The collection included a cover of Johnny O'Keefe's "Wild One" (here titled "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" and three original songs co-written with ex-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. The remaining tracks were co-written by Bowie, who also produced the album with David Richards but, unlike his previous work with Pop, The Idiot and Lust for Life (both 1977), did not play any instruments, although he did contribute with backing vocals. Bowie biographer David Buckley has reported that Pop "virtually disowned" the record, calling it "a Bowie album in all but name". It has never been specified what tracks on the album, if any, originated during the sessions of Bowie's 1984 album Tonight (that album's co-producer, Hugh Padgham, has recalled that Bowie and Pop collaborated on some songs that Bowie ultimately rejected for inclusion on Tonight).
In 1990, Pop credited Bowie for [setting] up a good framework for me to tell my story in a way that people could hear. It got on the radio. At times we got a little too meticulous in the studio. But 'Shades,' 'Winners and Losers,' 'Cry for Love' and 'Wild Child' sum up my story at the time
It was the album that brought Iggy Pop back from a four-year recording hiatus and produced his first major mainstream hit in years, Real Wild Child (Wild One). The 1986 A&M Records release reunited Pop with David Bowie, who produced the album alongside David Richards and co-wrote most of the material. It was the final album collaboration between the two musicians.
Recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, in May 1986, Blah-Blah-Blah represented a significant change in sound for the artist. The abrasive art rock associated with his earlier work with Bowie on The Idiot and Lust for Life in 1977 gave way to synthesizers, programmed percussion, dance-rock textures and a more polished 1980s production style, but definitely this was far beyond a more commercial shift and eventually became Pop's most commercially successful album, reaching No. 75 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.
It was a fantastic moment for Iggy Pop, and the single "Real Wild Child (Wild One)", Pop’s adaptation of Johnny O'Keefe's Australian rock and roll classic Wild One. The song became Pop's first UK Top 10 hit and reached No. 27 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
Bowie's role on "Blah-Blah-Blah" was substantial but different from the partnership heard on The Idiot and Lust for Life. He co-wrote the bulk of the album with Pop, produced and mixed the sessions with David Richards, and supplied backing vocals, but did not play instruments on the record. The other significant songwriting partnership came from former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. Jones co-wrote Fire Girl, Cry for Love and Winners & Losers with Pop, with Jones also providing the guitar solo on Cry for Love.
The album also occupied an unusual position in Pop's catalogue because it sits between two very different phases of his career. His previous studio album, 1982’s Zombie Birdhouse, was followed by a four-year gap. Two years after Blah-Blah-Blah, Pop moved in a heavier direction with 1988's Instinct. Forty years later, Blah-Blah-Blah remains the record that connected Iggy Pop's uncompromising past with his mainstream breakthrough, while closing the final studio chapter of one of rock most consequential creative partnerships.
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