lust for life

Iggy Pop continued his Berlin collaboration with David Bowie with this spontaneous return to his rock and roll roots.  'Lust for Life' was recorded in a whirlwind after the tour for his solo debut 'The Idiot' which had been released earlier that year.  Pop recalls:  "David and I had determined that we would record that album very quickly, which we wrote, recorded, and mixed in eight days, and because we had done it so quickly, we had a lot of money left over from the advance, which we split...See, Bowie's a hell of a fast guy...I realized I had to be quicker than him, otherwise whose album was it gonna be?"  It was recorded with Pop on vocals; Bowie on keyboards, piano, and backing vocals; Carlos Alomar on guitar and backing vocals; and Ricky Gardiner on guitar and backing vocals.  The rhythm section of Tony and Hunt Sales were the sons of comedian Soupy Sales; and were drafted twelve years later into Bowie's Tin Machine project.  The sessions were produced by Bowie, Pop and engineer Colin Thurston at Hansa Studio by the Wall in Berlin. Pop said: "I always wanted to come to Germany, even when I was a kid. I read everything about it. I always knew I wanted to come here, just like some guys always knew they wanted ... to wear a dress."   The production team called themselves the Bewlay Brothers after the song from Bowie's 'Hunky Dory'.  

Pop remember the genesis of the iconic title track:  "It's William Burroughs, from 'The Ticket That Exploded' and 'The Soft Machine'.  I loved that Dr. Benway line: 'Love, what is it anyway? It's just like when you hypnotize a chicken.'  And there was Johnny Yen, the Venusian green boy - he's gonna sell you the love con.  He'll go through your closet while you're staring into space.  I was mixing that with personal experience.  The riff was directly lifted from Armed Forces TV.  I wonder if they still use it.  At four o'clock in the afternoon, the channel came on with this black-and-white image of a radio tower, going beep-beep-beep beep-beep-ba-beep.  Exactly like that.  We were watching it one day, and there was a ukulele nearby.  David grabbed it, said 'Get your tape recorder', and knocked it out on the ukulele."

'Lust for Life' went to number one hundred and twenty on the US album chart and number twenty-eight in the UK.  The title track charted nineteen years later after being featured on the soundtrack for 'Trainspotting', going to number twenty-six in the UK and number four in the Netherlands.  











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'Lust for Life' 

full album:





1. Lust for Life- 0:00
2. Sixteen- 5:14
3. Some Weird Sin- 7:40
4. The Passenger- 11:23
5. Tonight- 16:07
6. Success- 19:47
7. Turn Blue- 24:13
8. Neighborhood Threat- 31:10
9. Fall In Love With Me- 34:36