Happy 75th birthday to the Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop!
Is it true that he once appeared on the WISC news show "Live at Five"? Apparently so!
Local historian Stu Levitan recently posted an amazing article from the Capital Times in 1980 on the Madison Music Venues of the Past Facebook page. Written by Gary Peterson, it tells of the bizarre appearance of Iggy before a show scheduled at Merlyn's on State Street.
The host, Lynn Cullen, made the mistake of starting the interview with the question "What is punk rock?"
Answer? "A term made up by opportunistic journalists."
He also said he looked it up in the dictionary, and it could refer to "a piece of rot or a useless guy. It's a misunderstood term, and I don't care what you call me."
Cullen: "I still don't understand what punk is."
Iggy: "I'm sure you don't, babe."
By this time, the the guy who wrote the article said he was rolling on the floor in hysterics.
Since this all happened on live TV, it's unlikely tape of it exists.
Which is a very sad thing.
Lynn Cullen is currently a liberal radio talk show host in Pittsburgh.
Listen to Jonathan and me talk about this strange occurrence here.
