The Idiot is the debut solo studio album by the American musician Iggy Pop, released on March 18, 1977, through RCA Records.

Described by Pop as "a cross between James Brown and Kraftwerk",[1] The Idiot marks a departure from the proto-punk of the Stooges to a more subdued, mechanical sound with electronic overtones.

[6][7] Toward the end of the tour, both Bowie and Pop knew they wanted to avoid the drug culture of Los Angeles, and decided to move to Europe.

[6] For two days, with minimal guidance, Santangeli played to the rough tracks (which he assumed were demos), the first takes often becoming part of the final mix.

[6] In July 1976, Bowie brought in his own rhythm section consisting of the bassist George Murray and the drummer Dennis Davis to provide overdubs on a few tracks,[13] including "Sister Midnight" and "Mass Production".

[6] Recording continued in August 1976 at Musicland Studios in Munich, which was owned by Bowie's future collaborator, the electronic dance music producer Giorgio Moroder.

[22] Wesley Strick of Circus magazine described the music as "mechanized", similar to Bowie's "Fame", but "with rhythms keyed off a quickened pulse",[24] while Creem's Richard Riegel called it "professional studio metal, with occasional German-electronic overtones".

[25] NME's Nick Kent described the music as "totally rivetted and fettered to a thoroughly unhealthy aroma of evil and twilight zone zombie-time unease".

[24][25] The author Peter Doggett writes the identity of "Sister Midnight" is irrelevant, explaining that "she was merely a cipher, who could send [Pop] soaring to the moon or falling to Earth ... without either journey seeming to register on his emotions".

[32][33] Lyrically, the song evokes both Bowie and Pop's final days living in Los Angeles, with lines like "talkin' to Dracula and his crew".

[13] It is a tale of unrequited love inspired by Kuelan Nguyen, partner of French actor-singer Jacques Higelin, who was also recording at the château at the same time.

[7] Likewise a tribute/lament for Pop's former Stooges bandmates, the spoken intro references Zeke Zettner, Dave Alexander, Scott Asheton, and Williamson.

[27] Bowie suggested the lyrics to Pop, who later recalled: "He just said, 'I want you to write a song about mass production, because I would always talk to him about how much I admired the beauty of the American industrial culture that was rotting away where I grew up.

With Bowie playing keyboards, he assembled a band that included Ricky Gardiner on guitar, with brothers and future Tin Machine bandmates Tony Fox and Hunt Sales on bass and drums, respectively.

Bowie was adamant about not taking the spotlight away from Pop, often staying behind his keyboard and not addressing the audience;[50] Giovanni Dadomo of Sounds reported, "If you wanted David, you also got the band.

[10] In a contemporary review of the album, John Swenson of Rolling Stone termed it "the most savage indictment of rock posturing ever recorded" and "a necrophiliac's delight".

"[25] Billboard magazine noted the "less frantic" pace of Pop's earlier efforts and found Bowie's parts make the record more "commercially palatable".

[69] Similar to other reviewers, Kris Needs of ZigZag magazine was perplexed upon hearing The Idiot for the first time, noting the major difference between it and Pop's work with the Stooges.

Calling it "a very strange, morbid, obscure and unsettling [album]", Needs praised the record, stating he listened to it on repeat for hours at a time, and it "chill[ed] [him] to the marrow".

[30] John Rockwell of The New York Times called it "a powerful record", describing Pop's vocals as a blend of Morrison and Lou Reed and Bowie's music as "Germano‐British progressivisms".

[70] Record Mirror's Jim Evans found "little emotion" in Pop's vocal performances but considered the music innovative and compulsive, particularly on side two, which he deemed borderline heavy metal.

"[18] The biographer Paul Trynka writes that over time, The Idiot would be classified as an album that was "more respected than loved", but acknowledged its influence on the "soul" of post-punk.

[12] Writing for Clash magazine on the record's 35th anniversary, Amanda Arber stated: "The Idiot stands as a dark, dense and desolate display of an artist confronting his demons head-on, and growing up in the process.

"[1] Reviewing the album as part of the 2020 box set The Bowie Years, Sasha Geffen of Pitchfork praised it, stating: "The Idiot may lack fury, but it compensates with sardonic humor and perfectly tuned melodrama – both tools that would become wildly popular across all artistic media in the 1980s.

[72][71] In his contemporary review of the record, Riegel comments, "As the star of The Idiot ... Iggy Pop seems more under David Bowie's manipulative thumb than ever before, a condition that can be taken as positive or negative.

[66] When reviewing Lust for Life, Pete Makowski of Sounds magazine felt The Idiot suffered from "being a part of Bowie's come down," calling it "a Low disco platter".

[74]Bowie later re-worked "Sister Midnight" with new lyrics as "Red Money" on Lodger,[7][76] while his version of "China Girl" on Let's Dance (1983) became a major hit.

"[71] The album has been cited as a major influence on post-punk, industrial, and gothic rock artists, including Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and Joy Division.

[27] Their debut album Unknown Pleasures (1979) drew heavily on the "industrial soundscapes" and "relentless percussion" of tracks like "Nightclubbing" and "Mass Production", also noting that The Idiot was still playing on the turntable of the band's singer Ian Curtis when he was found having died by suicide in 1980.

[13] In addition, Seabrook cites "Mass Production" as an influence on modern alternative rock acts like the Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead.