Iggy Pop may have "Lust for Life," but he never had lust for a Grammy.
Speaking with Classic Rock magazine, the Godfather of Punk shares that he initially had no interest in receiving the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award, with which he was honored in 2020.
"The Grammys kept wanting to talk to me on the phone and I kept telling my manager, 'I don’t want to talk to them. I hate those people. They want me to be an exhibit in their museum or something,'" Pop explains.
Eventually, however, Iggy softened his stance when he heard more about the meaning of the award.
"When I finally spoke to the lady from the Grammys a couple of months later she said, 'We’re giving you the lifetime achievement. Without you there's no Lil Nas X and there's no Billie Eilish,'" Pop recalls. "According to her, 'You're a direct link to the artists that are at the top of our awards list this year.' So that's what one person had to say, and I'll take that for what it’s worth."
Pop was previously nominated for two Grammys, once in 1989 and again in 2017. He may add to his total next year with his new album, Every Loser, which just dropped last Friday.