Co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie, the song is known for its opening drumbeat. The rhythm was based on the Armed Forces Networkcall signal, which Pop and Bowie picked up on while waiting for a broadcast of Starsky & Hutch. The drumbeat has since been imitated in numerous songs, including "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and "Selfish Jean" by Travis; however, Sales's use of the rhythm was not original, as it was itself derived from "You Can't Hurry Love", released in July 1966 by The Supremes, and "I'm Ready for Love", released in October 1966 by Martha and the Vandellas. In 1977, the song reached No. 3 in the Dutch Top 40 as well as in Yugoslavia. Its success was ignited by a legendary performance in the Dutch pop TV show TopPop, where Iggy Pop, shirtless, wrecked part of the stage set. Although many viewers and newspapers complained about the apparent damage, the director of TopPop later admitted that they knew beforehand what Iggy was going to do and that the damage was minimal.
In 1980, the song was featured in a disco scene in the Dutch film Spetters. In 1985, the song was used in the film Desperately Seeking Susan. In 1996, the song gained a new audience when it was used in the introduction of the film Trainspotting. Indeed, this usage made UGO's list of . Since then, the song has appeared in a number of other movies and commercials, though sometimes with edits to the lyrics; the version of the song in the film Rugrats Go Wild changes "here comes Johnny Yen again" to "here comes Spike the Dog again". In a commercial for Royal Caribbean, "with liquor and drugs," for instance, was replaced by "looks so fine." The song's use in commercial contexts was satirized by the newspaper The Onion in the article "Song About Heroin Used to Advertise Bank". For his part, Iggy Pop has mentioned that he has no problem with his song being used in this manner considering it was previously getting little radio play and the commercials have sparked listener interest. The instrumental opening of the song is used as the de facto 'theme' of The Jim Rome Show on radio. It is played at the top of each hour of the show, and is also used as the song to end the show. The live version of "Lust for Life" from the 1996 UK single appears as a playable song in the video gameGuitar Hero 5. In addition, the original version appeared in Guitar Hero Live, as well as being made available as DLC for Rock Band 4. In the Simpsons episode "The Regina Monologues", the song is played as Bart and Lisa become hyperactive after tasting British candy in a sequence largely referencing Trainspotting. The song was featured on the soundtrack of Major League Baseball 2K10, but it was heavily edited to be more appropriate for younger people. The song along with "Success" were featured in the documentary Warren Miller's Impact. The song is also featured, in a remixed version by The Prodigy, at the end of the Trainspotting sequel, T2 Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle and released in early 2017. In 2018, the song features in an advertising campaign for the video game Assassin's Creed Odyssey in the United Kingdom, in a sequence of gameplay initially spoofing the opening of Trainspotting, together with similar narration from the film; specifically "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose your friends" and other phrases.
Cover versions
Manic Street Preachers covered part of the song as a coda in the 1991 single "You Love Us" with alternative lyrics.
Mötley Crüe covered the song in 1997 on the B-side of "Afraid."
