Great Moments In Rock History

I saw a great clip this morning posted under the title of "Iggy confronts a fan" or something like that. My longtime (possibly all time) favorite performer is crouched at the apron of the stage about 2 feet away from the face of some frizzy-haired fat guy (looks to be around 1981) who had apparently screamed a derogatory remark about one of Mr. Pop's friends during the quiet lull between songs.

The clip starts with Iggy saying "Thank you, listen, you know most of you here are very lovely but there are a lot of overweight people in this region (or arena? I can't make it out) aren't there?

The exchange went something like this:

Man: "Eff Bowie!"
Iggy: "I bet you'd like to eff David Bowie, wouldn't you?"

It gets worse (or better, depending on your preference of language) but this was my favorite part of their visit with one another....

Iggy: "Do you perminate your hair? Look at you.. you are a fat, stinky...you have t*ts! you have little tiny t*ts with little pink nipples. You have little tiny bowtie mouth like a little girl. You are an imitation of a man".

The band kicks in and Iggy springs up... and, of course, spits on the guy.

I met Iggy Pop one night about 25 years ago.

Reader: Really Grandpa? Tell us more....

He came to a really seedy punk/new wave (it was 1983) club where we were playing. An amateur promoter (who happened to be our manager at the time) brought him to town to perform at the Tampa Theatre. As favor to her, he had graciously agreed to come and hear us. He sat and listened to a few of our very bad tunes and offered encouragement and advice afterward. A perfect gentleman (see Bryan Ferry post). He lamented about the lack of support shown by his new label (the Chris Stein Animal label, I think). He talked business. It was pretty cool at the time.

The following night we watched him whirl around, bind himself painfully tight with the mic chord, writhe his way out of an invisible straitjacket, accost a hapless guy "you know you only hate me because your girlfriend loves me", and as we expected, expose himself... all the things that we loved him for. My God was it loud...a gabillion bees swarming at around 15k frequency. His band was tough too. Like he hired a prison band.

At the end of this assault, after all the spitting and cussing (and presentation of exhibit "a") was concluded, he threw his mic down, came to the edge of the stage, bent down and shook a few hands. He locked eyes with those few and said "thank you for coming to see me, really".

It was one of the most honest and sincere performances I've ever seen (and I've seen my share).

I'm not sure who looks more like who but a lady I work with could be his current twin. I've never pointed it out to my co-workers. I don't think any of them would get it anyway.