Iggy Pop finally releases 'The Passenger' music video after 43 years, fans thank him for nostalgic treat
Amid all the strangeness of 2020, Iggy Pop fans may not have predicted this hot announcement. 'The Passenger' finally has an official music video.
'The Passenger' was recorded and released by Iggy Pop on his 'Lust for Life' album in 1977. The track was also released as the B-side of the LP's only single, 'Success. In 1998, 'The Passenger' was released as a single in its own right and reached No 22 in the UK Charts.
The lyrics have been interpreted as embodying the nomadic spirit of the punk outcast and the song is loosely based on a poem by the late frontman of The Doors, Jim Morrison. In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, Iggy Pop spoke about how the song was partly inspired by traveling with David Bowie on tour. "I’d been riding around North America and Europe in David’s car ad infinitum. I didn’t have a driver’s license or a vehicle," he said. Bowie also played the piano, organ and provided backing vocals for the song.
Now, over four decades later, 'The Passenger' has its own accompanying visual featuring black-and-white photos of a young Iggy fading into a motorway drive at night while lyrics such as these flash onto the screen: "I am a passenger. And I ride and I ride. I ride through the city's backside. I see the stars come out of the sky. Yeah, they're bright in a hollow sky. You know it looks so good tonight."
Pop announced the new video on Instagram with the caption, “So ‘The Passenger’ finally has an official video. Thank you @simontayl0r for your talent and thank you #EstherFriedman and @paulmcalpinerr for sharing images from the times of The Passenger."
The video certainly made fans nostalgic with one saying, "I was fortunate enough to have friends introduce me to this music in my youth, this has shaped my guitar playing in unexpected ways! And one Sunday per month in front of thousands I let it rip!!!" Another said, "I feel like I'm driving around Paris at night rewinding The Passenger over and over in the early 80's."
One fan said, "The passenger. Sitting in a car, it's night. Lost in motion. At last some precious moments leaving behind the pain, the inescapable. Feeling that strange sensation that nothing's important at all. An arising euphoria accompanied by the careless and welcome thought, if I'd die right now, I'd be fine with that. That's how The passenger felt back then. And it never failed, no matter how often you played the tape. Always relief. Thanks Iggy!"