Dear Superstar: Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop says hello the way a dog does: inches from your face, with a bark, his Midwestern baritone deep and charred. The former James Newell Osterberg, son of a schoolteacher, put the canine spirit into rock when he founded the Stooges in late-’60s Detroit, lashing out at Woodstock hand-holders with such bummer anthems as “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Gimme Danger.” Before shows, he’d take “two grams of biker speed, five tabs of LSD and as much grass as could be inhaled.” His name became a symbol of rock at its most extreme.

He tired of his reputation (“the fucked-up godfather of nihilistic horseshit,” as he once said) and gradually kicked drugs, took on David Bowie as a patron and wrote some enduring hits (“Lust for Life,” “China Girl,” “Nightclubbing”). This year, he agreed to a Stooges reunion, the group’s first since its 1973 decay, and his new album, Skull Ring, includes four songs recorded with the Stooges.

Pop steps into a Miami photo studio, his body a youthful cord of gristle under a blue mesh shirt, all 56 years lined into his sunken gray eyes and desert cheeks. A charming conversationalist, he’s excited to answer readers’ questions. “No offense,” he says, “I’d rather have their questions than yours. There’s a little more levity…”

What did it take to incite a Stooges reunion? And have they forgiven you for writing the mean song “Dum Dum Boys” about them?
CLARK00, TROY, NEW YORK
[Laughs] That song was all Bowie’s idea: “Write a song about the Stooges; call it ‘Dum Dum Boys.’ ” He egged me on. It took the unrelenting love and determination of the drummer, Rock [Scott Asheton], who kept calling every year or two. I thought, “My God, a Stooges reunion? I’m gonna have 30 bikers in my bathroom shooting up crystal meth. I’m gonna have baby-mamas outside the studio. I can’t take it.”

I decided to record with a lot of people, and after thinking about who’s cool, they were number 1. After them, it was Justin Timberlake and Puff Daddy. I would love to work with Justin Timberlake! The record company looked on in horror. They said, “Oh, very funny.” I bet he’d do it, though. Ah, well — next record.

You grew up in a trailer home in Detroit. Do you object to the term trailer trash?
BIGLARRY, YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN
No, I love it. When I was a kid, I took a lot of hazing about it, especially from the more macho elements of the upper class. I used to be on the verge of tears. They’d shake the trailer and laugh at me. Now, the biggest singer in America, Eminem, is trailer trash. Soon, the whole country will be living in an RV.

What, to you, is uniquely Detroit about Eminem and the White Stripes?
SCOOTER, WAYNE, MICHIGAN
They’re two steps out of the mainstream. In Detroit, you can do something you think is cool, and even if they don’t think you’re cool in New York City, it doesn’t matter — you can still get fucked and get stoned, because everything is so cheap. You can create your own world.

Who still calls you by your given name, Jim?
RASPUTIN, HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA
David Bowie, when he calls every two or three years. All the members of the Stooges. People I’ve known a long time, or smart alecks. Guys with really safe, Anglicized names like Jeremy get bugged by the idea that you can make up a goofy name like Iggy Pop and make it stick.

I’m 26 years old, and I have love handles. You’re 56 with a six-pack. What’s your workout regimen?
WUBBY, HONOLULU
I do about 40 minutes a day of qi gong, the fundamental exercises of tai chi. It looks like nothing, but if you learn from somebody who knows the shit, it’s really hard. Or I’ll swim about 200 yards in a pool, just to get a little bulk. I’m about 140 pounds, but I was a big boy when I graduated high school — 160 pounds. Singers look funny at 160, unless you’re in Lynyrd Skynyrd.

All right, already: How big is it?
BERGMAN, NEW YORK CITY
[Laughs] I was wondering that myself. I wrote a book [I Need More] in 1981, and I think I claimed that it was 11 ½ inches when actually going. It looks about that. It’s probably…10-ish. It’s big enough to give me great pleasure. I do enjoy it. I’ll see it sometimes and I’ll say, “Ahh. Everything’s cool.” My little companion. It’s more guys who are fascinated. With women, it comes up once: “Hey, you’re built like a black guy.”

Was Raw Power, the Stooges’ 1973 album, supposed to sound like shit?
GRAMMA33, VAIL, COLORADO
Jesus, that’s tricky. It’s a great record. When I put it on, it exceeds my estimation in mystique, rhythmic and lyrical skills and its ability to give joy and excitement. Which is something that has just gone right out of music — except for the little black guy with blond hair [Sisqó] singing about thongs for people in elementary school. The guitar and vocal sounds [on Raw Power], which are both very good, were deliberate decisions. The drum and bass were lacking, because the producer — me — became unhinged during the sessions.

What was your personal low point?
ROSE99, NEW YORK CITY
Waking up alone in an abandoned building somewhere behind Hollywood Boulevard, puking strange green bile. I was ahead of my time: Now there’s a whole homeless theme, and squats. I invented street cred! My only alternative was to nail a well-known publicist in Hollywood who would put me up for a few days. That was pretty low.

There was another period in the early ’80s when I was constantly drunk and breaking random limbs. I was in Japan, and they knew I was an important artist — at least they thought so — and they bought 7,000 very expensive tickets. I came out drunk and couldn’t remember the words. Here I was in a beautiful theater, with a lot of people who were interested in my culture, and I thought, “Gee, you really let yourself down tonight.” That made a big impression.

When was the last time you did heroin?
PILLPOPPER, LAS VEGAS
[Pauses] 1981 for heroin, ’83 for opium. I had a long transitional period until I got to where I am today. I don’t take drugs. I enjoy a glass of red Bordeaux. If I have two, I’ll get loopy and start talking about my penis. A few days ago, I had a gig in Boston for a radio station, and after two glasses of wine, they wanted to talk to me. Sure enough, out came the forbidden subject. “Oh, no! I did it again!”

It’s spring 1976, and you’ve recently moved from Los Angeles to Berlin to kick drugs. Describe a typical day.
PORKYPINE, WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
Get up in the morning on the fourth floor of a cold-water building and take a sponge bath. Cut a little brown bread and cheese — I had a knife, one knife — and eat. Then walk all over the city, which hadn’t changed since 1910: organ grinders who still had monkeys; quality transvestite shows. A different world. By evening, I’d go have dinner with the Bowies, see a film or watch Starsky and Hutch — that was our big thing, me and Bowie. If there wasn’t enough to do, I knew some bad people, and I’d get stoned or drunk. Sometimes I’d do the bad stuff with the Bowies and the good stuff with the bad people.

Why did you decide to move to Miami in 1998?
HELPER101, ORLANDO, FLORIDA
I had a life change in New York — there was a divorce, and it was time to go. I went for coffee, and two students with a script were having a conversation next to me. One of them dropped a piece of paper, and I picked it up. It said, “That’s Iggy Pop. Ask him — he has money.” By contrast, there’s a ridiculous optimism in Miami, a baseless optimism. It’s five degrees north of redneck, then grafted on is a lot of things I like: Haitian culture, Latin culture. I live in a good Hasidic neighborhood, near a bagel store.

I heard “Lust for Life” on a cruise-ship TV ad. Is there any advertiser you’ve turned down?
FINCHY, ITHACA, NEW YORK
No! I got a fax asking if Bruce Willis could sing new lyrics to “Search and Destroy” for the new Rugrats movie — “I’m sick of my chew toy,” or something — and I OK’d that, because it was so stupid. The main thing is, the Stooges get in the media. That ensures our preservation as a band, through impressing corrupted people for the wrong reasons. Now those motherfuckers are impressed with me. Hell, if I was R.E.M., I sure as hell wouldn’t let my songs be used for an ad either. Their songs already sound so fucking prissy. But any time you hear the Stooges, it’ll fucking stop the room, and people drop things.

I’ve heard many versions of a 1973 incident involving you, Elton John and a gorilla suit. Which one is right?
CHAVEZ, CHICAGO
I believe that was the last Stooges tour, the one that culminated in a near-riot in Detroit. I was very stoned from some sort of debacle the night before, and I wasn’t even in shape to stand up. I shuffled out to the stage, just trying to get through 50 minutes. I look to my left, and a great fucking gorilla is lumbering toward the stage. I was scared. Then I realized it wasn’t a real gorilla. Elton picked me up and danced around in a benign fashion. I think he had a crush on James [Williamson, the Stooges’ guitarist]. James was the hottie.

I’ve read that you’re a history buff. Who’s your favorite Roman emperor?
SQUAREBIZSF, SAN FRANCISCO
Probably Tiberius. He talked democracy while he practiced autocracy — he mirrored our present emperor, George Bush.

What do you think happens to you when you die?
SHIZZA, AMES, IOWA
Probably a varied recounting of your own decisions, a series of flashbacks. I imagine that this repeats and repeats, like dreaming. I did an interview last week, and they said, “Who would you like to come back as?” I said, “Johnny Depp.” I’d like to be better-looking next time.

Are you a good father?
JACKJONES, FOREST HILLS, NEW YORK
No. I wasn’t in a position to be. I had no stable career. While I did some very important work, I didn’t get rewarded for any of that work until much later — until now, frankly. I started working on that once he [son Eric, sometimes known as “Ewreck”] hit about 19, and I did OK. He’s up and running, working in the rock industry [mostly as a tour manager]. Educated. Rehabbed. Married. Kid.

I’m a gay 22-year-old, and I love your music. Please come clean: What’s the extent of your gay experiences?
LILBITCH, LOS ANGELES
Very simple. I always got a lot of support from those people, and I learned from a lot of really talented gay people. I’m to the left of tolerant, but I’ve never had a gay experience. Two or three times, excited gay friends wanted to, like, nibble my nuts — generally when I was passed out or distracted. And then I’d go, “Hey! Bruce! Cut it out!” And that would be the end of that. The gayest it got is some guy approaching my scrotum with oral intent. I was mistaken for gay at a Bowie concert once, because of my flamboyant dress and friendly manner, and a bunch of California toughs beat the shit out of me. Fifteen stitches. I thought to myself, “So this is what it’s like.”

Here’s a historical question: Who invented punk rock?
DONNAP, ATLANTA
Jack Johnson [a 1920s boxing champion] — the first uppity nigger. Then you had black people playing rock & roll, scaring the Ku Klux Klan, but it took a white guy, Elvis, to add the sneer. The sneer is the key gesture of punk. From Elvis, it goes up through the Rolling Stones, and I’m a kid watching the Stones, thinking, “What if…?” And away you go. To me, the Stooges never played punk rock. We did things that led to it.

When you and the Stooges shared a house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, legend has it that you regularly did number two on the back porch. Tru dat?
DOGMASTER, WAYNE, NEW JERSEY
[Laughs] Yes. It’s hard to explain. I was trying to get close to nature. I also never sat on chairs. It was a little bit caveman. I was also taking psychedelic drugs.

Is there anyone in music now who reminds you of your younger self?
JRLINCOLN, TEMPE, ARIZONA
Mmm, bits and pieces. Jack White’s hairdo and pants. Anthony Kiedis’s hairdo and pants. Bono’s hairdo and — hey, wait a minute!