‘70s Music Legend, 78, Made Key Lyrical Tweaks to Song That Won’t Die

‘70s Music Legend, 78, Made Key Lyrical Tweaks to Song That Won’t Die originally appeared on Parade.

One of the unexpected highlights of James Gunn’s new adaptation of Supermanis “Punkrocker,” the song that plays over the film’s end credits. Much like the Man of Steel, the song won’t die. It just keeps popping up in new versions and places.

The version heard in Superman was first released in 2006 by the Swedish group the Teddybears featuring proto-punk legend Iggy Pop on vocals.

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The song was originally recorded by the Teddybears, without Iggy, for their 2000 album Rock’n’Roll Highschool.

That same year, it was remade by the Swedish indie rock band Caesars Palace (later renamed Caesars to avoid a possible legal showdown with the Las Vegas hotel). That band included Joakim Ahlund of the Teddybears, and also gained notice for their 2002 song “Jerk It Out” after it was featured in a snowboarding video and video games, as well as their version of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” featured on the Six Feet Under: Everything Ends soundtrack.

“Punkrocker” has since been covered several times, but the best-known version is the Teddybears 2006 update that has Iggy Pop on vocals.

Iggy didn’t just sing the song; he made key tweaks to the lyrics that change the song’s whole attitude.

The Teddybears original opens with the lines: “You see me driving down the street / I’m just not looking good.”

Iggy, however, turned that second line completely around by singing, “I’m bored with looking good,” adding a swagger and aloofness missing from the original woe-is-me take. Iggy’s lyric is also a throwback of sorts to one of his own songs, 1979’s “I’m Bored.” In that song, from Iggy’s album New Values, he opens by singing, “I’m bored / I’m chairman of the bored.”

Iggy later adds further lyrical changes to “Punkrocker” with the lyrics, “See me die on Bleecker Street / I’m bored with being God.” Bleecker Street is widely associated with the ‘70s New York punk because the legendary punk nightclub GBGB was on Bowery and Bleecker.

Following its original release, the Teddybears version of “Punkrocker” featuring Iggy Pop became a minor hit after it was placed in a Cadillac commercial in 2007, but it failed to crack the top 40 of Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart at the time, only earning the “bubbling under” designation.

Now, however, the Teddybears/Pop version of “Punkrocker” seems destined to become a legitimate hit. It’s No. 13 this week on the Global Top 200 published by the music-identifying app Shazam. Moviegoers seeing Superman are likely using Shazam to identify the song as it plays on the box-office smash’s end credits.

Related: Rock Legends to Headline Festival Named After Famed Punk Nightclub

A bonus bit of trivia: The Swedish group is not the first pop music act to go by that name. There was an American vocal group known as the Teddy Bears (two words), produced by Phil Spector, that scored a No. 1 hit in the late ‘50s with the song “To Know Him Is to Love Him.”

‘70s Music Legend, 78, Made Key Lyrical Tweaks to Song That Won’t Die first appeared on Parade on Jul 13, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 13, 2025, where it first appeared.