U2 frontman, Bono has taken some time recently to pen a series of fan letters to some of his idols, including punk icon Iggy Pop, which he is publishing on the band’s official website, here.

Earlier this month, the singer celebrated his 60th birthday with a playlist of 60 songs that, in his words, “saved my life.” The vast collection revealed a wide range of influences, including everyone from The Rolling Stones and The Beatles; Patti Smith and Bob Dylan; to Daft Punk and Nirvana. And, the one and only, Iggy Pop. Bono has vowed to write a congratulatory letter for each of his selections, to reveal the inspirational force and cultural imperative of their work. 

When it came to letter to Iggy Pop, Bono focused his attention on Godfather of Punk’s intelligently ironic lyricism and unrelenting live performances, that “felt so bold and bracing.” As Bono writes: 

Dear Iggy,

The picture of health that you appear on the cover of the album, LUST FOR LIFE, was so inspirational to me and my friends. We thought to ourselves 'if Iggy made it, we all can’… that turned out not to be true. But in and around the death cult that follows rock, it felt so bold and bracing to hear you sing…  

“I'm through with sleeping on the

Sidewalk - no more beating my brains

No more beating my brains”

… And the set up was so perfect: 

“Here comes Johnny Yen again

With the liquor and drugs

And the flesh machine

He's gonna do another striptease”

… 

That voice that carries those words carried so many of us. The intellect as sharp as flint fists… but if you were stupid enough to miss the intellectual Iggy Pop, the instinctual was there for you… part animal/part animus, it was an adrenaline rush to see you leap from the stage into us, smashing the fourth wall with your head. There’s something annoying about the safe distance that separates performers from their crowd, but no one brought such a violence to cross that moat like you.

The stage usually is an up-drawbridge situation that offers regency, a crown… rock is feudal. It appeared to us that you revolted against yourself, you threw away your own crown… or something like that. 

There may be less than a dozen performers that I have felt are so unhappy with the hierarchy of the stage and its separateness, that they might leave the stage any minute and enter your life, follow you home… which is the desire of all dramaturges that the play sleeps beside you, and you will wake with it the next day.  

I witnessed this with Steven Berkoff and Olwen Fouéré in Wilde’s SALOMé. I witnessed it with Mark Rylance in Jez Butterworth’s JERUSALEM. Daniel Day Lewis actually walked off stage during HAMLET. Sean Penn has it on film, Ben Mendelsohn too. Robert De Niro might’ve invented it.  In rock ’n’ roll Eddie Vedder would definitely share a taxi home. Patti Smith used to push through her own crowd to reach the stage. 

But you, Iggy, may have jumped out of your own skin to get to us. 

Thanks for the blood, the sweat, and the sparing of the tears.

Your fan, 

Bono

Read Bono’s letter to Iggy Pop, along with many more insightful reflections on the artists who shaped his musical path, including Lou Reed, the Talking Heads, Nick Cave, Patti Smith and David Bowie via the official U2 website here.

You can listen to Bono’s 60 Songs That Saved My Life playlist – “These songs saved my life. The ones I couldn’t have lived without. The ones that got me from there to here, 0 to 60” – via Spotify here. 

Listen to Iggy Pop on Spotify:

Listen to Iggy Pop on Apple Music: