I Need More: The Stooges and other Stories

by Iggy Pop, Anne Wehrer

I Need More ...love! more truth! more sex, drugs, and thrills! more laughs! more culture! more dynamite and disaster! more clouds! more dreams! I need more than I ever did before, but everything is going up in price. Disturber of the peace, agitator of the young- "Iggy, take me with you."..."Iggy, you drive me crazy" -subverter, corrupter, god, and "family" man...This is Iggy pop, pioneer of punk rock, in his own "Masturbation is always an interesting subject, especially for musicians."..."Unless you could bust a person for lice...there was nothing they could really bus me for."..."I'm very terrified of this country, the USA...some of the values are so foul and so wicked...It's very wicked the way people are restrained, and I'm in favor of something else." I Need More is a collection of autobiographical stories by Iggy Pop. I Need More speaks for the 80 "They say that death kills you, but death doesn't really kill you..." indifference and boredom kill you.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Punk, Rock N Roll, Biography Memoir

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

James Newell Osterberg, better known by his stage name Iggy Pop, is an American rock singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. Although he has had only limited commercial success, Iggy Pop is considered an innovator of punk and related styles. He is sometimes referred to by the nicknames "the Godfather of Punk" and "the Rock Iguana," and is widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers of rock. Pop began calling himself Iggy after his first band in high school, The Iguanas. His direct influence extends to the present day: a Cadillac ad in rotation since February 2007 features his vocal performance on the song "Punkrocker", recorded in 2006 with the Swedish band Teddybears.

Iggy Pop was the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s garage rock band who were influential in the development of the nascent heavy metal and punk rock genres. The Stooges became infamous for their live performances, during which it was not uncommon for Pop to consume narcotics, self-mutilate, verbally abuse the audience, expose himself and leap off the stage (thus being among the first to "stage dive"). Countless subsequent performers have imitated Pop's antics.

Pop has had varying degrees of success in the course of his subsequent solo career. His best-known solo songs include "Lust for Life", "I'm Bored", "Real Wild Child", the Top 40 hit "Candy" (with vocalist Kate Pierson of The B-52's) and "The Passenger". A film about Iggy Pop's life and career titled The Passenger is currently in development.

Reviews

[Dave]

I don't know. Is it important for books to be challenging to read or to drive into the heart of the human experience? Or is it more important to read something that goes down smoothly and makes you dream of being a badass? This one I read and reread. I tried to live some of the small details in the book. I try to talk the way he writes. So much of the book is great because it makes no sense. He says "You know what i mean?" No we don't. Also, I do not believe his story on how he dodged the draft. i just don't believe it.

[Andy]

Halfway decent autobio of Iggy Pop. One can't help but feel he's holding quite a bit back, though. At times I found his ego to be a little overwhelming, almost getting in the way of telling his story. I bet the Asheton Brothers could probably write a better Stooges book since they have nothing to lose.

[Jared]

This is practically the only good rock autobiography (haven't read 'chronicles' tho) - basically, ig's a poet, and the small miniatures in this book are excellent observations on the technique of giving voice to the pain at the middle of the wild life. And, also, funny as hell.

What's so cool about Iggy is that he kind of played the stupid lug, but was always this ruminative, intellectual about it. The greek ideal. "Look out, I'm gonna rip your convertible top."

[Bari]

along with dee dee ramone, i will read anything about/by iggy pop.

[Vittorio]

Pop has no writing talent (although his recent Lollapalooza set matched any live show I have ever seen.) But this idiosyncratic and profane diary is fascinating in spots. And of course every one should have "The Stooges" and "Fun House" in their record collections.

[Christie]

Iggy rules- read this and find out why.

[Cindi]

I would like to read as many rock 'n' roll books as possible. The subject matter makes up for the nerdiness of reading, I guess.

[Victoria]

I feel like he could've said more, but the pictures were good.

[Andrew]

Loads of fun (it almost goes without saying). Still, probably not as good as it could have been.

[Jayakrishnan]

I've been a big fan of Iggy Pop ever since I discovered The Stooges around 2003.

Written in a candid and conversational style, this is Iggy rambling about his childhood, early days of the Stooges, life in a trailer park in Ann Arbor, loss of virginity, his brief first marriage, problems with authority and the music scene in general. The book moves back and forth in time. It is mostly amusing and he does not mind portraying himself as naïve.

Iggy was much brighter in school than his classmates. But he was also very sensitive.

Nico was a terrible cook.

Iggy acted queer during an army recruitment drive for Vietnam.

He loved Berlin as a city because it gave more freedom than most places in America.

On New York:

The population is akin to a bunch of illiterate Mayan descendants running around through the ruins of a once-great civilization - having no idea of the skills and the craftsmanship that went into building such a city - just playing in the ruins. Well, I don't want to play in the ruins

There is an afterword by Anne Wehrer who helped Iggy write the book.

The book comes with lyrics to The Stooges and Iggy songs.

[Kirsten Reed]

Thoroughly enjoyable. A fly-on-the-wall account of Iggy's youthful misadventures at the very start of the Stooges era. Laugh-out-loud funny in parts. The narration is grounded in an endearing rebellious awkwardness (what else would you expect from Iggy Pop?).

[Patty]

Very rock-n-roll! I love Iggy!

[Sashko Liutyj]

така собі штука. шматки інтерву.

[Kathleen]

While I liked this book, I wouldn't recommend to anybody who is not a diehard Iggy Pop fan.

[Brooke]

It's going to be hard to find this book without paying $100+ so I'm hoping I'll find it in a library. This interview with David Letterman is fun, though: https://fb.watch/jQyF9winLj/

[Matthew Coote]

Mostly nonsensical but I still love him

[Dave Carruth]

strange book. Written only in short bursts of crass slang. brief. Funny

[Adrian]

Crap writing. Left out all the good shit. No recommend to anyone.

[Don]

A quarter of the book consists of song lyrics. Could have been considerably better in regards to containing more suitable background material, but la de dah…

[Niels Toksvig]

Disturbing read. I had to piece it up and take breaks from it. I suggest not reading it until you turn 40, honestly.

He describes his main drug or medication. And at one point he takes comfort in the fact that he can slay young girls, because he feels inferior

He judges men on how tight their waists are, and women, well he wrote Candy about his wife Mandy. His son is not really mentioned.

An example of a passage is: "The Stooges moved in"(to an Nice old man's mansion)" - and a week later the toilets didn't work!"

Have fun!

[Ed Wagemann]

Why Everything You Think You Know About Punk Is Completely Wrong:
http://generation-add.blogspot.com/20...

[Melting Uncle]

perfect

[Robert]

Written like an average intelligence middle school kid but interesting nonetheless....not a life style I'd care to follow, however.

[Fishface]

Great stuff. The feces-smeared, hung-over, recently-arrested stuff that legends are made of. All this and aluminum-foil wigs, too!

[X]

Really brings you into the screwed-up world of the Stooges during their heyday. Sort of like my youth in book form with artistic genius sprinkled on top.

[Lisa]

um... whoa.

[Macarena]

Iggy Pop! Amen!