Stream The Stooges’ New LP “Ready to Die” – – The Evolution of Iggy

UPDATE – Iggy and the Stooges’ Ready to Die is streaming now at at NPR.

The Evolution of Iggy

1969
The Stooges record “1969,” released that year on début LP The Stooges.
Iggy walks on people…

1970
The Stooges record “1970,” released that year on sophomore LP Fun House.
Iggy still walking on people….
…as seen in this iconic photo by Tom Copi.

1973
The Stooges release Raw Power, their third album and last of their initial run. Unlike the first two LPs – credited to The Stooges – this is technically an Iggy and the Stooges album (which also signals the addition of guitarist James Williamson and Ron Asheton’s move from guitar to bass). Despite Raw Power containing landmarks like “Search and Destroy” and “Gimme Danger,” it’s sales are unremarkable (Columbia soon drops the Stooges and by February 1974 they have broken up).

On stage Iggy cuts and bleeds like a wild beast thrown in a hole…
…as seen in this iconic photo by James Fortune (read the story behind it here).

1977
Iggy releases début and sophomore solo albums The Idiot and Lust For Life – both written and recorded in collaboration with David Bowie.
Not a bad year…

This period is the subject of an upcoming biopic currently in production, also called Lust for Life.

1980s
…First Pop published his autobiography I NEED MORE
….then Pop got his pay day when Bowie covered “China Girl”
…..and with the money from Bowie’s success, Iggy goes on a mini-music-hiatus to overcome heroin addiction, and take acting classes.
…….Iggy scores a role in 1985’s “Desperately Seeking Susan.”
……..Iggy has a comeback with the New Wave-ish hit album Blah Blah Blah in 1986.

2000
Pop is honored as the cover boy of Mojo’s “sleaze” issue (actually a photoshopped image of a famous 1971 nude photo of Iggy, previously used as the cover of his 1996 best-of comp Nude and Rude).

Oh wait, what about the ’90s?
– whatever, nevermind…

2000s
…In 2003 The Stooges reformed…
….and the first full-length Iggy biography was published, Gimme Danger – The Story of Iggy Pop by Joe Ambrose.

…Steve Albini produces the Stooges’ 2007 comeback album, The Weirdness…
….unanimously panned.

…..In 2008 Iggy inducted Madonna into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, telling her “You make me feel shiny and new, like a virgin, touched for the very first time”
…….The Stooges were inducted in 2010.

…Throughout the decade Iggy appears on collaborative tracks with everyone from Sum 41 to Sparklehorse
….and his age started to show:

2012
Iggy releases a solo album…
….of French crooner covers

…..and guests on Kesha’s Warrior…

2013
Iggy Pop and the Stooges announced new LP Ready to Die – the first full release with guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott Asheton since Raw Power (their only album with that line-up) – will be released April 30th by Fat Possum Records.

“Although ‘the Stooges’ died with Ron Asheton,” Iggy says in the press release, “there is still ‘Iggy and the Stooges‘” – referring to the line-up and title credit changes between their second and third albums. Here’s “Burn” – Ready’s to Die’s lead single:

“My motivation in making any record with the group at this point is no longer personal,” Iggy says. “It’s just a pig-headed fucking thing I have that a real fucking group when they’re an older group they also make fucking records. They don’t just go and twiddle around on stage to make a bunch of fucking money...”

"This is my teenage dream," says Iggy Pop of continuing to tour and record with the Stooges: http://t.co/Ng4j5uTZrI

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 15, 2013