Iggy Pop – Every Loser review: Veteran rocker refusing to go quietly | Music | Entertainment


Rock’s wildest old codger seemed to be easing gracefully towards retirement on his last album. Every Loser kicks that absurd notion into touch.

It’s brimming with raw power, as wild and demented as anything he made in his incendiary, pre-punk Stooges days.

Granted, some lyrics seem more suited to men’s room graffiti in an LA biker bar – the only repeatable jibe in thunderous opener Frenzy is “You stoned douche bag”.

But what a belter. Frenzy doesn’t rock, it erupts.

Iggy’s world-class band – producer Andrew Watt (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Chad Smith (drums) – are more restrained on Strung Out Johnny, a darkly unsettling junkie confessional.

New Atlantis is almost pretty.

Ig narrates the verse in his deep gravelly baritone, painting a picture of “a beautiful whore of a city” which seems unlikely to feature on Holiday 2023.

Teaming with killers, swindlers and thugs, New Atlantis is situated “somewhere north of Cuba” and is sinking mercifully into the Caribbean Sea. Watt’s guitar solo here soars rather than roars, before Modern Day Rip Off ups the barnstorming ante again.

Songs range from the thunderous Neo Punk to the swing of The News For Andy, a 55-second spoof advert.

All The Way Down is cantering and creepy while the foottapping Comments advises listeners to “sell your stock in Zuckerberg and run”.

The album closes with The Regency, a sinuous, dreamy belter about Iggy’s decades-long battle with the entertainment establishment.

On the way he says he saw a nose job, a con job, and “a heart throb with a small…” chance of qualifying for Naked Attraction?

Every Loser is a cocktail of high-octane rock and sewerbrained fire. It’s everything you’d want from him.



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