''Brick by Brick'' is the ninth studio album by American singer

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...

, released in June 1990 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

Production and content

After attracting mixed reviews for much of his 1980s output, Pop hired producer Don Was, who was a longtime fan of Pop's band

the Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

, as producer and opted for a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

sound. Many songs on the album incorporate a lyrical theme of the United States facing dangers of cultural decay and implosion. Slash and

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

fame were featured on the album as songwriters and performers. The cover was drawn by American cartoonist Charles Burns. The album's personnel includes studio musicians Waddy Wachtel and Kenny Aronoff. The album is the first studio album that features Pop contributing guitar. He plays a majority of the guitar parts along with Wachtel and Slash. Was would go on to produce Pop's album '' Avenue B'' (1999).

Release

The album peaked at number 90 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and stayed on the charts for 37 weeks. The song "Livin' on the Edge of the Night" was released before the album as a soundtrack for the hit movie '' Black Rain'' starring Michael Douglas and Andy García. The song reached number 16 on Modern Rock Tracks. "Candy" reached number 30 on Mainstream Rock Tracks, number 5 on

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

and number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The first single from the album, "Home", reached number 2 on Modern Rock Tracks.

Reception

The album gave Pop some of his strongest reviews since his

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

collaborations, and "

Candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

", with the B-52's vocalist Kate Pierson, became his first MTV hit. The video for the song found fairly heavy rotation on that station. Videos were also made for "Home", "Butt Town" and "Livin' on the Edge of the Night". "Butt Town" received high praise from the MTV animated duo

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, Stupi ...

; the latter stated, "This song has the best lyrics I've ever heard."

Track listing

All songs written by Iggy Pop, except where noted. # "Home" – 4:00 # "Main Street Eyes" – 3:41 # "I Won't Crap Out" – 4:02 # "

" (with Kate Pierson of The B-52's) – 4:13 # "Butt Town" – 3:34 # "The Undefeated" – 5:05 # "Moonlight Lady" – 3:30 # "Something Wild" ( John Hiatt) – 4:01 # "Neon Forest" – 7:05 # "Starry Night" – 4:05 # "Pussy Power" – 2:47 # "My Baby Wants to Rock & Roll" (lyrics: Pop; music: Slash) – 4:46 # "Brick by Brick" – 3:30 # "Livin' on the Edge of the Night" ( Jay Rifkin, Eric Rackin) – 3:38 ; Alternate versions * The 1990 Virgin cassette version of ''Brick by Brick'' (7567–91381–4) lacks the song "Livin' on the Edge of the Night". * "Pussy Power" (Acoustic demo version released on "Candy" single) – 2:38 * "My Baby Wants to Rock and Roll" ( Acoustic demo version released on "Candy" single) * "The Undefeated" (Acoustic demo version released on "Candy" & "The Undefeated" singles) – 3:37 * "Butt Town" (Acoustic demo version released on "Candy" single) * "L.A. Blues" (Acoustic demo version released on "The Undefeated" single) – 2:21 * "Brick By Brick" (Acoustic demo version released on "The Undefeated" single) – 3:32 * "Livin' on the Edge of the Night" (

Remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

) – 3:11

Personnel

* Iggy Pop – vocals, acoustic guitar (tracks: A2, A3, A5–A7, B1, B3, B6), electric guitar (tracks: A3, A4, B2, B4, B5) * Waddy Wachtel – acoustic guitar (tracks: A2, A3, A5, B6), electric guitar (tracks: A2, A4, A6, B2) * Charley Drayton – bass (tracks: A2–A4, A6, B1–B3) * Chuck Domanico – acoustic bass on "Moonlight Lady" *

– bass (tracks: A1, A5, B4, B5) * Slash – electric guitar (tracks: A1, A5, B4, B5) * Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards (tracks: A2, A4, A7, B2, B5, B6); piano on "The Undefeated"; organ on "Starry Night" * Kenny Aronoff – drums (tracks: A1–B5) * David Lindley – violin, mandolin on "Main Street Eyes"; slide guitar, bouzouki on "I Won't Crap Out" and "Moonlight Lady"; electric guitar, slide guitar on "Starry Night"; saxophone on "My Baby Wants to Rock & Roll" * David McMurray – saxophone on "Neon Forest" * Kate Pierson – duet on "Candy" * John Hiatt – duet on "Something Wild" * Ed Cherney – "annoying vocal whine" on "Something Wild" * Sweet Pea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens, Donald Ray Mitchell – backing vocals on "Neon Forest" and "Starry Night" * Alex Brown – backing vocals on "Pussy Power" * The Leeching Delinquents (Tom Black, John James, Whitehorn Kirst, Kreg Sludgemottom, Scott Slam, Joe Cooper, Josh Richmond, Paul H. Saylor, Scott Philips, Joel Randell, Darrell Spades, Brian Small, Ewreck Benson, Mickey Finn, Billy Rowe, Man Ray Wheaton, Mike Savage, E. Shepherd Stevenson, Bobby Durango) – backing vocals on "The Undefeated" * Scott Hackwith, Dale Lavi – backing vocals Technical * Produced by Don Was * Ed Cherney – recording, mixing * Clark Germain, Dan Bosworth, Eric Rudd, Martin Schmelzle – engineer * Mastered by Greg Fulginiti * Suchi Asano Osterberg – production coordination * Melanie Nissen – art direction * Charles Burns – cover illustration

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control Iggy Pop albums 1990 albums Albums produced by Don Was Virgin Records albums Hard rock albums by American artists Heavy metal albums by American artists