ALL HAIL THE IG!

Now, I’ve brushed up against greatness in my time – like the time Johnny Cash singled me out in the crowd at a press conference and marched up and introduced himself, saying, of course “Hi, I’m Johnny Cash;” or come to think of it, actually literally brushing past Debbie Harry in a narrow Brisbane hotel hallway in 1977 – but I’ve never been quite this close to it and for that, I am totally chuffed: On the new Cambodian tribute album to Iggy Pop, Angkor Pop, which has just been released, there is a sticker on the cover that carries spruiks from two people – Iggy himself and, umm, me. Wow! See here what we said: 

I did meet the Ig once myself, and he was no disappointment like Lou Reed, who was long one of my heroes too. After meeting Lou, I can only put it this way: As much as I might idolize his music, his songs and his sonic vision, the man himself I can’t. But Iggy was and I think still is the opposite, possessed of precisely all the generosity of spirit that Lou seemed to lack. I met Iggy on that famous visit he made to Australia in 1979 when he appeared on Countdown and called Molly ‘dogface’. It was a micro press-conference for just a handful of journalists from the lesser press outlets, held at the Melbourne Zoo. Which was doubtless chosen as the venue because it enabled Iggy to live out a photo op in front of the iguana cage. Not that I’ve ever seen any of the shots I know were taken that day. But Iggy was charming, sweet, funny, smart, impatient… and the level of energy he’s been able to maintain to the present-day is just astonishing. The only thing I can’t work out is – if Lou Reed was such an arsehole, how was able to write some of the most beautiful, tender love songs ever written, “Pale Blue Eyes” or “Perfect Day”? Meantime the spirit of the Ig as a man as well as artist continues to inspire and can be heard reverberating through this album, produced by my good mates Julien Poulson and Jason Shaw from the Cambodian Space Project and complete with the all the good graces of the Ig himself. So, do yourself a favour as the aforesaid Molly always used to say, grab one on Record Store Day.