Happy Birthday Iggy Pop

He was known as the Godfather of Punk, the third cousin of New Wave, and the IgMeister General. Iggy took enough drugs to choke a small nation and lived to tell about it. He smeared Peanut Butter, cut and battered himself, stripped naked and confronted his audience. And that was all on a Tuesday. Iggy changed the world.

James Newell Osterberg

James Newell Osterberg Jr. was born on April 21, 1947 in Muskegon, Michigan. The son of Louella IV and James Newell Osterberg III. Young Jim was raised in a trailer park (Mobile Estates) in Ypsilanti, Michigan where he was known as ‘The Godfather of Mobile Estates’. 

Iggy

The seeds of Iggy Pop’s stage persona were sown when he saw The Doors perform in 1967 at the University of Michigan. He was amazed by the stage antics and antagonism displayed by singer Jim Morrison. Morrison’s extreme behavior, he exposed himself, threw up and passed out, inspired the young Iggy Pop to push the boundaries of stage performance. Iggy was one of the first performers to do a stage-dive and popularized the activity. Unfortunately on that first night, the crowd just stared at him as he hit the floor and broke 2 ribs. Iggy Pop, who performs bare-chested, also performed such stage theatrics as rolling around in broken glass and exposing himself to the crowd. Pop has not worn a shirt since 1969. 

Stooges

Iggy and The Stooges created Punk, did drugs, broke up and reformed 97 times all in a few short years. Mr. Pop did more drugs, went to Berlin with Bowie and released an amazing body of solo work, all without a shirt. Some call him the greatest frontman of all time. A true legend!

In recent years, Iggy Pop has been thrown out of 7-11 for not wearing a shirt, starred as Peter Pan on Broadway and had his infamous nipples inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. It has been a good life. A very good life. Cheers Iggy

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