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Lust for Life (song)

"Lust for Life"
Lust for Life.jpg
Cover of the 1977 Netherlands single
Single by Iggy Pop
from the album Lust for Life
B-side "Success"
Released October 1977 (1977-10)
Format
Recorded 1977
Genre Garage rock
Length 5:12
Label RCA
Writer(s)
Producer(s) David Bowie
Music video
"Lust for Life" on YouTube
Lust for Life track listing
"Lust for Life"
(1)
"Sixteen"
(2)
Alternative cover
Cover of the 1996 Netherlands single

"Lust for Life" is a 1977 song performed by Iggy Pop and co-written by David Bowie, featured on the album of the same name. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 149 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie, Bowie providing the music (written on a ukulele), and Pop the lyrics, the song is known for its opening drumbeat (played by Hunt Sales). The rhythm was based on the Armed Forces Network call signal, which Pop and Bowie picked up on while waiting for a broadcast of Starsky & Hutch. The drumbeat has since been imitated in numerous songs, including "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and "Selfish Jean" by Travis; however, Sales's use of the rhythm was not original, as it was itself derived from "You Can't Hurry Love", released in July 1966 by The Supremes, and "I'm Ready for Love", released in October 1966 by Martha and the Vandellas.

In 1977, the song reached No. 3 in the Dutch Top 40. Its success was ignited by a legendary performance in the Dutch pop TV show TopPop, where Iggy Pop, shirtless, wrecked part of the stage set (which consisted of a couple of potted plants and some cardboard scenery). Although many viewers and newspapers complained about the apparent damage, the director of TopPop later admitted that they knew beforehand what Iggy was going to do and that the damage was minimal.

The song's lyrics contain a number of references to William S. Burroughs' experimental novel The Ticket That Exploded, most notably mentions of "Johnny Yen" (described by Burroughs as "The Boy-Girl Other Half strip tease God of sexual frustration") and "hypnotizing chickens".


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