Iggy Pop has revealed what inspired him to always perform shirtless.
The Stooges frontman has famously kept up his habit of only appearing topless onstage for decades.
Pop was asked what prompted him to stop wearing shirts in an interview at Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal.
“When I dropped out of college to start the band, I kept my library card. I’ve always had a student mentality, so I would go to the library, and take books. Cult books about culture and religion, and think about how I could apply those, and I kept seeing these pictures of the Pharaoh. He never wore a shirt,” the 69-year-old said. “That just looks about right, you know? I don’t know why. I feel lost in a shirt. I just get lost.”
The extensive, 90-minute long interview covers a host of topics including Iggy Pop’s early avant-garde music, his time recording with the Stooges and later solo records.
Pop, who released an album ‘Post Pop Depression’ made together with Josh Homme earlier this year, also gave his thoughts on the current state of the music industry.
“I don’t know how the form is going to last either,” he said. “I mean, I’ve noted that when Rihanna makes an album now the big focus tends to be on the streaming of a single number, so that’s a step more in the direction of the early Sixties.
Gimme Danger, a documentary film about the Stooges directed by Jim Jarmusch, is due to be released in the US later this month. The feature film chronicles chronicles the proto-punk band’s history against the cultural and political shifts of the late ’60s.
