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Skull Ring
10/31/2003 8:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Bill Holdship
Several Stooges reunion shows this past summer drove home to everyone present just how incredibly visionary the Detroit band was in its day. It was wonderful to see and hear. Unfortunately, hearing those classic tracks from 1969 and '70 also drives home how relatively inferior Skull Ring happens to be, even the much publicized four new tracks Iggy recorded with the Stooges. Listen, Iggy Pop is one of the all-time greatest. It's impossible for any true rock fan not to love him to death. He's an incredible human being, at least these days. And he deserves every iota of success that comes his way. As a result, this reviewer wishes he could tell you that Skull Ring is as good as his best past highlights--but it just ain't. There isn't even a "Home" here, although it was smart to hook him up with Sum 41, even though some punk purists are already crying "sell-out!" Sure, that band isn't fit to share anything with the Godfather of Punk, let alone a single. Nevertheless, "Little Know It All" manages to be a small pop triumph. Strangely, the two Green Day tunes come off as generic, and two duets with porn-rock/rapper Peaches are just not a very good match. A big problem is that the lyrics these days tend to be too literal--perverts in the sun, frying up some hair in little electric chairs, rock star decadence, O.J. Simpson, how horrible modern rock has become. Even if the sentiments are very cool, none of those addressed subjects and targets come anywhere near the "stoopid" existentialism of the early Stooges classics. Then again, we also now know how smart the Igster really is. Way beyond the common rock star curve. He's also funny, one of the best interviews in all of rockdom (check it out elsewhere on this site), and a genuine force of nature. He should have his own TV or radio talk show. Seriously. He'd be the absolute best since Johnny Carson, guaranteed.
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