Dancing With Himself

Or so sang (sort of) Mr. Billy Idol back in 1980. A friend of mine who had a thing for punk music turned our little gang onto the song Dancing With Myself, which was first performed by the band Gen X, and then turned into a meg-hit when vocalist Billy Idol left the band and re-recorded the song. We dug it.

A year later, Idol's song White Wedding was all the rage. The imaginative music videos that accompanied Idol's early songs really helped kick his career into overdrive, and the White Wedding video was no exception. There was such a successful marriage of edginess and commercial appeal that just about everyone loved the music.... not just the punkers. I mean, I was never much into the punk genre (just a few Sex Pistols songs were of interest), and yet I became a huge Idol fan... especially once his album Rebel Yell hit the streets in '83.

Old punks fly coach

Yeah, Rebel Yell! Though that album certainly wasn't as heavy as the Iron Maiden and Scorpions I was also listening to at the time, there was no doubt in my mind that ace guitar-slinger Steve Stevens was someone to watch. His playing was out of this world - flashy and exciting and sonically stunning! I was positively hooked on that album for ages.... so many catchy, fun, rockin' songs. There were the obvious hits, but - and I'm just going by memory here - my personal favourites were Daytime Drama, (Do Not) Stand in the Shadows, and The Dead Next Door. But every single song on there was primo quality... absolutely not a weak track in the whole set. This is a classic 80's album, too, totally defining the decade. 

Though I loved Rebel Yell so much, Idol managed to throw me off with his next couple of albums, and I rapidly lost interest in him. The live album Vital Idol, with monster hit Mony Mony, didn't get my attention....that song was the first chink in the armor, as far as I was concerned. Idol was becoming more bling than studs. Next up... Whiplash Smile, which sat on my shelf un-played for too long...  then I got rid of it; just not worth the time and effort. The songwriting wasn't really there any more, at least not the sort I wanted. The sound was all wrong... the heavy edge was gone, the string of strong hits was gone. No longer punk, and barely even rock, that bloke was getting soft. 

For that few years of the early to mid-80's, though, Billy Idol rocked house-parties endlessly. Rebel Yell was in constant rotation on my home stereo and my Walkman during the rest of the 80's, even though I ignored Idol's later releases. I even replaced the old cassette tape with a CD, but even that began to gather dust, and Idol was finally relegated to my past, merely a chapter in my life of musical interests.