When Topless Iggy Pop Ate Steak With His Hands in Top Restaurant

Josh Homme told of his memorable visit to a Beverly Hills gourmet restaurant with Iggy Pop, which underlined to the Queens of the Stone Age leader that the punk icon was his main inspiration.

In a recent interview with Apple One, Homme told Zane Lowe that Pop had always wanted to visit Lawry’s The Prime Rib, so arrangements were made.

“We go to a goddamn Lawry’s, and he’s wearing just a vest with no shirt,” he said. “Which is already a bit risque for Lawry’s. … The first time I went, I had to wear a men’s mustard-colored jacket. ... He goes, ‘Is it hot?’’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And then he just takes off his vest.”

The Lawry’s website states: “We kindly ask our guests to abide by our business casual dress code. The following items are not permitted in the restaurant: beachwear, gym or athletic wear (gym shorts, tank tops, etc.), cut-offs, flip flops. Management reserves the right to refuse service to patrons who are inappropriately dressed.” But Pop wasn’t done yet, according to Homme. “He's got no shirt on in Lawry’s, and he picks up the steak and he’s just eating it with his hands! … That was the goddamn best thing I ever saw in my life because he was being himself. He wasn’t hurting anybody. He was just like, ‘I’m like this,’ and he wasn't giving two wooden fucks.”

The inevitable happened. “The manager comes over and he goes, ‘I’m really sorry to say this to you, but … [it’s] a health code violation for you to have your nipples out basically at dinner.’ And [Pop] was like, ‘I’m sorry about that – of course!”

After putting his vest back on, he continued to eat with his hands. Homme said, “It made me fall in love with him all over again because he was gentle and sweet … like, ‘I’m going to do me until somebody says I can’t, and then I’m going to decide if I’m OK with that. … If the request is respectful, I will listen to your side and put on my vest.’ And I love that because he’s sort of elegantly being himself. Or as Oscar Wilde said: ‘Be yourself – everyone else is taken.’”

Homme reflected that Pop “has always been my inspiration. … He went from a junkie [who] was a pariah – people would say, ‘You can do whatever you want, but just don’t bring Iggy over here’ – to someone [who] really is such a celebrated, venerated monument.”

QOTSA release their latest album, In Times New Roman … , on Friday.