Blah-Blah-Blah
Studio album by
Iggy Pop
ReleasedOctober 23, 1986 (1986-10-23)
RecordedMay 1986
StudioMountain (Montreux, Switzerland)
Genre
Length46:12
LabelA&M
Producer
Iggy Pop chronology
Zombie Birdhouse
(1982)		 Blah-Blah-Blah
(1986)		 Instinct
(1988)
Singles from Blah-Blah-Blah
  1. "Cry for Love"
    Released: October 1986
  2. "Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
    Released: November 1986
  3. "Shades"
    Released: February 1987
  4. "Fire Girl"
    Released: April 1987
  5. "Isolation"
    Released: June 1987
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Chicago Tribune[3]
Robert ChristgauC+[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

Blah-Blah-Blah is the seventh studio album by American musician Iggy Pop. Released in October 1986, on the label A&M, it is his most commercially successful album. Blah-Blah-Blah appeared after a four-year hiatus for Pop, with David Bowie serving as his prime collaborator. It would be their final collaboration. A successful tour followed the album's release.

Production

The collection included a cover of Johnny O'Keefe's "Wild One" (here titled "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" and three original songs co-written with ex-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. The remaining tracks were co-written by Bowie, who also produced the album with David Richards but, unlike his previous work with Pop, The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977), did not play any instruments, although he did contribute with backing vocals. Bowie biographer David Buckley has reported that Pop "virtually disowned" the record, calling it "a Bowie album in all but name".[7] It has never been specified what tracks on the album, if any, originated during the sessions of Bowie's 1984 album Tonight (that album's co-producer, Hugh Padgham, has recalled that Bowie and Pop collaborated on some songs that Bowie ultimately rejected for inclusion on Tonight).

Release and reception

Described by AllMusic as "the most calculatedly commercial album of Iggy's career",[2] Blah-Blah-Blah was certified gold in Canada (more than 50,000 copies sold). In the U.S. it peaked at No. 75 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart.[8] Rolling Stone's contemporary review complained of a "nagging homogeneity to side one" but continued that "even at its most familiar, Blah-Blah-Blah is as spiritually outraged and emotionally direct as commercial pop gets these days".[9]

Singles

"Real Wild Child" reached No. 27 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts and became Pop's first Top 10 hit in the UK.[10] The song was featured on the soundtrack for the 1988 film Crocodile Dundee II and the 1990 film Pretty Woman, also both Problem Child films and has been the opening theme of the Australian ABC TV music block rage by using snippets along with Johnny O'Keefe's "Wild One" since its launch in 1987. Other singles and videos from the album included "Cry for Love", "Isolation" and "Shades". "Cry for Love", described by Rolling Stone as "a ripping fusion of classic Iggy rage, Bowie cabaret and unexpected romantic vulnerability",[9] made No. 19 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music chart and No. 34 on the Mainstream Rock charts.[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Real Wild Child (Wild One)"
3:38
2."Baby, It Can't Fall" 4:14
3."Shades" (original CD version; LP is 5:17) 5:57
4."Fire Girl"
3:33
5."Isolation" 4:37
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Cry for Love"
  • Pop
  • Jones
4:28
7."Blah-Blah-Blah" 4:32
8."Hideaway" 5:01
9."Winners & Losers"
  • Pop
  • Jones
6:18
10."Little Miss Emperor" (CD only) 3:50
Total length:46:12

Alternate versions and remixes

  • "Cry for Love" (Extended dance version) – 6:58 (also listed as Extended remix with a runtime of 7:05 on some releases)
  • "Cry for Love" (7" edit) – 3:30
  • "Fire Girl" (Single remix) – 6:54
  • "Blah-Blah-Blah" (Live; B-side of "Fire Girl" single) – 4:48
  • "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" (Single mix) – 3:30
  • "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" (Extended version) – 8:28
  • "Shades" (Single / LP version) – 5:17 (This is the version from the original vinyl version of the LP. It replaces the regular CD version on the Complete A&M Recordings collection, its first digital issue)
  • "Baby, It Can't Fall" (Extended remix; B-side of "Shades" single) – 6:10

There are demo versions of some songs in circulation online. "Fire Girl" features David Bowie's backing vocals far more audible than in the album.[11]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[12]

Production

Charts

Chart performance for Blah-Blah-Blah
Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[13] 34
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 52
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 51
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[16] 19
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[17] 3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18] 17
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 43
US Billboard Top Pop Albums[20] 75

Certifications

Certifications for Blah-Blah-Blah
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[21] Gold 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "11 Classic Rockers Who Went New Wave For One Album". VH1.com. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Deming, Mark. "Blah-Blah-Blah – Iggy Pop". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  3. ↑ Kot, Greg (July 22, 1990). "Pop On Pop: Iggy Rates His Own Music (And So Do We)". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  4. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer's Guide: Iggy Pop". Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2012 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Iggy Pop". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  6. ↑ Coleman, Mark; Kemp, Rob (2004). "Iggy Pop". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York City: Simon & Schuster. pp. 645–646. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ↑ David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story: pp.432–433
  8. ↑ Billboard Albums at Allmusic. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
  9. 1 2 Fricke, David (October 23, 1986). "Blah-Blah-Blah: Iggy Pop Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
  11. ↑ Iggy Pop – Topic (November 18, 2015). "Fire Girl (Demo)". Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2016 – via YouTube.
  12. ↑ Blah-Blah-Blah liner notes. A&M Records. 1986.
  13. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-646-11917-5.
  14. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Iggy Pop – Blah-Blah-Blah" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Iggy Pop – Blah-Blah-Blah" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Charts.nz – Iggy Pop – Blah-Blah-Blah". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Iggy Pop – Blah-Blah-Blah". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Iggy Pop – Blah-Blah-Blah". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Blah-Blah-Blah Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Iggy Pop – Blah Blah Blah". Music Canada. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
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