Iggy

Curse you, internet! Ordinarily I would never have known about Iggy Pop's surreal, mortifying performance on American Idol. But there was no escape.

Understand: “surreal, mortifying performance” is part of the point of Iggy, right? A friend insists that she's never seen any other performer project as much energy from the stage as he does, and I know better than to argue with that. Say what you will about the American Idol nightmare, Iggy is unmistakably still working it, which is more than you can say for most graying punks.

Checking the “Official” Iggy Pop Shirtless Aging Timeline you can see that Iggy retained his louche glamour dancing shirtless into a much more advanced age than anyone could reasonably expect, especially considering the punishing demands upon his own health of his lifestyle. I used to say that he looked a kind of good-yet-scary that you can only look through sustained regular drug abuse. But then it appears that sometime in 2004 he decided that the only way to maintain his vigor was to allow himself to be bitten by a zombie.