Iggy Pop saluted the late, legendary musician. He expanded on their dynamic, likening it to “more of a benefactor than a friend,” since Bowie (whose mid-‘70s career was on a well-publicized high note) went so far out of his way to get him back on track.
Bowie met Iggy in 1971 and shortly after, convinced him (then freshly sober) to reform his scorching proto-punk band, the Stooges. Their 1973 album Raw Power marked a major comeback, but shortly after, Iggy Pop found himself again on his own, mired in addiction and briefly homeless. In 1976, Bowie again came to the rescue. He had the singer tag along on tour to recuperate, and soon after, produced his first two solo albums, The Idiot and Lust For Life.
David Bowie's Fashion Evolution
Around this time, the worldly Bowie insisted on meeting Iggy Pop’s parents, who lived in a modest trailer in Detroit. “He came to my parents’ trailer, and the neighbors were so frightened of the car and the bodyguard they called the police,” Pop remembered in the Times interview. “Thank you for what you’re doing for my son,” he recalled his father saying, to which he thought, “Shut up, Dad. You’re making me look uncool.”
The whole interview is available here.
