Who could be a better ambassador for Record Store Day than Iggy Pop? Nobody I guess. Sitting on a wooden throne coming straight from Game of Thrones’ leftover accessories, dressed up (for once) in black leather, the godfather of punk tells stories about music, explains how he bought his first record at 99cts in a Woolworth (‘it was a mistake’) in 1962.
With his expressive face, interesting hand moves and raucous voice, Iggy is fascinating to listen to, as he talks about his first listening experiences, and his first exposure to different genres of music.
A favorite moment of mine is when he talks about this beautiful Irish American girl who liked him and his happy smiling face when he says ‘when we would take a break’…, then explaining with delight how he would go through the girl’s records and would find Otis Redding.
But he also has harsh (and true) words about current music:
‘I think there are some ages, like the one we're living in, when the game is kind of rigged towards products that contain music – sort of like those cheap drinks you get in a bad supermarket where it says, Contains 10% juice.'
‘There's a lot of stuff out there with a bit of music to it, and I think that's OK, but it reminds me of how bad it was to turn on American Bandstand in the '50s and see all the endless, gutless, dickless imitations of Elvis that the American industry decided to push on the kids.’
So listen to Iggy, he will tell you how music transforms the crappiest places and why you should lose it to the joy of music: Remember, Record Store Day is April 21st.