Althouse: "To tell you the truth, when it comes to art, money is an unimportant detail. It just happens to be a huge one unimportant detail."

October 14, 2014

"To tell you the truth, when it comes to art, money is an unimportant detail. It just happens to be a huge one unimportant detail."

"But, a good LP is a being, it's not a product. It has a life-force, a personality, and a history, just like you and me. It can be your friend. Try explaining that to a weasel."

17 comments:

madAsHell said...: I worked half of my life for free.

Maybe if somebody thought they could make money off of your music....; 10/14/14, 8:13 PM
chillblaine said...: Thanks Althouse! I love Iggy.; 10/14/14, 8:32 PM
Unknown said...: I didn't have any idea he was intelligent.; 10/14/14, 8:59 PM
Popville said...: Awesome! Meandering as all get out, but Iggy certainly sums up the record business. I loved the comment about the guy from Sympathy for the Record Industry. A number of these Indie lowlifes seem to be aping Morris Levy, the mobbed up character that ran Roulette Records. Read Tommy James's excellent auto-bio for the most entertaining info on Levy.; 10/14/14, 9:14 PM
Popville said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/14/14, 9:14 PM
Anonymous said...: chillblaine:

Great Iggy stuff in Danny Sugerman's "Wonderland Avenue". Good book all-around, but definitely fun as he is trying to get Iggy to step in for Morrison in The Doors...; 10/14/14, 9:18 PM
William said...: Stephen Foster sold the rights to O Susanna for a hundred bucks. He died penniless......This is not the worst era ever for musicians. I think the problem is that it comes immediately after the best era for (successful) musicians. There used to be a time when a rock musician with biz know how could exploit teenagers for a huge chunk of their disposable income. The pimply proles worked double shifts at MacDonald's to feed the Stones drug habit. But that's capitalism.; 10/14/14, 9:37 PM
rcommal said...: "To tell you the truth, when it comes to art, money is an unimportant detail. It just happens to be a huge one unimportant detail.""

Oh, ha ha.

"But, a good LP is a being, it's not a product."

Hmmmmm..... .

"It has a life-force, a personality, and a history, just like you and me."

That I'll grant, albeit in limited ways, depending on that whole "just like you and me" thing.

"It can be your friend."

No way am I gonna argue that one, on account of whole vast parts of the tapestry of my own life. < That said, "can" ≠ "is." Thanks, Iggy, for that one bit of pure honesty, not to mention a tad of humility.

Try explaining that to a weasel.

Which "that"? "Which" that?

Also, it's weaselly to write "a" weasel, especially in this sort of context. Name *the* weasels, *all* of the weasels, every damn weasel, specifically, rather than just use an old brush to make a broad-sloppy smear of tacky paint.

If you won't, why on earth ought anyone pay attention to the new "hue"? Especially given your contempt, heaped out.; 10/15/14, 4:31 AM
rcommal said...: Also, Iggy, while it's true that doing poseur was a great performance art back in your salad days, now being one isn't.; 10/15/14, 5:08 AM
averagejoe said...: What a dipshit this wrinkly old fool is. "A society in which the Capitalist system dominates all the others"- as opposed to what, the communist society that coexists with others? The barter system? This schizophrenic douchebag just shits out of both sides of his mouth, whining about corporate this and big media that, and in the same fucking sentence crying about how he didn't get all the money he's had coming to him. Then he goes off in democrat party/ progressive/occupy wall street mode, then he's praising The Guardian cause they're "looking out for the little guy". What an asshole... This shithead has the cognitive capacity of a spoiled 12-year old. Time to put a shirt on, you stupid wizened shit. More proof that there's no fool like an old fool.; 10/15/14, 5:41 AM
phantommut said...: I get a kick when I read old Communists railing against Capitalists while bitching about not getting their due Royalties.; 10/15/14, 8:02 AM
Fernandinande said...: averagejoe said...
This shithead has the cognitive capacity of a spoiled 12-year old.

"Rock stars. Is there anything they don't know?"

Osterberg comprises 0.064123116% of my music collection.; 10/15/14, 8:17 AM
BAS said...: Thanks for the link.
Iggy Pop is great.; 10/15/14, 11:30 AM
Robert Cook said...: "This schizophrenic douchebag just shits out of both sides of his mouth, whining about corporate this and big media that, and in the same fucking sentence crying about how he didn't get all the money he's had coming to him."

Where is the contradiction? His is the perennial worker's predicament and complaint: that others--e.g., the capitalists--profit by his labors while he does not, (or not to the degree his labors and the product of his labors warrant).; 10/15/14, 11:41 AM
averagejoe said...: Hi Robert Cook- Fair point you make. I guess his calling himself communist, and railing against the money in the industry, then whining that he didn't get his, sounds self-contradictory to me. To damn the dollars and insult others for trying to maximize profits, then in the next breath call for his "sweet royalties" seems to be hypocritical. Especially coming from a capitalist who invested in Apple in 1992, and who made business decisions based on what he thought could make him the most money.; 10/15/14, 8:14 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Especially coming from a capitalist who invested in Apple in 1992, and who made business decisions based on what he thought could make him the most money."

Who are you referring to? Iggy Pop?

Why is is hypocritical for him to complain that he--like most of his fellow musicians--was ripped off for his work for much of his career? (He's speaking for them as much for himself. He's speaking of himself as representative of an exploited caste.) Do you see the large capitalist organizations sitting back and letting others take advantage of them because, "hey! it's all part of the game of trying to maximize profit?"

He's pointing out the reality: capitalism is sold by its advocates as a wonderfully efficient system for delivering fair returns to all for their investments of money, time or work, when it is more often used as a monopolizing tool to steal from others their share of the profits generated in collective ventures.; 10/16/14, 7:11 AM
socally773 said...: I paid for Iggy's music. His albums were only available on Import, mark up 3-4 bucks to get Raw Power. And I saw him live a few times. No one is better. Finally I saw an Iggy cassette in a cut out bin & his tunes were wall to wall in England to promote the Commonwealth Games and his face sells the insurance he noted. Ig's done alright.; 10/17/14, 11:40 PM