The crushing isolation of being an individual can sometimes be too much. The desire to be accepted as a cookie-cutter human being can be almost sinfully enticing sometimes. Iggy Pop knows how it feels.
A favorite of artists like Siouxsie Sioux and David Bowie, Iggy's The Idiot is one of the most depressing albums of all time. It honestly makes me feel just empty whenever I listen to any track off of it. When Joy Division's Ian Curtis was found dead, this album was actually playing which just adds to the creepy/soul-crushing mystique of the whole thing.
The final track on the album, Mass Production is all about loneliness. Iggy's working in a factory (not unlike our old friend Frankie Teardrop) and he finds a girl and asks her for her number. Well, not her number, but a girl almost like her. Better than her. So he can be better, too.
As the song drones, industry moves on, instruments replicating machinery whirring, smokestacks belching, creating the freak scene of widely produced human beings. Perfectly crafted ubermensches. No matter how many times Iggy tries to kill himself, he's placed right back on his job at the factory. Constantly working on this hellish line for all eternity.
The song comes to a close as the instruments break down, malfunctioning, struggling to spit out their putrid product. Iggy's daft dreams finally are coming realized, though, as he begins repeating over the music trying to drown him out "I'm almost like him. Yes, I'm almost like him." Losing himself forever in the need to be wanted in society.
No comments:
Post a Comment