The heyday of classic rock has given us some of the wildest stories ever told. It was the era of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and that cliche did not come into being without a considerable body of lore to sustain it. From the exploits of Keith Richards to the madcap existence of Keith Moon, an array of figures have cheated death, left chaos in their wake, and had brushes with the law in tales that defy logic to this day.
One man who has had his fair share of hellraising is proto-punk legend Iggy Pop – and one of rock’s foremost survivors. Despite a wildly oscillating life, he has remained a cultural fixture. From performing with a bloodied torso to a stint in a psychiatric facility that would not have looked out of place in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Pop has lived a life that is simply begging to be adapted into a biopic.
One of the most astounding stories from that life involves another of the 1970s’ great party animals: Elton John – who, on this particular occasion, was dressed as a gorilla.
In 1973, The Stooges were in Atlanta, burning out after a gruelling tour. Someone had the idea of roping John into a publicity stunt. At their show at Richard’s Club, John – a devoted fan – would walk on stage in a gorilla suit and surprise Iggy Pop, who knew nothing about it. The rest of the band had arranged a photographer from Creem, hoping the stunt would inject some life back into a group fraying at the seams.
The problem was Pop’s condition. He had spent the night before sedated on quaaludes, at one point incapacitated in the bushes outside the band’s hotel. To get himself functional enough to perform, he had taken more drugs.
“The preparation for the gig was just [giving me] enough things to get me up to where I could open my mouth and form a word, but I still couldn’t phrase on a beat,” Pop told Legs McNeil in Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk.
None of this gave his bandmates pause. The prank went ahead.
Come showtime, John waited in the wings, sweating inside the gorilla suit. When he walked out, the effect on Pop was immediate. “I was like, ‘Oh my god! What can I do? I couldn’t fight him. I could barely stand.”
In a separate account, Pop recalled the full horror of the moment: “A doctor had to shoot me full of methedrine just so I could talk. I was seeing triple and had to hold on to the microphone stand to support myself. Suddenly this gorilla walks out from backstage and holds me up in the air while I’m still singing. I was out of my mind with fear. I thought it was a real gorilla.”
Pop, despite everything, was not prepared to be beaten. He attacked. He grabbed the beast and held it close – and John, panicked, removed his mask. That was enough to defuse things.
John later reflected on events when speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment: “In Richard’s Club, in Atlanta. I saw him the first night. He was so great; I wanted to go back the second night. I thought, ‘I know what. I’ll dress as a gorilla!’ I jumped on stage – and he freaked out. Years later, he told me he was tripping on acid when I did it. It was the stinkiest gorilla’s outfit you could have possibly have. I thought it would be great, but it kind of backfired.”
