“I’m an idiot for you”
Iggy Pop’s The Idiot album was released on March 18th, 1977, and its influence is still being felt forty years later.
Along with Bowie’s own Low album, The Idiot was a real game-changer for artist and listener alike.
It’s probably a cliché to say how new both these albums sounded back in 1977, but nevertheless, it’s true.
They sounded like they shouldn’t have been made yet and although they were both instant classics to the faithful, both records are still generally underappreciated.
Though Low was released a couple of months ahead of The Idiot, the latter was made first.
The Idiot was recorded at the Château d’Hérouville (France) and Hansa Studios, Berlin in 1976.
As stated on the back of the original sleeve, Iggy’s album was: Recorded by David Bowie and mixed by Tony Visconti, whereas Low was a Bowie/Visconti production.
Despite this lack of a production credit for The Idiot, later issues of the album had a large Produced by David Bowie label on the front cover.
Here’s Iggy regarding the recording process taken from the original press release…
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“When we went into the studio, we didn’t have any finished tracks at all. We just strolled in with a lot of themes and feelings we liked. David would work on the music at one time, and I would drift in and out and listen to it. Then I would come in on my own and put on the vocals. Then he would hear what I had done, and of course that would change the nature of the music. So the tracks grew from that kind of back and forth.”
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The Idiot entered the UK album chart and peaked at #30 upon release. China Girl and Success were released as singles but failed to bother the singles chart.
Bowie’s success with his own version of China Girl six years later, apparently provided Iggy with his pension fund. But that’s a whole other story.
Shortly after Bowie passed last year, Iggy spoke to Jon Parelesjan of the New York Times in more detail about his working relationship with Bowie in the recording studio.
It’s a fascinating and emotional piece. Check it out here.
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