi and Mr. Osterberg seem to be on the same wavelength in this totally charming clip.
Mousousi abandoned the constraints of television when he quit his TV gig and opened up “Look,” a Parisian nightclub where he was able to actualize his own rock and roll dreams.
Iggy and Debbie singing Cole Porter’s “Well,Did You Evah!’.
Iggy: so… have you ever been out to L.A. lately?
Debbie: well no, not recently.
Iggy: well, I went there and had a rent-a-car and all…
Debbie: oh, really?
Iggy: yeah and I got invited to Pia’s house… Pia Zadora’s house…
Debbie: really? oh.
Iggy: yeah.
Debbie: was it nice?
Iggy: well, I didnt… I didnt go!
Debbie: oh! hehe.
Iggy: it woulda been swell though!
Debbie: shoulda gone!
Iggy: it woulda been elegant!
As is (tragically) the case with the Velvet Underground, there is precious little sync-sound footage of Iggy Pop and the Stooges in their heyday, although there was a fair amount of silent Super-8 film that was shot. (A guy I know purchased an old film projector at a flea market that came with silent footage of Iggy onstage circa 1973, believe it or not. He later sold it to Vh1).
This incredible footage of the Stooges comes from the Cincinnati Summer Pop Festival of 1970 (AKA Midsummer Rock Festival). Appearing on a bill with Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper, Mountain and Traffic, the group performs “T.V. Eye” and “1970” as Iggy leaps into the crowd—probably inventing crowd-surfing in the process—smearing peanut butter all over his chest. It’s one of the greatest rock and roll moments of all time and resulted in the iconic photograph above. Thank the gods that this footage exists, too.
Note the square announcer’s reaction: “That’s… peanut butter!” Years later Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys took credit for bringing the tub of peanut butter from his home in Dayton, OH and putting it into the Iggster’s hands.
It’s hard to believe, but the then-controversial, Iggy-tweaked version of Raw Power that set the original David Bowie mix to 11 was released over thirteen years ago. These days, that’s a long time for anything to go un-reissued, so Legacy‘s come out with an expanded edition that pairs a remastered version of the Bowie mix with a ‘73 live set from Atlanta (but not, as Pitchfork notes, the more logical choice: a remastered version of the Iggy mix).
However you slice it—or mix it—Raw Power still packs a wallop. I’ll always prefer the primitive thump of Funhouse, but, as the below short attests (featuring, among others, Henry Rollins, James Williamson and Chrissie Hynde), there’s no denying Raw Power was more the shape of things to come.
Well, would you expect anything else from one James Osterberg? Even his mild lecherousness sounds sweet! And while it might have taken Iggy 9 months to answer the 20-page fan letter of a 21-year-old, his reply apparently arrived in the nick of time.
Laurence, the letter-writer, received it just as her family was being evicted from their Parisian home. By the time she finished reading it, she was reduced to tears. The first part of Iggy’s actual handwritten note follows below; its entirety can be found at Letters Of Note.
dear laurence,
thankyou for your gorgeous and charming letter, you brighten up my dim life. i read the whole fucking thing, dear. of course, i’d love to see you in your black dress and your white socks too. but most of all i want to see you take a deep breath and do whatever you must to survive and find something to be that you can love. you’re obviously a bright fucking chick, w/ a big heart too and i want to wish you a (belated) HAPPY HAPPY 21st b’day and happy spirit. i was very miserable and fighting hard on my 21st b’day, too. people booed me on the stage, and i was staying in someone else’s house and i was scared. it’s been a long road since then, but pressure never ends in this life. ‘perforation problems’ by the way means to me also the holes that will always exist in any story we try to make of our lives. so hang on, my love, and grow big and strong and take your hits and keep going.
all my love to a really beautiful girl. that’s you laurence.