Photo: Redferns
At age 75, Iggy Pop's stage presence has gotten a little tamer (he recently retired from stage diving), but in his heyday he was notorious for a pretty raucous (and at times, inappropriate) show. Just ask Glen Matlock.
The Sex Pistols bassist played on Iggy's 1980 album Soldier and toured with him the year prior. During an interview with The Times, Matlock reflected on his time touring with the punk legend, which resulted in him witnessing Iggy flashing his genitals on stage time and time again — something he "got a bit fed up" with.
“The problem with flashing your willy on stage is that you have to get ready to flash your willy on stage,” he explained. “And he always did it in front of me. I got a bit fed up with seeing it, to be honest. It’s not that impressive.”
Iggy just released his 19th studio album, Every Loser, and has been making the interview rounds where he's spoken about his past, present, and future. During one conversation, he recalled the wild story that led to his long-standing friendship with Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan (who's featured on the new album). "I've known Duff since he was in his early twenties," he said. "Both he and Slash worked on Brick By Brick. I used to go over to Duff’s house – at the time he was trying to decide between the Playboy model he was dating and the weather girl – and rehearse. One time Slash was three hours late because, he said, 'I’m sorry but my snake escaped into the wall'."
When they did get to work, McKagan and Slash introduced Iggy to their unconventional work method. "Before we set to work they said: 'We’ll have to have a discussion before we start,'” he remembered. "So they arrived with a gallon of vodka and a bowl of blow and, as a result of living through that, I got to know them pretty well."