In which country exactly is that happening? Here in Germany Iggy is a complete nobody these days. Of course he can rely on his old laurels and his old fans (myself included) will always stay loyal to him - as he once was a very special, very fine musician who gave a lot to us. But those were the days. Iggy was big (or biggish rather) here from the late 70s through to the very early 90s. From the days punk and Bowie brought him back to light up to the Brick By Brick aftermath. That's when he peaked - in reputation, following and probably in financial success. From then on it was a downhill trip.
Things are probably different when you have been living with Iggy on a different time line than the one I (and probably Dara) have been on. The first time I got interested in Iggy was in the late 70s when I heard the Sex Pistols play a song called "No Fun". I was told by a friend that this incredible number was actually from a guy called Iggy Pop who was supposed to be the inventor of punk rock. Got infected. I bought a cheap vinyl copy of "Raw Power" in my home town's only record shop, a "Search & Destroy" T-Shirt on a flea market in Groningen/Holland and got even more excited when I found out that this guy was doing a new record with David Bowie. I taped "The Idiot" and later "Lust For Live" and turned into a solid Iggy supporter for a very long time.
But then things started to fade. Iggy turned self-retro. Without going into detail and also knowing that you will come up with proof how different albums like "American Cesar" and "Naughty Little Doggy" are, I got bored with Iggy. First I stopped going to his shows, though the ones I had seen were always fantastic. After "Avenue B", which I quite like, I also stopped buying his albums. I felt like I didn't need more standstill - not from an artist like Iggy.
That's where I am today but I am sure things are very different when you are much younger. You do detect his old stuff at once - it comes as an entity, not as a linear (downward) development. The sound you get from the newer albums appears fresh, wild and lively as you had not been going through that sound a long time before. At a time when that sound was indeed fresh, wild and lively. One may call it the Pink Floyd symptom.
Don't get me wrong. Iggy will always be one of my heroes and the described fate was similarily shared by my even bigger heroes "The Ramones". You may well credit people like them for not giving up on what they have done and stood for all their lives. But on the other hand those musical die hards later hardly ever give you more reasons for affection than nostalgia. Because they have done what they are still doing far better before, at a time when their music was part of the real life, when their music was a result of those times. And not a late reflection of things long changed.
Bowie got close to that dead lock but never got fully caught. The "Sound & Vision" tour, BTWN and "Outside" where moments when he hadn't got a clue about where to go as David Bowie and started to repeat his own recipes with little adjustments. But he got out. And that's why he is still there. Big. Mighty Big.
And I want to believe In the madness that calls 'now'
I Am Too Old For Retro