KROQ – Jed The Fish – Iggy Pop Live From The Stardust Ballroom – Hollywood – November 30, 1979 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
There are times, important times, times where you made every plan and had it worked out, down to the second. But then there are times when you got distracted – had the golden opportunity – forgot – got loaded – or the equipment didn’t work.
You knew about it all week – Jed The Fish announced it – Iggy Pop was playing the Stardust Ballroom in Hollywood on November 30 and KROQ was going to broadcast it live, from the stage, as it was happening. You couldn’t afford tickets so you set up your tape recorder to do the next best thing; record the concert.
You had it all planned – you went to Radio Shack and bought one of those timers you set to automatically turn your house lights on when you go on vacation to give everybody the idea you’re home at night. You plug your tape recorder into the timer; set it, pop it in record and it would go off and record the whole concert- perfect.
Well . . .almost.
There’s Brenda – you’ve been trying to get next to her since 10th grade. It finally happened – magic. You’re seeing her this weekend. You take her home. The concert started a half hour ago, but you know the timer is on and working. No worries.
You finally make it home and that’s when you discover the timer didn’t go off. It’s just sitting there; waiting. You freak out and turn everything on, and the best you can do is grab the last 45 minutes of what sounded like an amazing show.
And you hope maybe one of your friends recorded it. Maybe. But you know your friends – and you doubt it.
With all that in mind, here is the last 45 minutes of Iggy Pop, broadcast live from the stage at The Stardust Ballroom in Hollywood on November 30, 1979. Jed The Fish is the dj and he’s stuck with some dead-air time when Iggy promptly stops and the audience is howling for more. He finally does an encore after some 10 minutes. But this was what KROQ was doing at the time; free-form and without nets – and without tape delay. As you’ll notice, Iggy gets a bit salty in places, and it’s not bleeped out because there is no delay – it’s all happening live.
If you remember KROQ during this period, it was pretty off-the-wall at times, and this was as close to 60s Underground FM as the 70s were going to get. Because shortly after this, the station took an abrupt turn for the formula and the playlist. And the crazy spontaneity was gone – just like KMET had in the early 70s and just like KPPC had in the 60s.
It’s a pity this set isn’t complete – but 45 minutes is better than nothing at all. Maybe somebody actually DID record the whole thing. . . . .
Play loud.
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