Iggy Pop - EVERY LOSER - The Singles, Reviewed

Iggy Pop - EVERY LOSER - The Singles, Reviewed


Iggy Pop is the Godfather of Punk. Along with the brilliant Asheton brothers, Dave Alexander and James Williamson, they sculpted a sound all their own with the Stooges, releasing a trilogy of classic and formative albums in the genre, and two others we don’t really like to talk about. Subsequently, thanks to some initial help from David Bowie, Iggy also enjoyed a relatively successful solo career, with great albums like ‘The Idiot’ and ‘New Values’, as well as classic tracks like ‘Nightclubbing’, ‘Lust For Life’, ‘The Passenger’, and ‘Candy’. Now, following on from his last album, 2019’s ambient jazz excursion ‘Free’ (a personal favourite of mine), with the help of modern rock super producer Andrew Watt, Iggy seems to be returning to his rockier roots on ‘EVERY LOSER’, slated for release on January 6th 2023. So before the album’s release, I thought I’d just give a quick review of the singles released so far, to see how the album might stack up upon release.


Frenzy

The lead single is 3-minute rager ‘Frenzy’, and rager is I think an appropriate description. Instrumentally this thing does not let up, with walls of fuzzy, distorted guitars atop a foundation of propulsive drums and great, crunchy, gnarly bass. This is also complimented in the chorus by the odd flourish of keyboards too which work nicely as a background texture. So instrumentally not too many complaints. Its loud rock sound and brickwalled production is maybe a little on the generic side but still enjoyable all the same. Vocally it’s maybe a little more on the iffy side but it’s certainly not all bad. Iggy’s manic energy and snarl is still fully evident here, leading to an overall compelling performance, and the chorus is decently catchy too with the addition of backing vocals, but I reckon it’s fair to say that his more animated, manic deliveries haven’t exactly been aided by the ageing process. For me though, the worst element of this song has to be the lyrics. While reportedly about Iggy being stalked by a sociopathic fan, I bet my life that nobody can look at the opening line of “Got a dick and 2 balls, that's more than you all”, or the chorus rhymes of “fucking prick” and “goddamn dick” without cringing. So overall a fairly strong, energetic rock song on the instrumental and vocal side, let down by a lacklustre set of lyrics.


Strung Out Johnny

This second single however opts for a more danceable, anthemic sound, with a solid, subtly gothic bassline, ringing, atmospheric guitars and a disco inspired drum beat, all working pretty well together. This is then complimented by the odd flourish of piano, and a really nice, atmospheric, colourful synth line on the chorus. On the vocal end, I actually find Iggy’s more subdued, slightly warbly crooning to be quite compelling, and is certainly a nice fit for the track. I do think that the melodies and feel of the pre/first chorus sections are perhaps a little irritating, although the main title refrain is quite decent, with the atmospheric, anthemic feel coming in full force with the keyboards and backing vocals. As a final note, while structurally a little thin, the main refrain repeating a noticeably high number of times, the track’s lyrics concerning heroin abuse are actually done in quite an effective and interesting way. So not a perfect track by any means, but with an enjoyable, anthemic instrumental, solid vocal performance and intriguing lyrics, I still think it’s rather strong.


So I suppose the question is: based on the quality of the singles, do I think the album will be good? Well, do I think it will be a high benchmark in his discography overall? Perhaps not. But in the same breath I wouldn’t be surprised if what we got was at least pretty enjoyable. It’s a back-to-basics affair for sure, but one that so far is yielding decently entertaining results, so I can’t complain too much.

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