I have recently completed a new bio on Iggy Pop and, quite honestly, wonder how he is still with us today. The new tome, Open Up And Bleed, is a well written and easy to follow account of James earnest beginnings. The writing was on the wall for even the young Osterberg - he was able to overcome the personal embarrassment of living with his parents in a trailer park to become "one of the most likely to succeed" throughout his school years, impressing those who crossed his path with his intellect,charm, and overall drive.

What floors me the most though is that he is still with us. I've read several rock and roll bios, but this one was nearly dripping in depravity. I mean, there were long stretches where Iggy wondered around homeless with no money (or decent clothes to keep money in) and, seemingly, no hope.I have to believe that anybody else would have succumbed to an overdose and turned it in. Yet, there he was, turning up again and again to record another album and slip thru the fingers of the reaper. Its a good thing too, as he survived seeing his then "misunderstood" music made with the Stooges as being one of the most often cited influences for so many of his contemporaries (see Sex Pistols, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Mike Watt). Yeah, you have to forgive him for some of his late works (try American Caesar or Ave B) but you can't blame the guy for trying - or getting his 401k in order. In the end, Iggy winds up a millionaire, seeing his backcatalog sales rivaling more popular acts of the day while getting royalty checks courtesy of friends like David Bowie recording his compositions ( like China Girl).

In similar debauched fashion, I would highly recommend trying Julian Copes autobiography (spread out over 2 books) Repossesed and Head On. Where heroin was Iggy's soft spot, Cope spends his entire experience with his first band, Teardrop Explodes, completely fried on acid. In fact, I don't recollect there being a passage where he was not tripping (sometimes reduced to a shivering, slobbering, figure unable to string together words) during the recording of the 2 proper Teardrop albums. There is probably an arguement to be made here that it nurtured his creativity, but never having dropped acid, I can't attest. Like Iggy, Julian went on to overcome his "has-been" loser status and has turned out some critically acclaimed works of his own, most notably the earth in crisis song cycle Peggy Suicide.

I've just started another book - this one about the Sex Pistols, a band whose follies I pretty much have memorized, but I'm always looking for another angle or story that maybe was missed by the last author.