Happy Birthday To Iggy Pop!
Xfm salutes the man who set the template for punk, not only raised the bar for excessive rocks star behaviour but cleared it and who, at 61, is still managing to shame bands half his age with performances that defy belief.
Iggy Pop - that's James Osterberg to his mum - has, despite the odds, made it to 61.
As frontman of The Stooges at the tail end of the 60s and early 70s, Iggy trampled flower power into the dust with paeans to boredom and urban alienation as his cohorts - guitarist Ron Ashton, drummer Scott Ashton and bassist Dave Alexander - supplied the primordial riffs that lay down the roots of punk for the decade ahead.
Following the implosion of The Stooges in 1974 at an action packed farewell gig that involved a pitched battle with a local biker gang in their hometown of Detroit - captured for on posterity on the legendary live album 'Metallic K.O.' (probably the only live album where bottles are heard smashing against guitar strings) - Iggy hooked up once more with David Bowie (the pair had previously worked on The Stooges' then-final album, 'Raw Power') and decamped to Berlin to deliver the seminal 'The Idiot' and 'Lust for Life' albums in 1977.
While Iggy's 80s output was of questionable quality, his live performances where beyond doubt. Bursting with an energy and - ahem - raw power of furious intent, Iggy continued to win over new generations of fans.
His 90s albums found a return to form - 'Brick By Brick' and 'American Caesar' being cases in point - while his reunion with The Stooges saw the band deliver a series of blistering concerts that exceeded all expectations. See the gallery and five classic live clips below for proof while down below you can see some of Iggy's most incendiary performances.
Or better still, grab yourself a ticket for The Stooges' headline slot at Get Loaded In The Park at Clapham Common on August Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets are on sale on now and are available from the Xfm Xchange on 0871 222 1049 or from the Xfm Online Ticket Shop.
Happy Birthday, Iggy - here's to many more. Feel free to leave your messages of congratulations below.
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