Iggy Pop returns to what he does best with Strung Out Johnny, a powerful song about addiction, from his 2023 album Every Loser.

I haven’t paid much attention to Iggy Pop’s records for many years now, though I did go to see those Stooges reunions in 2009/2010 when they played Raw Power and Fun House.

Then I lost interest, partly because after the double-whammy of Lust For Life and The Idiot way back in 1977, his solo records, bar a decent song here and there, sounded like lame retreads of the Stooges by a pub rock band.

And partly because the last couple of albums I heard bits of involved him crooning faux-jazz. So I assumed he had given up wriggling around half-naked onstage and snarling rock songs about sex and death and everything that’s bad about the 21st century.

As so often, I was hopelessly wrong. And here is the proof, from a 2023 album I’ve never listened to called Every Loser.

It helps that the musicians include Duff McKagan of Guns ‘N Roses, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam and – in one of his last recordings – Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters.

Now I’m not a fan of any of those bands, but they clearly know how to make a full metal racket, and that’s the sound that suits Iggy best, though this is one of the more measured and melodic numbers, dealing sensitively with the subject of addiction – something Iggy knows more than a bit about.

And it’s all the better when you remind yourself that Mr Osterberg is nearer to 80 than 75 and still behaving like a maniac. If I’m not mistaken, he’s playing right here in London in a couple of months.