How Iggy Pop Got His Name

Before he became Iggy Pop, young Jim Osterberg did not fit the profile of your average teenage rock musician. As quoted by The New Yorker, former Stooges guitarist (and later bassist) Ron Asheton recalled his future bandmate as someone who "hung out with the popular kids that wore chinos, cashmere sweaters, and penny loafers" and, believe it or not, didn't have any vices ... yet. By 1963, Osterberg formed his first band, the Iguanas, where he played drums and covered songs from the popular bands of the era. During his time as a college student at the University of Michigan, he quit the Iguanas and joined the Prime Movers, but it seemed that people mostly remembered him as the guy who banged the skins for the Iguanas.

While working at Discount Records, the store's manager, Jeep Holland, was one of those who liked referencing the would-be Godfather of Punk's first band, as he would yell "Iguana alert!" each time Osterberg emerged from the basement stockroom. The young musician's friends (and future Stooges bandmates) Ron and Scott Asheton and Dave Alexander apparently caught wind of this nickname while randomly causing trouble outside of Discount, though for convenience's sake, "Iguana" was soon shortened to "Iggy."

As for the second half of Osterberg's soon-to-be-iconic stage name, that came from someone he knew named Jimmy Popp. As noted by poet John Sinclair for Detroit Artist Workshop, it was the guys from the Stooges who were responsible for the "Pop" part of Osterberg's new name.