In 1993, Dutch filmmaker and notable music journalist Bram van Splunteren and his small camera crew followed Iggy Pop through the Lower East Side. Any fan of The Stooges’ often wild frontman knows that this was his old stomping ground and where much of the inspiration for his work, both in The Stooges and out, originated.
The somewhat rare footage is an honestly fascinating look into a place where so much of rock music evolved in the 1970s and onward.
Iggy Pop Fondly Details a Tough Town and the Home of Many Now-Legendary Bands
In the film showcased above, Pop takes the camera crew throughout the area and talks about living in New York. It was a bit cleaner and more industrious than it was in the 1960s by the 1990s. But even with the somewhat commercial shine, the area had been a hub for creatives for decades at that point. And it would remain a hub for years after the 1990s.
But back in the day, particularly in the 1970s, the area was negatively affected by the city’s bankruptcy and was a pretty tough spot to be.
“Around here, nobody would think of shutting you up for making too much noise,” said Iggy Pop in the documentary.
Early in the doc, Iggy Pop noted that the area “used to be a lot hairier” and that during his heyday, he would “come down here to score drugs all the time.” Despite the dark subject matter, Iggy Pop is beaming throughout much of the documentary as he talks about a place that was right at the center of many evolutions of rock and roll. It’s clear that it was a special era for Iggy Pop and many proto-punk and punk rock artists of the genre’s early era.
Iggy Pop takes the crew to bodegas, neighborhoods, and other noteworthy spots. They talk about other places Pop has lived, from Berlin, Germany, to Los Angeles, California. Honestly, the whole thing was a surprisingly pleasant and low-key relaxing experience. It’s wild to think that Iggy Pop was the tour guide. This documentary is just a small piece of music history, but it’s certainly an entertaining one.
Photo by Niels van Iperen/Getty Images