Instinct

Instinct

Knowing that he'd crossed over a commercial line with the pop-oriented Blah Blah Blah, Iggy Pop hired former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones (who'd contributed a guitar solo to the previous album) to help push forth a viable hard rock album. Producer Bill Laswell, who'd done a decent job for Motörhead and Public Image Ltd., dried out the sound just enough to balance it between hard rock and something radio might play. In the pre-grunge era of 1988, album production styles for hard rock bands were often dire, so Laswell's job was more difficult than it might seem. "Cold Metal" was a tight and bony blast of prime Pop, while "High on You" added textures and came out sounding like Iggy leading The Cult in its psychedelic-goth days. Jones cowrote four of the tracks with Iggy, and the two clearly fed off one another and turned in convincing performances. It's obvious that "Strong Girl," "Easy Rider," "Power & Freedom," and "Square Head" deserve more attention from hardcore fans.

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