Blah-Blah-Blah (Iggy Pop album)

Blah-Blah-Blah is the seventh studio album by Iggy Pop. Originally released in October 1986, on the label A&M, it remains his most commercially successful album to date. Blah-Blah-Blah appeared after a four-year hiatus for Pop, with David Bowie serving as his prime collaborator. It would be their final collaboration. A successful tour followed the album's release.

Blah-Blah-Blah
Studio album by
Iggy Pop
ReleasedOctober 23, 1986 (1986-10-23)
RecordedMay 1986
StudioMountain Studios, Montreux, Switzerland
Genre
Length46:12
LabelA&M
Producer
Iggy Pop chronology
Zombie Birdhouse
(1982)		 Blah-Blah-Blah
(1986)		 Instinct
(1988)
Singles from Blah-Blah-Blah
  1. "Cry for Love"
    Released: October 1986[1]
  2. "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
    Released: November 1986[2]
  3. "Shades"
    Released: February 1987[3]
  4. "Fire Girl"
    Released: April 1987
  5. "Isolation"
    Released: June 1987[4]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Robert ChristgauC+[6]

Production

The collection included a cover of Johnny O'Keefe's "Wild One" (here titled "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" and three original songs co-written with ex-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. The remaining tracks were co-written by Bowie, who also produced the album with David Richards but, unlike his previous work with Pop, The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977), did not play any instruments. Bowie biographer David Buckley has reported that Pop "virtually disowned" the record, calling it "a Bowie album in all but name".[7] It has never been specified what tracks on the album, if any, originated during the sessions of Bowie's 1984 album Tonight (that album's co-producer, Hugh Padgham, has recalled that Bowie and Pop collaborated on some songs that Bowie ultimately rejected for inclusion on Tonight).

Release and reception

Described by AllMusic as "the most calculatedly commercial album of Iggy's career",[8] Blah-Blah-Blah was certified gold in Canada (more than 50,000 copies sold). In the U.S. it peaked at No. 75 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart.[9] Rolling Stone's contemporary review complained of a "nagging homogeneity to side one" but continued that "even at its most familiar, Blah-Blah-Blah is as spiritually outraged and emotionally direct as commercial pop gets these days".[10]

Singles

"Real Wild Child" reached No. 27 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts and became Pop's first Top 10 hit in the UK.[11] The song was featured on the soundtrack for the 1988 film Crocodile Dundee II and the 1990 film Pretty Woman, also both Problem Child films and has been the opening theme of the Australian ABC TV music block rage by using snipets along with Johnny O’Keefe’s “ Wild One”since its launch in 1987. Other singles and videos from the album included "Cry for Love", "Isolation" and "Shades". "Cry for Love", described by Rolling Stone as "a ripping fusion of classic Iggy rage, Bowie cabaret and unexpected romantic vulnerability",[10] made No. 19 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music chart and No. 34 on the Mainstream Rock charts.[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
3:38
2."Baby, It Can't Fall" 4:14
3."Shades (original cd version; lp is 5:17)" 5:57
4."Fire Girl"
3:33
5."Isolation" 4:37
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Cry for Love"
  • Pop
  • Jones
4:28
7."Blah-Blah-Blah" 4:32
8."Hideaway" 5:01
9."Winners & Losers"
  • Pop
  • Jones
6:18
10."Little Miss Emperor" (Bonus track not on original LP release) 3:50
Total length:46:12

Alternate versions and remixes
  • "Cry for Love" (Extended dance version) – 6:58 (also listed as Extended remix with a runtime of 7:05 on some releases)
  • "Cry for Love" (7" edit) – 3:30
  • "Fire Girl" (Single remix) – 6:54
  • "Blah-Blah-Blah" (Live; B-side of "Fire Girl" single) – 4:48
  • "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" (Single mix) – 3:30
  • "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" (Extended version) – 8:28
  • "Shades" (Single / lp version) – 5:17 (This is the version from the original vinyl version of the lp. It replaces the regular cd version on the Complete A&M Recordings collection, its first digital issue)
  • "Baby, It Can't Fall" (Extended remix; B-side of "Shades" single) – 6:10

There are demo versions of some songs in circulation online. "Fire Girl" features David Bowie's backing vocals far more audible than in the album. [12]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[13]

Production

Notes
  1. "45cat - Iggy Pop - Cry For Love / Winners And Losers - A&M - UK - AM 358". 45cat. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  2. "45cat - Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child (Wild One) / Little Miss Emperor - A&M - UK - AM 368". 45cat. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  3. "45cat - Iggy Pop - Shades / Baby, It Can't Fall - A&M - UK - AM 374". 45cat. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  4. "45cat - Iggy Pop - Isolation / Hideaway - A&M - UK - AM 397". 45cat. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  5. "Blah-Blah-Blah - Iggy Pop". Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  6. "CG: Iggy Pop". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  7. David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: pp.432-433
  8. Album review at Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  9. Billboard Albums at Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  10. Album review at Rolling Stone. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  11. Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  12. Iggy Pop - Topic (18 November 2015). "Fire Girl (Demo)". Retrieved 5 October 2016 – via YouTube.
  13. Blah-Blah-Blah liner notes. A&M Records. 1986.
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