Billy Idol: Angry charm

The cover of a re-issue of Billy Idol's debut album "Billy Idol"..

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Idol_%28album%29

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He always seemed so angry. It was like he was growling into the microphone, and the corner of his lip just seemed to curl up when he sang.

Yet all of that was just part of the charm of Billy Idol.

He appeared in one of the many Super Bowl commercials that aired this past Sunday, and it took me back to rebel yelling, being a lover, wondering where the face without eyes was, and trying to hear what mony mony really meant.

Billy Idol had an interesting sound that made him a unique part of the sound track of the ‘80s.

Idol worship
I am not really sure where I first heard Billy Idol. It was likely in junior high, before I really got into music, while some of my classmates did. Some musical knowledge did seep into my head from listening to my classmates, going to junior high dances, and beginning to watch music shows. “Video Hits” was on CBC Channel 9 on the peasant vision dial after school a couple days a week, and “Solid Gold” was on Saturday nights on Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial.

Idol's first studio album came out in 1982, the self-titled “Billy Idol”. It had two songs that would become part of the classic Billy Idol catalogue.

“Hot in the City” was his first charting single, going all the way to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. “White Wedding” followed suit, peaking at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1983, he released his first EP, or Extended Play, called “Don’t Stop”. The first single was “Dancing with Myself”. It is another classic part of the Billy Idol lexicon, but it never charted.

“Rebel Yell” was his next album and second studio album, released in 1984. The title track was the first single released, peaking at number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The next single “Eyes without a Face” became Billy Idol’s first American top 10 hit, going all the way to number four.

“Flesh for Fantasy” was the third single off “Rebel Yell” and it peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This was all music I heard a lot as I got into music. Looking at how poorly most of these songs charted, I am surprised I heard them as often as I did, whether at dances, on the radio, or when classmates played them. Maybe Billy Idol was just more popular where I was, then in the States.

Nevertheless, there was a lot of buzz when he was set to release his next album, and it too got a lot of hype and air play. This is where I come in.

Getting whiplash
It was 1986, and Billy Idol’s new album was called “Whiplash Smile”, his third studio album. I had heard about it on LA-107 FM and 1090 CHEC.

Then I heard the first single. “To Be a Lover” was released in the first month of Grade 12, September of 1986. It was a brooding song with a slow build up, and it was on the radio a lot. “To Be a Lover” went all the way to number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

The second single off “Whiplash Smile” was “Don’t Need a Gun”. I had never heard of this song before, but it came out in February of 1987 when I was busy with a lot of other things. It did chart, going all the way to number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Interestingly, the third single off “Whiplash Smile” was “Sweet Sixteen”, which was released in April of 1987, but I distinctly remember this single, and I was just as busy. It obviously got more attention, because it peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Whiplash Smile” peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 album chart, the same peak his previous album “Rebel Yell” reached.

That song
The next Billy Idol single would kind of sneak up on me. By the time I heard it, the song was pretty big.

It was called “Mony Mony” and originally released in 1981. A live version was released in September of 1987, right when I was starting university.

I first heard the song at dances in Lister Hall, the student residence complex I lived at when I went to the University of Alberta. I did not realize “Mony Mony” was that new until I just read it on Wikipedia.

The first time I did hear it booming in the Lister Hall cafeteria, it was a weird experience. As the song played, a good chunk of the people dancing were yelling their own lyrics – “Hey mother f----er, get laid, get f---ed” That happened at every dance every time that song played.

Interestingly, there was also a ”clean” version people sang to cover up the “dirty” version. It went “Hey everybody, go to church, read a book.”

It was all pretty innocent fun, or so I thought.

In the Spring of 1988, my second semester of my first year, I was student teaching at St. Timothy’s Elementary School in Edmonton. I went to the school one afternoon a week for two months to observe a teacher in action. One day, I was in the staff room during a break, and two teachers were talking. Keep in mind this is in the Catholic school system.

“Did you hear what happened at that junior high dance?” one asked.

“Ya,” the other responded. “They were dancing to that song.”

“Yes,” the first confirmed.

“They started singing those lyrics and shut the whole thing down.”

The song was “Mony Mony.”

It is a great song, and a lot of people thought so, because it went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Billy Idol’s biggest hit ever.

The years after
“Mony Mony” was the last song I really heard from Billy Idol, as I got so busy with university life. He would keep on writing, recording and performing to this day. He had another hit single, “Cradle of Love”, peak at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988, but I never heard it.

Parting thoughts
Billy Idol had this punk sound, and look, and that lip that seemed to turn up when he sang, which made him look even angrier.

When his music was angry, like “Mony Mony” or “Rebel Yell”, it was great to dance to. When it was soulful like “Eyes Without a Face”, it could be great to slow dance to.

Whatever it was, Billy Idol’s music was a unique part of the soundtrack of the ‘80s.