Iggy Pop Voices a Lonely Robot on Mogwai's New Song "Underground"

Iggy Pop sings from a robot's point of view on "Underground," a new track from Mogwai's forthcoming compilation Happy Tears, announced by the band and arriving January 8 via Rock Action.

Pop opens the piece with the lines: "I am a robot/And I am unhappy/I have been designed/To make money/But I want to make love." From there, according to the announcement, he ranges across what the band's publicists call seemingly random topics — shrewd producers, the Rolling Stones, and the observation that it is "great to be a nepo kid."

Happy Tears collects highlights and rarities from the Glasgow group's 31-year history alongside the new Pop collaboration. The release will be accompanied by Happy Tears: The Story of Mogwai, a new audio documentary tracing the band's rise.

Why Iggy Pop?

The pairing is not arbitrary. Guitarist Stuart Braithwaite has named Pop his personal hero, and detailed the fixation in his 2022 memoir Spaceships Over Glasgow: Mogwai, Mayhem and Misspent Youth.

"Hearing the Stooges had been a life-changing moment for me," Braithwaite wrote. He added: "I had a VHS video of Iggy playing live and I watched it over and over. His performance was unlike anything or anyone I'd seen before. The spectacle was great but it was his voice and songs that really captured me."

Pop, for his part, framed his contribution in terms of mood rather than fandom.

"I've always liked Mogwai," Pop wrote in a statement. "The opening of the track reminded me of the crushing modern loneliness. The sung vocal, which was arranged by Matt Sweeney, felt like it was made for someone who is pissed off and doesn't mind saying so."

Sweeney's arrangement credit marks the involvement of a longtime collaborator of Pop's in shaping the vocal line at the heart of the track.

What's on the compilation?

The main disc spans the band's catalog, opening with "Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home" and closing with the new Pop feature. Highlights include:

• "I'm Jim Morrison I'm Dead"
• "Take Me Somewhere Nice"
• "Auto Rock"
• "Remurdered"
• "Ritchie Sacramento"
• "How To Be A Werewolf"
• "CODY"

The rarities disc digs deeper into the archive and the band's eccentric side, with track titles including "Angels vs Aliens," "Dracula Family," "Harry Patter," "Hingmy Malmsteen," "Owl Mince," "Full Blast Michael" and a live version of "Mogwai Fear Satan." It also features a live performance of "Ether" with The KNDS Fairey Band, a Holden remix of "The Sun Smells Too Loud" and an "Other Two" remix of "Ritchie Sacramento."

One rarity, "Nick Drake," carries the name of the late English singer-songwriter; another, "Boltfor," appears on the main disc alongside the guitar workout "Lion Rumpus."

What happens on January 8?

The dual release gives listeners two entry points into the band's story: a curated musical retrospective and the audio documentary Happy Tears: The Story of Mogwai. The Pop collaboration, arriving as the compilation's final track, positions the band's icon singing about machines, money and desire — and, by Pop's own account, for anyone who is pissed off and willing to say so.