12 Greatest Ever Hard Rock Solo Artists
6. Iggy Pop
The Stooges are the reason a lot of hard rock exists today. With their abrasive songs and the insane stage behavior of frontman Iggy Pop, the band offered something a lot heavier than the Rolling Stones of the world. They may have worked best as a unit, but it was almost inevitable that Iggy would carry his own musical endeavor.
Already being billed as "Iggy and the Stooges" on the band's third release Raw Power, Iggy took the entire hard rock world by storm once the band finally dissolved. While making friends with such rock luminaries as David Bowie, Pop set out on a solo career for the ages, starting with The Idiot. This record not only featured more outlandish production, but the ominous dance beats of something like "Nightclubbing" became the template for Trent Reznor a few years down the line.
Going from strength to strength, Pop's work on Lust For Life gave us one of the most infectious punk anthems of all time. As always, Pop became a different animal entirely once he hit the stage, as he proceeded to wage war with the crowd and deliver his sonic ferocity right back to them. He may scale things back here and there these days, but Iggy Pop's career trajectory has been one of the most unhinged journeys in hard rock.