IGGY Pop is still lean, sinewy and smart after a life of drugs, drink and self-destructive behavior. Currently living in Miami after decades on the Lower East Side, Pop, 52, remains one of the most respected figures in American rock.

Tonight Pop concludes his two-night engagement at Irving Plaza in support of his new disc, “Avenue B.” It’s unlike anything he’s has ever recorded, and in a telephone conversation with The Post, the singer was obviously proud of what he has accomplished.

Post: What’s your response to those who say “Avenue B” is the album where Iggy Pop went soft?

Pop: I did a kind of music on this record that doesn’t use the noise to sell it. Personally, I think the album sounds real good. It was important to me to make the music that I was feeling and hearing in my head. So I did what I felt. Have I gone soft? No. I just didn’t feel like making an album that I made before.

Post: Why does so much pop sound the same?

Pop: The first rule of making pop records is: “Thou shalt begin the beat in 15 seconds and get to the first hook in under a minute.” A minute into “Avenue B,” I’m still giving you minor-key orchestral music. From right off, you know this record is a different deal.

Post: Who is this record for?

Pop: I make the music for myself. Beyond that, how much you like this record will be determined by the mood you’re in when you first put it on. This is an intimate, human record. It should be listened to with low lights after a hard day. If you’re looking for a quick charge, this isn’t what you need to put on.

Post: There are a few spoken-word pieces on the album that sound like you’ve been reading Edgar Allan Poe.

Pop: I wasn’t, but I did do a reading of his “Tell-Tale Heart” for a Poe tribute album. But on my own album I didn’t intentionally try to sound like Poe. It may sound Poe-esque because I was spending a lot of time alone, examining my own emotions.

Post: So “Avenue B” is confessional?

Pop: These songs are autobiographical. There is some re-arrangement of the facts, but the fictional element here is more by omission than inclusion. This stuff is taken from my life, and it was what I was feeling at the time.

Post: Your past music has a real fury to it. Is that fury here in the new disc?

Pop: There is anger in a lot of the songs, but you have to recognize that you can disapprove and be angry with someone, yet also have sympathy for them.

Post: This is a mature album. Will an 18-year-old kid think Iggy Pop is a cranky old geezer or a prophet?

Pop: It depends on the 18-year-old. To many I might be a cranky geezer, but if that’s the case they probably like my other work for reasons I wouldn’t applaud. I do know when I was that age I drew emotion and pleasure for a wide range of music that was supposedly only for mature listeners.

Post: Such as?

Pop: I didn’t have a problem listening to [Frank] Sinatra singing “It Was a Very Good Year,” or the [Rolling] Stones.

Post: Is getting to be 50 years old a reward or a punishment?

Pop: It has been a rewarding couple of years. I’ve been fortunate over that time that the music I put out a long time ago is finally getting heard. That’s been real gratifying.

Post: You didn’t sell your place on Avenue B to play golf in Florida, then.

Pop: No, I’d been in the city for 15 years nonstop, so moving to Miami was good.

Post: Do you desire youth?

Pop: I don’t expect to be 20 again, but I try to keep things interesting by doing new things.

Post: Like what?

Pop: I learned to speak Spanish, and that’s been a gas. I now have a place in Mexico, and I use the Spanish a lot in Miami.

Post: That doesn’t sound too wild.

Pop: Off stage I lead a quiet life. I like to work in my garden.