The Idiot (album)

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The Idiot

Studio album by Iggy Pop
Released	March 18, 1977
Recorded	Château d'Hérouville, Pontoise, France Musicland, Munich Hansa Studio by the Wall, Berlin 1976-77
Genre	Post-punk, Electronic
Length	38:49
Label	RCA
Producer(s)	David Bowie
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A) link
Iggy Pop chronology
Kill City (1977)	The Idiot (1977)	Lust for Life (1977)

The Idiot is a 1977 album by Iggy Pop, his debut as a solo artist. It was the first of two LPs released that year which Pop wrote and recorded in collaboration with David Bowie. Although issued after Low, the opening installment of Bowie's so-called "Berlin Trilogy", the pair began writing and recording songs for The Idiot in mid-1976, before Bowie started work on his own album. As such, The Idiot has been claimed as heralding the unofficial beginning of Bowie's Berlin period, being compared particularly to Low and "Heroes" in its electronic effects, treated instrument sounds, introspective lyrics and overall mood. A departure from the hard rock of his former band The Stooges, The Idiot is regarded by critics as one of Pop’s best works, but is not generally considered representative of his output.

The album's opening track, "Sister Midnight", a stately piece of funk laced with oedipal dream imagery, had been written by Bowie, Pop and guitarist Carlos Alomar, and performed live, on the Station to Station tour in early 1976. In July that year, following the end of the tour, Bowie and Pop holed up in Château d'Hérouville, the same locale that Bowie recorded Pin Ups (1973) and would record much of Low, and began putting together the rest of the songs that would comprise The Idiot. These included the sparse, atmospheric "Nightclubbing"; the proto-gothic "Funtime"; the original version of "China Girl", raw and unpolished compared to Bowie’s later hit remake; "Dum Dum Boys", a tribute/lament for Pop's former Stooges band mates; and "Mass Production", a harsh, grinding piece of pre-industrial electronica. Further recording and mixing took place in Munich and Berlin, the latter at the famous Hansa studios.

Because of its ambiguous and in some cases non-existent credits, misconceptions have arisen over the years as to who did what on the album. It has generally been taken for granted that Iggy Pop wrote the lyrics while David Bowie contributed the music. Pop has since claimed that their approach was more collaborative, some music being Pop’s and some lyrics Bowie’s. The album's cover photo, inspired by Erich Heckel’s Roquairol, is often assumed to be by Bowie but was in fact taken by Andy Kent. No instrumental credits were included on the sleeve, causing much speculation; however what appears to be a definitive list was published by Nicholas Pegg in 2000^[1] (see Production credits).

The Idiot made #30 on the UK charts, the first time any of Iggy Pop's records had cracked the Top Forty. "Sister Midnight" and "China Girl" were released as singles in February and May 1977, respectively – both with the same B-side, "Baby".

Whilst the album has been almost universally praised in its own right over the years, Iggy Pop purists have criticised the work as unrepresentative of his repertoire and as evidence of his being 'co-opted' by Bowie for the latter's own ends. Bowie himself later admitted:

"Poor Jim, in a way, became a guinea pig for what I wanted to do with sound. I didn't have the material at the time, and I didn't feel like writing at all. I felt much more like laying back and getting behind someone else's work, so that album was opportune, creatively."^[2]

Pop, for his own part, has described The Idiot as a cross between James Brown and Kraftwerk.^[3] In any case, the album has been cited as a major influence on a number of post-punk, electronic and industrial artists including Joy Division, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. Lead singer of Joy Division Ian Curtis was found hanged in 1980 with the record The Idiot still spinning on his turntable.^[4]

"Nightclubbing" and "Funtime" appeared on the 1978 live set TV Eye, recorded during Pop's 1977 tour, the UK leg of which featured Bowie on keyboards and backing vocals. Bowie re-worked "Sister Midnight" (with new lyrics) as "Red Money" on his 1979 album Lodger, whilst his cover version of "China Girl" on 1983's Let's Dance became a huge hit. In 1980 Human League covered "Nightclubbing" in a medley with Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll". The song was remade again the following year by Grace Jones as the title track to her album Nightclubbing. "Funtime" has been covered by Bauhaus’ Pete Murphy in 1988 and REM in 1995, amongst others.

"Nightclubbing" is also known for providing the kick drum sample for Nine Inch Nails's hit, "Closer." The first kick drum sample from "Nightclubbing" was sampled by Trent Reznor, and the waveform was flipped upside down, and then pasted into the sequencer for "Closer."