In 1983,
Iggy Pop's career was in shambles, but an unexpected windfall arrived thanks to
Iggy's frequent benefactor
David Bowie.
Bowie recorded
"China Girl," a song
Bowie and
Pop co-wrote, for his album
Let's Dance, earning
Iggy some large (and much-needed) royalty checks. Wisely realizing he was running out of second chances,
Iggy decided to make the most of his good fortune; he steered clear of drugs, learned to cook his own meals, started putting money in the bank, and used his savings to bankroll a new album.
David Bowie offered to help, and together they came up with
Blah Blah Blah, the most calculatedly commercial album of
Iggy's career. Like
The Idiot,
Blah Blah Blah was heavily influenced by
Bowie's input; however, while
The Idiot was made by a man creating intelligent and ambitious art rock,
Blah Blah Blah is the work of a popmeister looking for hits and not afraid to sound cheesy about it. In the liner notes, a member of
Duran Duran is thanked for the loan of a drum machine, and that speaks volumes about the production;
Blah Blah Blah is slick in a very '80s way, dominated by preprogrammed percussion and swirling keyboards. And in the four years since
Zombie Birdhouse,
Iggy hadn't come up with much in the way of material; the only truly memorable tracks are
"Real Wild Child (Wild One)," a neat bit of electro-processed rockabilly (previously a hit for Australian rocker
Johnny O'Keefe), and the moody
"Cry for Love," co-written by former
Sex Pistols guitarist
Steve Jones. Both of these songs were minor hits, so
Blah Blah Blah succeeded on its obviously commercial terms, but that doesn't change the fact it's one of
Iggy's least interesting albums, and has dated worse than almost anything he's ever recorded. ~ Mark Deming
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