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Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Entertainment
Rich Hobson

Watch Iggy Pop's blink-and-you'll miss it cameo as a creepy paedophile in 90s cult movie Tank Girl

Iggy Pop Tank Girl 1995

Iggy Pop is no stranger to acting, the singer's rich baritone voice and iconic visage lending itself perfectly to everything from voicing a DJ in Grand Theft Auto IV to on-screen appearances in Sid And Nancy, Tales From The Crypt, The Color Of Money, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Gutterdammerung and many more.

But one of the punk icon's more unsettling turns on-screen came in 1995's cult classic Tank Girl. Directed by Rachel Talalay and starring Lori Petty, Tank Girl's brilliantly bizarre pulpy action-comedy was an early venture in comic book adaptations that unfortunately bombed at the box office at the time, only to earn cult status later on.

In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo, Pop turns up as sleazy paedophile "Rat Face", his appearance lasting for about 20 exceptionally creepy seconds before he gets summarily gored by a bladed gadget. 

Pop wasn't the only musician to appear in the movie, however: rapper (and Body Count frontman) Ice-T got a much more prominent role as human/kangaroo hybrid T-Ripper (it's a strange movie, go with it), while initially producers had envisioned Icelandic singer Björk as the titular character's sidekick, Jet Girl before the role ultimately went to Naomi Watts. 

With a pumping alt-flavoured soundtrack that featured everyone from Devo and Portishead to Bush and Hole, and snappy editing and animated segments that make the whole movie feel like a  snapshot of a generation still very much in love with MTV, Tank Girl might have flopped at the time, but lives on as a beloved - if somewhat bizarre - cult oddity. 

It also wasn't the only comic book adaptation Pop had associations with in the 90s, with The Crow villain Funboy's original comic book design being based on Pop, producers even trying to secure him for the role in the 1994 movie. Pop ultimately had to pass due to scheduling conflicts, but would later appear in the 1996 sequel The Crow: City Of Angels as the similarly villainous Curve. 

Watch the full clip below:

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