''Zombie Birdhouse'' is the sixth solo 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 ...

. It was released in September 1982 by record label Animal.

Recording

''Zombie Birdhouse'' was recorded on 16-track in June 1982 at Blank Tape Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film '' Wild Style'', and write ...

of Blondie produced the album.

Musical style

Charlotte Robinson of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

writes that "''Zombie Birdhouse'' ..has reached near-legendary status for its oddity", and that it is "full of droning synthesizers, Afro-style beats and pseudo-poetic, free-associative lyrics". She also wrote that the album "marked the end of an intriguing and experimental if erratic period of Pop's career." Jeffrey Ramos of ''Minor Clash Publications'' called it Pop's final new wave-era album and " e of Pop's most obscure and experimental releases that was decades ahead of its time. Filled with a strong punk rock ethos, as Pop rambles through poetic verse over introspective and experimental beats." According to writer Ross Horton, the album exhibits "a kind of greasy, sweaty, sleazy rock 'n' roll fitted with a sharp

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

edge," with sporadic musical comparisons to

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter (British musician), Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pi ...

and

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

Release

The album was released in September 1982 by Stein's record label Animal Records. In 1991 the album was remastered by Mike Reese and included one bonus track, "Pain and Suffering", from the original Blank Tape Studio sessions. The track was used in the 1983 film ''

Rock & Rule ''Rock & Rule'' (known as ''Ring of Power'' outside North America) is a 1983 Canadian adult animated musical science fantasy film featuring the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata and Susan Roman. It was produced and directed by Michael Hirsh, Pat ...

''. In 2003 the remaster was reissued as a double disc which included a concert recording from 28 October 1982 at the Masonic Temple Theater in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, during Iggy's 1982 Breaking Point tour.

Reception

''Zombie Birdhouse'' has received a mixed response from critics. Parke Puterbaugh of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' called the album "a brainy, well-plotted collection with more depth than could have been expected from the author of '

I Wanna Be Your Dog "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is a song by American rock band the Stooges. Released as the group's debut single from the band's 1969 self-titled debut album. The riff is composed of only three chords (G, F♯ and E), is played continuously throughout th ...

'."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', naming it Iggy's most

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

album to date, praised "music-meister" Rob Duprey's interesting stylistic continuity, but panned Pop's "slogans, social theory, in-jokes, bad poetry, and vocal dramaturgy." Sandy Robertson of ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' felt although the album was "hardly challenging like early Pop overdosed-and-on-his-knees binges," Chris Stein courageously provides little of his familiar style; "instead it's a bespectacled text." In his retrospective review, Mark Deming 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 ...

wrote "sadly, Iggy himself didn't rise especially well to the occasion here; his lyrics are often a bizarre mélange of free-association without any clear focus, and one senses that Stein was a bit too awed by working with his hero to have the nerve to tell him when his vocals were wandering off-pitch (or out of tune altogether). ..ultimately, this album's a failure, but it's certainly one of the most interesting and ambitious failures of Iggy's career". Ian Gittins of ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' described ''Zombie Birdhouse'' as "a curious and rambling affair, an undisciplined exercise in jagged

art-rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

which Iggy seemed to be making up as he went along." He concluded that the album "was patently a lot of fun to make. Listening to it more than once? A different matter entirely." In a positive review, Ross Horton of ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' felt the album was "an absolutely delicious car-crash of a record, all twisted metal and noxious fumes. It's undoubtedly the noblest kind of failure, the result of two drug-damaged, burned-out rock 'n' roll casualties turning to a mediocre songwriter to cook up a set of classics. It was never going to work out exactly how they wanted, but it does almost work out."

Track listing

Personnel

* Iggy Pop – vocals * Rob Duprey – guitar, keyboards, background vocals *

– bass on A5, A6, B2, B3, B6, art direction *

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

– drums, percussion Technical *Joe Arlotta - session engineer *Butch Jones - mixing engineer *Esther Friedman - cover photography

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1982 albums Iggy Pop albums Chrysalis Records albums I.R.S. Records albums Art rock albums by American artists