Listen to Iggy Pop's grimy new anti-heroin single Strung Out Johnny

Iggy Pop
(Image credit: Vincent Guignet)

Iggy Pop has shared a second single from his forthcoming Every Loser album, the slow-burning, sleazy, cautionary anti-heroin anthem Strung Out Johnny.

Pop's 19th solo album, Every Loser is scheduled for release on January 6, 2023, on producer Andrew Watt's own Gold Tooth Records, in partnership with Atlantic. Pop has already issued an early taste of what to expect with the October release of lead-off single Frenzy.

Strung Out Johnny is a darker, grimier track than the swaggering Frenzy, with Pop singing "First time you do it with a friend / Second timе you do it in a bed / Third time you can’t get enough / And a life gets all fucked up."

Listen to the track below:

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Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Jane's Addiction duo Dave Navarro and Eric Avery, Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard, Blink-182's Travis Barker and late Foo Fighters' drummer Taylor Hawkins are among the personnel recruited by producer Watt to play on the record.

Pop recently praised Taylor Hawkins for his contribution to the record, saying that the late musician "drums up a storm" on Comments and The Regency, the two tracks he guests on.

Pop also spoke recently about standing side-stage at Knebworth watching Hawkins play with Foo Fighters in 2015, and hailed his playing as  "otherworldly... advanced and powerful and relentless." The gig Pop is referring to was actually staged at Milton Keynes Bowl, not Knebworth, but the point remains.

Andrew Watt says of Every Loser, “Iggy Pop is a fucking icon. A true original. The guy invented the stage dive..I still can’t believe he let me make a record with him. I am honored. It doesn’t get cooler. This album was created to be played as loud as your stereo will go…turn it up and hold on…”

Watt, Duff McKagan and Chad Smith are backing Pop for a handful of US dates in 2023, billed as Iggy Pop and The Losers.

The quartet will play:

Apr 20: Los Angeles Regent Theater, CA
Apr 22: San Francisco Masonic Theater, CA
Apr 27: Los Angeles Hollywood Palladium, CA
Apr 29: Las Vegas The Pearl, NV

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

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