''American Caesar'' is the tenth studio album by American rock singer

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

, released in September 1993 by record label

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

Production

After the success of ''

Brick by Brick ''Brick by Brick'' is the ninth studio album by American singer Iggy Pop, released in June 1990 by Virgin Records. Production and content After attracting mixed reviews for much of his 1980s output, Pop hired producer Don Was, who was a long ...

'', Pop opted to continue with that album's lyrical themes while toughening up the musical foundation. The album is often considered one of his stronger 1990s albums. Videos were made for "Wild America" and "Beside You", and the album has a cover of the 1960s standard "

Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and r ...

" (made famous by

The Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the ''Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ha ...

) for which Pop wrote his own set of politically fueled lyrics.

Release

The first single from the album, "Wild America", reached number 25 on

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

on October 16, 1993, spending a total of three weeks in the charts.

Musical style

In allusion to the sound of ''American Caesar'',

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

proclaimed the record a " grungy detour".

Critical reception

In a retrospective review, Mark Demming of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the album "an overlooked masterpiece."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Iggy Pop, except where noted. # "Character" (Pop,

Eric Schermerhorn Eric Schermerhorn is an American guitarist and composer. He played with Iggy Pop on the ''American Caesar'' and ''Naughty Little Doggie'' albums, and David Bowie on the Tin Machine ''It's My Life Tour'' (as background vocalist and guitarist), an ...

) – 1:07 # "Wild America" (Pop, Schermerhorn) – 5:52 # "Mixin' the Colors" – 4:49 # "Jealousy" – 6:04 # "Hate" – 6:56 # "It's Our Love" – 4:09 # "Plastic & Concrete" – 2:55 # "Fuckin' Alone" (Pop, Eric Schermerhorn) – 4:56 # "Highway Song" – 3:44 # "Beside You" (

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

, Pop) – 4:29 # "Sickness" – 3:15 # "Boogie Boy" – 4:53 # "Perforation Problems" – 3:15 # "Social Life" – 4:12 # "

" ( Richard Berry) – 3:47 # "Caesar" (Pop, Eric Schermerhorn) – 7:09 # "Girls of N.Y." – 4:15 B-sides and alternate versions * "Les Amants" (

Les Rita Mitsouko Les Rita Mitsouko (, translation: ''The Rita Mitsukos'') were a French pop rock group formed by Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer. The duo first performed as Rita Mitsouko at Gibus Club in Paris in 1980. They went on to become one of the most acc ...

featuring Iggy Pop; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 5:16 * "Louie Louie" (Live; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 5:32 * "Beside You" (Acoustic version; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 3:52 * "Evil California" (Annie Ross & The Low Note Quintet featuring Iggy Pop; B-Side to "Beside You" single) * "Home" (Live at the Feile Festival Summer 1993; B-Side to "Beside You" single) - 4:10 * "Mixin' The Colours" (Spanish version; B-Side to "Louie Louie" single) - 4:10 * "Wild America" (Radio edit) * "Credit Card" (B-Side to "Wild America" single) - 2:25 * "Come Back Tomorrow" (B-Side to "Wild America" single) - 5:08 * "My Angel" (B-Side to "Wild America" single) - 4:10

Personnel

*Iggy Pop – guitar, vocals *

– guitar *

Malcolm Burn Malcolm Burn (born October 4, 1960) is a Canadian-born music producer, recording engineer and musician. Emmylou Harris's ''Red Dirt Girl'', produced by Burn, won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 2001 Grammys. Biography Born in Cornwall, Ontar ...

– guitar, keyboards, harmonica *Hal Cragin – bass *Larry Mullins – drums, percussion *

Jay Joyce John Joseph "Jay" Joyce is an American record producer, songwriter and session musician. In the 1990s, Joyce, with Chris Feinstein and Brad Pemberton, recorded and toured as Iodine and began working as a record producer, working with artists suc ...

– guitar on "Wild America" & "Mixin' the Colours" *Bill Dillon – "atmospheric" guitar on "Mixin' the Colours" *Darryl Johnson – percussion on "Mixin' the Colours" *

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...

– backing vocals on "Wild America" *Katell Keineg – backing vocals on "Mixin' the Colours" *

Lisa Germano Lisa Ruth Germano (born June 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Indiana. Her album '' Geek the Girl'' (1994) was chosen as a top album of the 1990s by ''Spin'' magazine. She began her career as a violinist ...

– backing vocals on "Beside You" Technical * Mark Howard – recording *George Cowan – engineer *Trina Shoemaker – engineer *Todd Vos – engineer *Paul Mahern – engineer

Charts

References

External links

* Iggy Pop albums 1993 albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by Malcolm Burn {{1990s-punk-album-stub