The new record coming out on Friday is called "Every Loser" and was made with a winning hitch.

Bassist Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses), guitarists Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and drummers Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters, deceased since ) or Travis Barker (Blink 182).

The firepower can be heard from the first title, "Frenzy".

But the arsenal is also at the service of melancholy songs like "New Atlantis".

Is so much electricity really reasonable for a 75-year-old singer?

Those who saw him on stage in the spring know that the former Stooges leader is in good shape.

His mocking laugh bursts out at the end of the take of "Neo Punk", one of the telluric pieces of "Every Loser".

"It's the last of the Mohicans since the disappearance of David Bowie and Lou Reed," said AFP Gilles Scheps, co-author of "Iggy Pop and The Stooges" (Layeur editions) and founder of the fan club. French of the "Iguana" in the 1970s. Bowie will produce albums by the other two artists.

A photo of this trio in 1972 has gone down in history, with an Iggy Pop with dilated pupils.

"Galloping"

"Iggy Pop has stopped big bullshit (addictions of all kinds, editor's note) since the beginning of the 90s, he has a healthier lifestyle, allows himself a little bit of wine with a good meal", described for the AFP Jean-Charles Desgroux, author of "Iggy Pop, Shake Appeal" (Le Mot et le Reste editions).

American singer Iggy Pop performs on stage during the 57th Jazzaldia jazz festival in the Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian, July 23, 2022 © ANDER GILLENEA / AFP/Archives

To say that we had left the American on an album, "Free", with jazz hues or on a participation as a crooner on the disc of French standards revisited by Thomas Dutronc ("Frenchy").

"He took the fans backwards with + Free + and when we no longer expect him in rock, he comes back at a gallop", comments Gilles Scheps.

Also "baffled" at the start by "Free", Jean-Charles Desgroux realizes with hindsight that this disc is part of the musician's eclectic loves.

"Garage rock, rhythm and blues from the origins, crooner music since, we can't say it enough, one of his absolute idols is Frank Sinatra".

For him, "Iggy Pop constantly questions himself, listens to any proposal, is not jaded, it's not for nothing that he hosts a program on BBC Radio, open to any musical programming" .

"Inheritance"

This time, behind "Every Loser", we find 32-year-old producer Andrew Watt.

Born in 1990, the year Iggy Pop released "Brick by Brick", for yet another comeback.

This guitarist has produced commercial megastars like Justin Bieber or Miley Circus.

But has already enlisted musicians such as Duff McKagan and Chad Smith for "Patient Number 9", the latest album by Ozzy Osbourne, another legend, father of metal with Black Sabbath.

"This time, this + Dream Team + comes to devote Iggy Pop as + The Godfather +, bringing together around him his children from the punk-rock scene", unfolds Jean-Charles Desgroux.

As if to right an injustice: "Iggy Pop has not been recognized in his own country, the Americans have passed him by, do not realize the heritage he represents".

Jean-Charles Desgroux notes that "Every Loser" comes "to bring Iggy up to date" and "embraces several key points of his rock, pop or underground repertoire".

We thus pick up echoes of "New Values" (1979), an unrecognized album by Iggy Pop that has been reassessed today.

As Gilles Scheps reminds us, "after passing under the protective wing of Bowie, he proved at the time that he had therefore become a complete artist".

© 2023 AFP