Boogie Iggy Iggy

Iggy Pop's birthday is just two weeks away -- and I haven't received my party invitation yet.  He will perform at Coachella just a couple days before he turns 79. There are several Iggy compilations here on the blog, mostly from tribute albums, soundtracks, and guest appearances with other artists. 

Iggy may have slowed down a bit.  His most recent album under his own name was 2023's Every Loser.  I only found a few guest appearances from 2024 and 2025.  But another dig through his recording credits yielded a few things that I hadn't heard before, as well as some interesting live performances.  

Iggy joined NRBQ onstage for Wooly Bully, and he sang Rebel Rebel with Lenny Kravitz.  In Mexico, he did TV Eye with Metallica; and Michael Rother was Iggy's guest for a performance of Neu's Hero.   

There are some excellent studio collaborations in today's share, and a couple of odd cover songs that previously escaped my notice.  Iggy contributed a punk version of the Rat Pack classic "I Gotta Be Me" to the soundtrack to Freddy Got Fingered, and he sang the pioneer ballad "Sweet Betsy From Pike" for The Lone Ranger (the 2013 film with Johnny Depp as Tonto).

If you enjoy listening to spoken word performances, the last eight tracks feature Iggy's rich baritone.  I audaciously used Audacity to extract Iggy's recitations of William S. Burroughs from Bill Laswell's Acid Lands.  

PS - when I saw Iggy in concert (on the 1988 tour promoting his Instinct album), at one point he looked to his left, then to the right, and then he flipped off the audience with both hands.  It was just like the photo above!