[King of Snake]

Originally Posted by pandamagic

Actually this is a fair point, so thanks. I think I'm just more likely to be charitable to Karl's vocals because I get a sense of what kind of person he is (based on interviews, previous work, etc.) and he's always come across as thoughtful & likeable. Whereas Iggy has mostly just comes across as petulant and tiresome to me. So I guess that's just my bias. I do agree though that Iggy's rant isn't entirely out of place in the Underworld universe.

Sure I get that. I'm certainly more familiar with Karl as a person (insofar as that's possible without personally knowing him) than Iggy Pop, who I only know as... well.. Iggy Pop the rock star. And perhaps the heroin addict.

I suppose I raise an eyebrow any time anyone gets a little misty-eyed about more "permissive" decades of the recent past. Like, didn't Mad Men teach us anything? Sure the furniture was cool but a lot of the rest of it was pretty gross. I'm old enough (though, not as old as Iggy) to remember when you could smoke everywhere and it was pretty fucking awful. I've also lost a couple of family members to lung cancer so I guess that's another personal bias. And before you go "wow you sound fun" remember that this is an Underworld forum so I guess I'm at least fun enough to like dance music. So there's that.

Oh I'm totally with you that smoking everywhere was awful. Bars, restaurants, trains... especially on an airplane, it sounds absolutely horrible! And I've also seen an uncle and an acquaintance die from lung cancer so again, totally 100% with you that smoking is awful. Cocaine use, same thing. Another person I knew was a heavy cocaine user and committed suicide last year leaving behind a wife and two kids. Pretty tragic.

But at the same time for many people these things have at some point been sources of "fun" and enjoyment. Most if not all people have had some rebellious phase. I used to be a smoker until about 7-8 years ago (so happy I quit) and I've used various drugs including cocaine. When I was younger it was part of the scene and I was impressionable. Not every cocaine user commits suicide, not everyone who enjoys a beer becomes an alcoholic. Certainly Iggy pop has over-indulged in some of these things during his life but I'm not really hearing this so much as a celebration of over-indulgence to be followed, but just his personal experience.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback. It's made me reconsider the track a little bit, though I'll probably just end up relegating it to the slowly growing list of "Underworld and Underworld adjacent tracks I never listen to" along with "The First Note Is Silent" and some of the 2012 Olympic stuff . . .

Thanks for responding. I do get where you're coming from and it is not my intention to change anyone's opinion of the song, but I think it's open for different interpretations (as usual).