Latest news with #RebelYell
Gulf Today
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Billy Idol talks about his album, documentary and more
When Billy Idol first entered American consciousness in the early, leather-clad and bleached hair in tow, he not only brought a punk rock sound to the mainstream. The Englishman brought a new attitude, a new, rebellious way of being. In the time since, songs like 'White Wedding,' 'Rebel Yell' and 'Eyes Without a Face' have become instant classics — for those who've worn a spiky jacket and those who've only imagined what it might be like. Now, over four decades later, he's got the wisdom to reflect. It's led to a new documentary about his life, 'Billy Idol Should Be Dead,' which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival — and a new album, the polished punk-pop of 'Dream Into It.' 'It was a gradual process, really,' he said of 11 year span between albums. 'It wasn't so much that we didn't want to make an album, it was more like we were building up to doing this.' Idol discussed about his new album and forthcoming documentary, his past struggles with addiction, his first-ever Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination and more. You've described 'Dream Into It' as autobiographical. I thought your last album, 2014's 'Kings & Queens of the Underground,' pulled from your life as well. Being this age, in particular, 69, when you look back, you can really see your whole life, how it plays out. And maybe it's also having grandchildren. My children are having children. You sort of reach this vantage point where you can really look back and see all the sort of different eras of my life. And you can sing about it. And I think I didn't go deep enough with the songs I did on 'Kings and Queens.' I thought lyrically I could go deeper. That's one of those regrets I had about the last album. So I really went for it, and I went for more imagery, (on 'Dream Into It,' in the) way of talking about my life. I'm not spelling it out exactly. There are a lot of rock 'n' roll women on the album. Joan Jett, Avril Lavigne and The Kills' Alison Mosshart are all featured. (Mosshart's) voice is just incredible. And of course, Joan Jett, I've known since 1978 after a Germs/Dead Kennedys concert. We hung out at the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. I was on a Generation X promotion tour for the first album. And then Avril, I mean, I've just been watching her career forever and she's fantastic. So, it was just great. I've heard that sentiment from other performers. When we were young, with lots of stuff, one minute people were there and then next week they weren't. We were just living the rock 'n' roll lifestyle 24/7, dressing like it, thinking like it. And in those days, it embraced bad things. It's just what it was like. I took acid at 12 and a half, 13 (years old.) You get sucked into that world and it takes a hell of a long time to get away from it. And that's partly what I'm singing about in the album as well. There's a point in my life where I was very drug addicted, and it ruins relationships. Yeah, I'm lucky that I've kept the brain I've got, because some people went brain-dead and some people ended up in jail forever. Or dead. You're nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the first time. Do you think your younger punk rock self would be excited? I do sort of think about Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry and Little Richard. 'And what? Are you going to be in something with those guys?' You know, Buddy Holly. These are some of the seminal people who turned on the people that turned me on, you know? Somewhere down the road, it led to punk rock. Also, my motorcycle has been in the Rock & Roll of Fame for like five years. So I might as well be in it, too. Associated Press
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'80s Punk Rock Icon Finally Reveals If Famous Song Is About Demi Moore
is setting the record straight about the secret muse for one of is famous songs, and whether or not it was . During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the punk rocker was asked about his hit song "Rebel Yell," which coincidentally includes the repetitive lyrics, "More, more, more!" 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 Kimmel, 57, wanted to know if the actress was possibly the inspiration for the lyrics, especially after she and Idol were photographed together in a spicy photo back in the day. The black-and-white shot showed the shirtless rocker with his arms around Moore as he planted a passionate kiss on her cheek. But according to Idol, 69, the "more, more, more" lyrics didn't have anything to do with the Ghost actress, 62. Despite Moore previously telling Kimmel he would have to ask Idol himself what the lyrics are about, the "White Wedding" artist said they had nothing to do with Moore, who he noted was married at the time the song came out. "Wasn't she married? Not that that would stop me," Idol quipped, before Kimmel teased him by adding, "She's married but you seem to be like fully eating her face" in the throwback steamy photo of the pair. Idol went on to reveal that "Rebel Yell" was actually inspired by his then-girlfriend Perri Lister. "She was a dancer and she was in a lot of my videos," he said, noting that he was "very in love with" Lister at the time.
Daily Mirror
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Billy Idol refuses to look or act his age ahead of milestone birthday
The singer, who is about to embark on a world tour, talks being an 80s legend, his near death experience and why he'll always go 'beyond what people expect' despite his age It is more than 40 years since Billy Idol stormed out of the punk scene and on to worldwide fame, with his bleach-blond spikes, flashy swagger and signature snarl. And he's still sneering, rocking, and rebelling - even if these days that means refusing to accept that, for someone turning 70 this year, he should be acting his age. It's why the release this week of his ninth studio album, Dream Into It - Billy's first full-length album of new music in over a decade - could be considered an act of rebellion in itself. The irrepressible rocker is also getting ready to embark on an extensive two-leg North American tour, beginning on Wednesday, with a European leg between June and July. And he doesn't seem to have lost any of his famous rebellious spirit or rock'n'roll energy. READ MORE: Joanna Lumley reveals her strangest diva demands from food ban to dealing with secret phobia Last year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of hit album Rebel Yell, Billy belted out the title track while perched on the top of the Empire State Building - wearing the same black leathers, chunky silver necklace and porcupine peroxide hair that made him an 80s icon. And last week Billy - a grandad-of-two - posted a photo of himself on X, bare chest on show under a ripped T-shirt, alongside pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne, who features on his new single, 77, writing: 'Two generations of rebellion.' Released this week, 77 has stormed to No1 in the US iTunes rock chart, and reached the top 5 in most countries around the world, while the singer's new album looks set to be his most successful since the height of his fame. His YouTube channel, meanwhile, passed the million-subscriber mark earlier this week, with the singer proudly showing off his Gold Button plaque on social media. It has been a lifetime of defying both etiquette and expectations which began in Stanmore, north London, in November 1955, as William Broad, the son of a power tool salesman died and a surgical nurse mum. The young William went to church with his parents and attended Cub Scouts, but as a teen he was obsessed with music. He remembered: 'The first thing I did in front of an audience was read from the Bible in church. But I rebelled against all of that. 'I wasn't trying hard at school, and eventually, between the ages of 14 and 16, my dad didn't talk to me for a couple of years. I had really long hair and he couldn't stand it. What I liked about the music scene was that it gave you a sense of freedom. It was just so alive, as opposed to your parents who were still so fuddy-duddy.' In 1976 Billy, who had enrolled in a philosophy with literature degree at Sussex University, told his parents he was quitting the course after just a year to join a punk rock group. 'My parents were always going on about getting qualifications. They didn't even know what a punk rock group was, let alone what it meant to join one,' he recalled. The band, newly-formed retro-rock group Chelsea, in which Billy, who joined as a guitarist, used his stage name Billy Idol - coined after a chemistry teacher described him as 'idle' on a school report card - and dyed his hair blonde. After a few weeks he left and co-founded Generation X, one of the first punk bands to appear on Top of the Pops. The band released six singles and two albums that made the UK charts, but it was after they disbanded in 1981 that turned him into a megastar stateside. Moving to the US that same year, the chart success of White Wedding and Dancing with Myself, from his first solo album - along with his cartoonishly bad-boy roguishness - made him a poster boy for the newly-launched MTV and the dawn of the music video age. His second album, Rebel Yell, which sold 2million copies, and singles such as Eyes Without a Face which reached No4 in the US, established the bad boy rocker as one of the biggest stars of the Second British Invasion, alongside bands like Duran Duran, Wham! and Culture Club. But fame also nearly destroyed him. In his autobiography Dancing With Myself the singer remembered how, at the height of his 80s success, his life consisted of 'never-ending broads and bikes, plus a steady diet of pot, cocaine, ecstasy, smack, opium, Quaaludes, and reds.' He said he became convinced he was 'next in line to die outside an LA nightclub or on some cold stone floor, surrounded by strangers and paparazzi'. But he recalled: 'I was having a great time. Today I can see I was on a tightrope hovering between life and death, but at the time I didn't care. I ignored the dangers.' Revealing the closest he came to death, in 1984, the same year that singles Rebel Yell and Flesh For Fantasy were topping charts around the world, he said he snorted five lines of a 'strong Persian brown heroin' before everything went black and he realised he was dying. While his friends frantically tried to save him, Billy said he was so high that he craved death, thinking, 'Let me sleep, let me dream. I don't want to be awake - I'm an emperor!' In 1988 girlfriend and Hot Gossip dancer Perri Lister gave birth to his first child, Willem Wolfe, but dumped him soon after when she caught him cheating. He had a second child a year later, daughter Bonnie Blue with 19-year-old girlfriend Linda Mathis. In 1990 Billy suffered a serious motorbike accident when he ran a stop sign on his Harley Davidson that almost caused him to lose a leg, and his fear of making his children orphans forced him to put the worst of his rock'n'rock excesses behind him. Last year Billy remembered how the accident made him 'think I should not be a drug addict anymore and stuff like. It took a long time, but gradually I did achieve some kind of discipline where I'm not really the same kind of guy as I was in the 80s.' Describing himself as 'California sober', he said: 'I can have a glass of wine every now and again. I just tell myself I can do what I want, but then I don't do it. If I tell myself I can't do anything, I want to do it. So I tell myself, 'You can do anything you like.' But I don't actually do it.' Billy, who gained US citizenship in 2018, lives in the Hollywood Hills with his long-term girlfriend, model and actress China Chow, 50, was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023. And this year the legendary rocker, who gets 11.1M monthly listeners on Spotify, is up for induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Asked earlier this month why he should get the fans vote, he replied with typical spunk: 'Because I'm just f***ing incredible! 'It's pretty amazing that I went from something like punk rock in England to mainstream success in the States. And then I carried on making the music, living the rock'n'roll life. I didn't stay in my lane. I took chances. I've gone beyond what people expect.'
The Independent
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Billy Idol on his first album in over a decade, surviving addiction, the Rock Hall and more
When Billy Idol first entered American consciousness in the early '80s, leather-clad and bleached hair in tow, he not only brought a punk rock sound to the mainstream. The Englishman brought a new attitude, a new, rebellious way of being. In the time since, songs like 'White Wedding,' 'Rebel Yell' and 'Eyes Without a Face' have become instant classics — for those who've worn a spiky jacket and those who've only imagined what it might be like. Now, over four decades later, he's got the wisdom to reflect. It's led to a new documentary about his life, 'Billy Idol Should Be Dead,' which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival — and a new album, the polished punk-pop of 'Dream Into It.' 'It was a gradual process, really,' he said of 11 year span between albums. 'It wasn't so much that we didn't want to make an album, it was more like we were building up to doing this.' Idol discussed with The Associated Press this week his new album and forthcoming documentary, his past struggles with addiction, his first-ever Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination and more. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: You've described 'Dream Into It' as autobiographical. I thought your last album, 2014's ' Kings & Queens of the Underground,' pulled from your life as well. IDOL: Being this age, in particular, 69, when you look back, you can really see your whole life, how it plays out. And maybe it's also having grandchildren. My children are having children. You sort of reach this vantage point where you can really look back and see all the sort of different eras of my life. And you can sing about it. And I think I didn't go deep enough with the songs I did on 'Kings and Queens.' I thought lyrically I could go deeper. That's one of those regrets I had about the last album. So I really went for it, and I went for more imagery, (on 'Dream Into It,' in the) way of talking about my life. I'm not spelling it out exactly. AP: There are a lot of rock 'n' roll women on the album. Joan Jett, Avril Lavigne and The Kills' Alison Mosshart are all featured. IDOL: (Mosshart's) voice is just incredible. And of course, Joan Jett, I've known since 1978 after a Germs/Dead Kennedys concert. We hung out at the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. I was on a Generation X promotion tour for the first album. And then Avril, I mean, I've just been watching her career forever and she's fantastic. So, it was just great. AP: The documentary has an evocative title, 'Billy Idol Should Be Dead.' It sounds like it may dive into your past struggles with addiction. IDOL: There was a point in my life when I was living like every day, like, 'Live every day as if it's your last.' One day, you're going to be right. In the '70s, in England, you know, young people, we had this feeling that we were being completely ignored. You were even being told that you had no future. And so, we just didn't think beyond the day-to-day existence. It was probably only when I really started having children and stuff like that, I really starting to realize I (should) try start to give up drugs and things. I've always flirted with death, in a way. Even riding motorcycles, you're staring at the concrete. It's right there, you can come off that thing and get horribly messed up. And I've done it. It's horrible. You find out how human you are, how vulnerable. There's lots of things about my life that, yeah, I did kind of call death at times. Not really mean to, but you just were living like that. Imagine if it was today. If I was doing what I was back then today, I would be dead because I would have run into fentanyl. AP: I've heard that sentiment from other performers. IDOL: When we were young, with lots of drugs and stuff, one minute people were there and then next week they weren't. We were just living the rock 'n' roll lifestyle 24/7, dressing like it, thinking like it. And in those days, it embraced drugs. It's just what it was like. I took acid at 12 and a half, 13 (years old.) You get sucked into that world and it takes a hell of a long time to get away from it. And that's partly what I'm singing about in the album as well. There's a point in my life where I was very drug addicted, and it ruins relationships. Yeah, I'm lucky that I've kept the brain I've got, because some people went brain-dead and some people ended up in jail forever. Or dead. AP: You're nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the first time. Do you think your younger punk rock self would be excited? IDOL: I do sort of think about Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry and Little Richard. 'And what? Are you going to be in something with those guys?' You know, Buddy Holly. These are some of the seminal people who turned on the people that turned me on, you know? Somewhere down the road, it led to punk rock. Also, my motorcycle has been in the Rock & Roll of Fame for like five years. So I might as well be in it, too.
