Iggy Pop Open Up and Bleed - Paul Trynka

 

Obviously, I've been a fan of Iggy and his Stooges ever since first discovering them in the 70's (a combination of a fellow student who was baffled by their debut album and gave it to me and Kenne Highland, who loved them and gifted me with the other two albums so we could jam on them endlessly whenever we got together) and have read a number of books on the man and the band but this one seems to have eluded me until now.

Iggy practically brags about growing up in a trailer park in Michigan, but the park itself actually sounds nicer than many neighborhoods, with farmland, parks, and a close-knit community of at least middle-class families who simply chose the place for its convenience. He also was friendly with the upper-class kids from the area - to the point where some of his trailer park friends called him "snooty". He seems as if he was basically one of the popular kids, not the outcast that most of us rock'n'rollers were. (And I still think it's weird that he was - and still is - a golf fanatic!)

When he does discover music, he gets immersed, learns drums, starts a couple of projects that evolve into first the Iguanas and then the Prime Movers, both fairly popular and respected groups on the Michigan scene. After a stint playing behind some blues legends in Chicago, Iggy returned to Ann Arbor and decided to start a new, original band with the Asheton brothers and Dave Alexander. Ron named them the Psychedelic Stooges and they made a name for themselves with a confrontational sound and stage show - particularly Iggy's unpredictable escapades. 

Time seemed to move faster back then and soon the first album is released, there are many more shows, they plot the follow up Fun House album, bring in Steve MacKay on sax and fly to LA for recording and debauchery. While the album is a true r'n'r masterpiece now, it flopped, most of the band got hooked on heroin, and even bringing in James Williamson on second guitar did not help any matters - in fact it did the opposite and when Elektra turned down their option for a third album (which, for fans, was too bad, as they had some wild material worked up then), the band essentially fell apart. Bowie famously helped to resurrect them, but with increasing drug use, bad management (after MainMan dropped them) and no serious support system - but especially the drug use and Iggy's unreliability - they completely dissolved.

Of course, everyone who cares knows these stories, but there are a few extra tidbits thrown in here'n'there and Trynka tells the tale engagingly. When Pop reconnects with Bowie they create a whole new style for both of them, sorta creating post-punk just as punk was forming, based on the sounds of the Stooges, MC5 and other like-minded bands. So, even though Metallic KO came out about this time, Iggy was sorta turning his back on his previous work just as it was becoming important and highly influential - just bad timing or just being confrontational? Of course, he flirts with various sounds over the coming years and is often more in tune with the times, so this was ironic. 

But in the meantime, there were a couple of flops, a bunch of tours, some punk rock superstar sidemen - Brian James, Glen Matlock, Billy Rath, Ivan Kral, Richard Sohl, Gary Valentine, Clem Burke, even Steve Jones at one point, who were all thrilled to work with their hero, even though his career was floundering - and, as usual, plenty of bad decisions, addictions (drugs, alcohol, underage girls), and manic depressions.

Trynka concludes with the reunion of the Stooges in the new millennium, with triumphant shows but a mediocre new record. Regardless, the resurrection and survival of the main characters (minus their original bassists, who had all passed at this time so Mike Watt was brought in as a replacement) and Iggy's financial stability and sobriety leaves the book on a positive note, after a lifetime of depravity and disappointments. 

Trynka does a good job of separating Jim, the intelligent, soft-spoken, handsome and charming gentlemen from the maniacal, drug-ravaged, ravin', drooling Iggy but other than the occasional tidbits, fans will probably not learn much new here, but Iggy and the Stooges is a tale for the ages and needed to be told.