You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
This episode contains explicit language.
Iggy Pop is a pioneer of punk rock, whose legendary career began over 50 years ago.
In 2015, he began collaborating on music with Joshua Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.
The result was Iggy Pop's 23rd album.
Post-pop depression.
In this episode,
Iggy and Josh break down the song American Valhalla and tell the story of how it was shaped by reverb,
opera, and the military.
My name is Rishi Keshirway.
You're listening to Song Exploder.
I have no plans.
I'm Iggy Pop.
Hello, my name is Joshua Homme.
The gestation of American Valhalla was as follows.
Josh sent me a shitty demo, labeled shitty demo,
that began with the steel drum and vibraphone motif.
And the vibraphone is an instrument that's plugged in,