#96

Iggy Pop

The Idiot (1977)

This album is a great album, in ways that just don't make me excited at all.  I listen to it:  I can hear that it is good, and why it is good, but I do not enjoy it.

This album is for some people, and for them, they will get all the way behind it.  The guy from Joy Division liked it so much that it was the last thing he listened to before he decided to quit being alive.

But I don't care about this album at all.  It is fueled on self-satisfied sarcasm and too-clever-by-half self-deprecation.  Rock conventions have always been ripe for skewering, and Bowie (who is responsible for a great deal of the content here) has always aimed for the least subtle place to stick a skewer, which is part of his charm.  But this album doesn't work for me.  I am not transported to the universe Pop and Bowie are trying to create.

Maybe I am just tired this week, but I have tried a lot of times to get down with this sound, and have failed.

This isn't to say that I wouldn't drop everything to go be a ne'er-do-well euro-trash trendsetter in 1977.  Holy fuck, except for the massive drug abuse, dead-at-27 friends, and soulless existence, this is the first place I'd go in my time machine.  Those guys -- Bowie, Eno, Kraftwerk, Can, the whole scene of Germany in the 70s -- did better stuff than this though, despite the fact that this album is partially responsible for creating that image in the first place.

Sorry, The Idiot, I hope you have a great life in heavy rotation in someone else's music collection.

Mix Tracks:

(ctrl or left click the song title into a new window)

Not much hear I plan on continuing to listen to at this point.  But, I do quite like

China Girl

Yes, I am aware that Bowie had a bit of a hit with this in the 80's, but I prefer this one.  This song does manage to transport me to another place.  Good driving music, good headphones music, good music period.

Next:

#95

Led Zeppelin

Physical Graffiti (1975)

(yay!)