Word: idol
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WHETHER YOU LOVE THE '80s or hate the '80s, there's no denying that Billy Idol was the '80s. Of the myriad good-looking, platinum-haired, leather-clad guys who sang about sex, Idol had the sharpest jaw, the spikiest mane, the tightest pants and a dirty trinity of hits about masturbation (Dancing with Myself), virginity (White Wedding) and the age of consent (Cradle of Love). Depth was not his specialty, but as a snarling, seductive wild child--half Elvis, half Sid Vicious--he captured the ebullient superficiality of the age. When he faded from the scene...
...that 15 years after his last hit, Billy Idol is back on the scene? Credit the booming music nostalgia market, which has stirred up enough interest in the '80s to entice Morrissey, New Order, Duran Duran, Mötley Crüe and others back into recording studios. But while those acts made their previous albums within the Napster era and had modest expectations for their comebacks, Idol, 49, has been inactive since 1993's disastrous Cyberpunk and believes that his new collection, Devil's Playground, out March 22, may restore his former glory. "I'm not a retro act," Idol says...
...credit, Idol is not so delusional that he has stopped laughing at himself. After nearly overdosing on crack in 1994, he got relatively clean (he still drinks and smokes pot) for the first time in his adult life. "My son was 6, and my daughter was 5, and I didn't want their friends' parents to be frightened of me," says Idol. "So I thought, All right, I've got to knock all this on the head. Heh!" Idol, who still has the snarl and the spiky hair (the leather has given way to more breathable fabrics), barks a jolly...
...having settled into a routine as a "Little League dad" in Los Angeles, Idol took part in the annual West Coast biker convention known as the Redwood Run. (Think Altamont without the killing.) "They had a stage set up with these horrible blues bands, but then Los Lobos came on," recalls Idol. "And I thought, Hey, I wonder if I could sing with them?" "He was pretty drunk," says Los Lobos singer Cesar Rosas. "But so were we. So we brought him on and did Born to Be Wild. It was obvious the guy still had it." Says Idol...
...years later, Idol's greatest-hits album, released as an afterthought by EMI, became a surprise platinum seller. Idol, sensing opportunity, got a band together and hit the road, filling 3,000-seat venues on the strength of his catalog and charisma. ("There's not much you can do about the face at my age," he says, "but you can keep your body together. I can still take my shirt off.") Impressed by his drawing power, Sanctuary Records--current home of Morrissey, Robert Plant and Kiss--signed him to the 2003 deal that resulted in Devil's Playground, which...