Music |
Greatest Hits
Billy Idol
By
Published: Jan 01, 2005
Category:
Rock
Greatest Hits
Billy Idol
My iPod jammed.
I learned this as I was rushing out the door on my way to the gym, which begins, as all gym sessions do, with 30 minutes of cardio.
If you have ever lost your music on a gym day, you know that this is, in the low-grade scheme of things, a tragedy. Not on the order of a kid in the hospital. But definitely higher on the tragic scale than a broken lunch date.
Why? Because I go to the gym three times a week. And have been for two years. Cardio gets old fast, even on an elliptical trainer equipped with a television.
I improvised that morning. Plugged my headphones into the TV and, against all habit, turned to one of the morning shows.
And there was Billy Idol.
Billy — I don’t know him, but “Mr. Idol” or even “Idol” somehow seems just plain wrong here — was on the tube because he had a new album out, his first in twelve years. I missed the song from the new CD; I caught only “White Wedding.” And it was as if the iPod had never malfunctioned — there was Billy in short white hair and tight leather, and guitarist Steve Stevens flaying away like old times….
And I burned a ton of calories — fast. Proof there is a God.
I managed to fix the iPod. And immediately loaded Billy Idol’s Greatest Hits. It’s the ideal choice for the elliptical trainer (or the Stairmaster, or the running machine) — lots of energy, mindless lyrics (“With a rebel yell, she cried MORE! MORE! MORE!”), an unfailing beat, powerful guitars. Not too stupid, not too smart. Party music for clever people. All of which gets the sap rising and the heart pumping.
And it’s timeless. Billy Idol is 50 now, which is nothing short of a miracle, inasmuch as he screwed his career up every way he could think of, including a near-fatal drug overdose. Happily, he looks like Billy Idol of yore, cool and punky and calculating. All of which he was — he took the energy of punk and overlaid the hooks and production value of pop. He broke just enough ground to be new, was just safe enough to be loved by almost anyone. He snarled like a dangerous dog, but you knew he was on a leash. Now there’s no leash. But there’s no nostalgia either.
The songs, remixed, sound better than ever. And what songs: “Rebel Yell,” “Dancing with Myself,” “White Wedding,” “Eyes Without a Face,” “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” “Flesh for Fantasy” — there’s not a dud here.
Imagine a throbbing bass. A pounding drum. A punk Jim Morrison breathing the lyrics:
There is nothin’ fair in this world
There is nothin’ safe in this world
And there’s nothin’ sure in this world
And there’s nothin’ pure in this world
Look for something left in this world
And then screaming:
It’s a nice day to start again.
It’s a nice day for a white wedding.
It’s a nice day to start again.
Yeah. That’ll do. 200 calories and a nice burn in the thighs. And, to my delight and the amusement of the people on other machines, I’m dancing with myself. I recommend that.
— Jesse Kornbluth
To buy “Billy Idol’s Greatest Hits” from Amazon.com, click here.
