Episode 152: Dominic Green / Iggy Pop & the Stooges

Author: National Review November 3, 2025 Duration: 2:17:04

Scot and Jeff discuss Iggy Pop & the Stooges with Dominic Green.

Introducing the Band:
Your hosts Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) and Jeff Blehar (@EsotericCD) are joined by guest Dominic Green. Dom is a historian and columnist, and he used to be a musician. He is a contributor to the Wall Street Journal and a columnist for the Washington Examiner and Jewish Chronicle. Check him out on Twitter at @DrDominicGreen.

Dominic’s Music Pick: Iggy Pop & the Stooges
Looooooooooord! When Dominic last joined us on Political Beats, to discuss the great U.K. band The Jam, we declared it to be in some ways one of the most necessary episodes of the show ever. (It was.) He has chosen to return to us this month with another one of the most necessary shows we have recorded, a deep dive into the true foundations of punk.

Did "punk" music begin with the Sex Pistols in 1976? With the Velvet Underground in 1966? No. Whatever else you may think punk should be, or whatever else it evolved into, the true musical spirit of punk begins with the Stooges' 1969 debut album, a record of such throbbingly feral loudness, rage, and inarticulate energy that it seemed like the sound of cavemen bashing upon logs.

And yet the Stooges -- led by Ypsilanti, Michigan's own James Osterberg, better known to the world as Iggy Pop -- were both primitive and neo-primitivist simultaneously: maybe the first band whose garage-rock aesthetics were both authentic and also an intentional artistic proposition. Iggy Pop -- working with the Ashton brothers and later James Williamson -- sought to strip rock and roll to its rawest, most inchoate essentials, and succeeded so wildly that an entire subgenre of music reveres him as their founding father.

And then, of course, there's his work with David Bowie in the late Seventies, where both men creatively resurrected themselves. Buckle up for a brisk roller-coaster of an episode, folks -- embrace your lust for life.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Political Beats

There’s a side to political figures and commentators that rarely makes the headlines-the part of them that lives for music. On Political Beats, hosts Scot Bertram and Jeff Blehar sit down with guests whose lives are steeped in policy and elections, but whose personal soundtracks tell a completely different story. This isn’t a debate about current events; it’s a series of conversations that wander through record collections, formative concert experiences, and the albums that shaped their worldviews. You’ll hear politicians, strategists, and journalists drop the talking points to passionately argue over classic rock deep cuts, the genius of a particular jazz musician, or the raw energy of punk. The result is a surprisingly humanizing look at the people who shape our political discourse, revealing connections between the art they love and the work they do. Each episode of this National Review podcast feels like an informal chat among friends who share a deep, genuine enthusiasm for music’s history and its lasting impact. Tune in for a refreshing blend of cultural history and personal narrative, where the only thing on the agenda is a shared passion for the beats that move us.

Author: National Review Language: English Episodes: 100

Official website RSS