“Neo Punk” by Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is known in some circles as being the Godfather of Punk, so he knows a thing or two about the ideologies which define this genre. And as far as ‘neo punks’ are concerned, it can be gleaned, at least in part, that he is not fond of individuals who fall into that category.
So at this point, you may be asking yourself what exactly is a neo punk. Well according to Pop’s explanation of this song, that would be those who have made large sums of easy money from the punk movement. According to him, these would not necessarily be the people who were down from day one but rather those who were beneficiaries of punk culture going mainstream.
And the first verse leading into the chorus does come off as if the vocalist, whom in this case we can define as a punk purist, has issues with such individuals. But Iggy Pop is a complicated, or let’s say non-hypocritical artist. So even though the second verse is about the vocalist personally, it is followed by a chorus similar to the first. Or put otherwise, Iggy is obviously able to perceive the neo punk in himself also, i.e. how he too is benefiting from the popularity of the culture/genre as a whole.
When did Iggy Pop release “Neo Punk”?
“Neo Punk” is one of the non-single tracks found on Iggy Pop’s 2023 studio album, “Every Loser”. The entire album was unveiled by Gold Tooth Records in conjunction with Atlantic Records on the 6th of January, 2023.
Credits
There are a total of four famous songwriters who contributed writing to “Neo Punk”. Iggy Pop is of course one of them. The others are:
- Andrew Watt (who has worked with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Ozzy Osborne and Pearl)
- Josh Klinghoffer (who is well known as the former guitarist for Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- Travis Barker (who is famed for being the drummer of Blink-182)
NOTE: Watt is the sole producer of this entire album.
In addition to co-writing “Neo Punk”, Travis played drums on it.
Gold Tooth Records (which is one of the labels behind the album) is actually owned by Andrew Watt. In October of 2022 (just a few days before the release of the album’s first single, “Frenzy“) Iggy announced to the world that he had signed a deal with both Gold Tooth and Atlantic to release the album.
