Hear Charli XCX’s Raucous Cover of Stooges’ ‘No Fun’

Charli XCX channels the rabid punk spirit of Iggy Pop with her ferocious cover of the Stooges’ 1969 track “No Fun,” recorded for the soundtrack of HBO’s Vinyl. “No fun to be alone,” the electro-pop singer shouts over distortion and clattering drums, building to a climax of screams. 

“Charli was really up for doing the Iggy track. She came straight off the plane, right into the studio and absolutely nailed ‘No Fun,’ and that’s not easy to do,” the show’s music supervisor, Randall Poster, told NME. “For all the tracks, we worked with our New York house band that was led by Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth),” he added. “A lot of other artists respect and are eager to work with him, so that helped a lot.”

“No Fun” isn’t the only Pop-related song to appear on the soundtrack. The singer, who recently released his new album Post Pop Depression, tackles the raucous “I Dig Your Mind” by the Nervous Breakdowns on the same soundtrack. Julian Casablancas, Elvis Costello, Royal Blood and Chris Cornell also appear on the album, the latter covering Lorraine Ellison’s “Stay With Me Baby.”