Not Ready to Die Yet

Punk rock Hall of Famers Iggy & the Stooges have released their second studio album since the ’70s, Ready to Die and it is as solid as you could ever expect from a band that’s been around for so long. At this point, no one is really expecting Iggy and the band to put out something earth-shatteringly revolutionary — they did that enough of that in the ’70s — but what they did put out is as good as we could have wanted. Ready to Die is catchy, well put-together, fun, and just dark and twisted enough to remind us who exactly we’re dealing with.

Ready to Die‘s opening track, “Burn” is easily the highlight of the album; upbeat, heavy, and full of snotty glam-fueled attitude, and it sets the listener up with exactly what to expect from the rest of the album. Iggy’s stance on the album cover says it all, he may be older, more tired, and close to throwing in the towel, but not until he’s good and ready. Nothing portrays that better than the positioning of the title track, “Ready to Die” followed by the raunchy “Dd’s.” His skin may be wearing thin, but he’s going to make sure he goes out with a bang, because he’s Iggy Freaking Pop.

It’s a year for rock-n-roll heavyweight reunions, with Black Sabbath, two different forms of Black Flag and David Bowie to name a few, all touring and/or putting out new music, and Iggy Pop and the gang has shown every single one of them how it’s done. Sure, Ready to Die isn’t a groundbreaking work of punk rock gold, but it keeps your head nodding and your foot tapping through every song, and it doesn’t sound at all like Iggy or anyone else in the band is struggling to keep up. It may not be a masterpiece, but Ready to Die is certainly a solid, thoroughly enjoyable record that you’ll definitely want to give a few listens to.