The Idiot is the debut solo album by Iggy Pop. It was the first of two LPs released in 1977 which Pop wrote and recorded in collaboration with David Bowie. Drawing on the electronic sounds of German groups such as Kraftwerk, The Idiot is a departure from the hard rock of Pop's former band the Stooges, and has been compared to Bowie's contemporaneous Berlin Trilogy of albums in it's treated instrument sounds and introspective atmosphere. Sessions for the album were begun prior to the recording of Bowie's Low (1977), and The Idiot has thus been called the unofficial beginning of Bowie's Berlin period. The album is regarded by critics as one of Pop's best works. It's title was inspired by Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot, three of the participants in the recording-Bowie, Pop and Tony Visconti-being familiar with the book. The album has been characterized as a major influence on subsequent post-punk, industrial, and gothic artists.