"Lust for Life" is generally considered to be more of an Iggy Pop record than the Bowie-dominated "The Idiot", being less experimental and having more of a rock and roll flavor. Overall, reviewers have characterized "Lust for Life" as hard rock, proto-punk, and industrial rock. However, some of its themes were similarly dark, as in "The Passenger", cited by "NME" editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray as one of Pop's "most haunting" tracks, and "Tonight" and "Turn Blue", both of which dealt with heroin abuse. In contrast were more upbeat songs such as "Success" and "Lust for Life", the latter of which described by "Rolling Stone" as Pop's "survivor message to the masses".