Billy Idol teases his first new album in 10 years is a ‘killer record’
Billy Idol has joked that his next album, Dream Into It, is a “killer record” “if you’re into Billy Idol”. His last album released in 2014.
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The Billy Idol documentary has the refreshing title, “Billy Idol Should Be Dead.”
The new song, which concludes a nearly two-hour retrospective of the rock star’s survival of excessive drug use and a horrific motorcycle accident, has the equally evocative title “Dying to Live.”
The specter of death haunted idols at the dawn of the Generation
But the idol is more introspective in his current role as a grandfather who still sports an impressive spiky hairstyle and can fist-pump with his visceral rock performances.
His documentary will be shown in cinemas throughout the year and is expected to be released in early 2026. The film examines his volatile days as a young music star enjoying the spoils of celebrity through old footage and recent interviews. Throughout, clever animation is used to explore areas of Idol’s life that weren’t shown on camera, but there are also personal artifacts, such as the harrowing hospital photos after Idol’s 1990 accident that anchor “Billy Idol Should Have Been Dead.”
The idol, who just finished touring in support of her latest album Dream Into It with Joan Jett, spoke via video call from her home in Los Angeles about the “advantages” of her current life, about Boy George, drug abuse and how she plans to spend her 70s.th birthday.
Question: You attended film festivals this year in Tribeca in June and Middleburg, Virginia in the fall. How did you discover the world of Filmfest?
Idol: It’s a completely different world, but it was fun to see people’s reactions to the songs I wrote for the documentary and the ending piece. We intentionally wrote this kind of song to bring all the elements of this document together and give it an emotional ending.
It’s really cool to see juxtaposed footage of you as a young man walking down the hallway of the arena to the stage and a shot of you now doing the same thing with one of your grandchildren. Do you look at moments like that and think about how you got there?
It’s a new world when you see your life unfolding before your eyes. Because this was unimaginable when we started 50 years ago. I never thought the day would come when your life would be encapsulated. We had to film ourselves 24/7 and we didn’t do that. It would have been great, but it was still that liberating feeling. I’m sure that today you felt the need to monitor everything you do.
It’s great to have your mom in the movie. She passed away in 2020. How long have you been working on this work?
That was around 2019. We did some of our filming during the (COVID-19) virus, so we had the opportunity to really live with it for about six years and see what we were missing and look for what we needed.
The film has some great artists talking about you, including Pete Townshend and Duran Duran’s John Taylor. Are you particularly close to them?
I have known Pete since 1977. When I met him in the pub, The Ship, he punched my drummer and said, Who are you? I don’t know if it was confused with the Sex Pistols (lol). But I knew him and Roger Daltrey and of course the other members, Keith Moon and John Entwistle, and with them (20)th In 1989 he participated in a charity concert and in 1996 he participated in the “Quadrophenia” (revival) tour. And I’ve known John since 1981. The whole band was at the Generation X show in Birmingham.
You say in the film that Boy George was right about what heroin does to people. Do you talk to him about drug addiction?
I’ve known him since he was 14 and when we met, of course we had something in common and I was hoping that was in the past. At the time, he was really going through it… We were all going through similar things (with drugs), we can talk about that later, and we can also talk about how we survived.
J. Tell me about the headspace it took to write “Dying to Live” with Ralph.
The thing is, the documentary was telling about this song. While filming, visiting places I hadn’t been to in years, such as clubs in Covent Garden, and meeting people who had been involved in my life, I couldn’t help but write some kind of song to bring those elements together.
Is this the first Billy Idol song that uses strings?
that’s right! (2014’s) “Kings and Queens of the Underground” had some sampled string instruments, but this is actually me using a string quartet and real instruments. It’s like a movie and that’s how I felt about my life.
You sing, “First comes the luck, then the pressure/One-man roller coaster.” Still feeling like a solo roller coaster?
Not so much today. I was singing about the past, singing about those heady days in the ’80s, and it was like flying by the seat of your pants. It’s like a whirlwind. After success, you get caught in a storm. In my case, MTV actually broadcast it into people’s homes and MTV allowed the madness to continue.
You will turn 70 at the end of the month. Do you have big plans?
We’re going to Mexico and South America (to perform), so we might have a blast in Lima!
Ten years ago you wrote an autobiography (“Dancing with Myself”), and now a documentary has been published. Do you feel like your story is being told properly?
When I wrote this book, I never expected to see the landscape of my life. At this stage, time has given you a landscape and you are a little removed from who you used to be. That gives you an advantage. My father passed away at the age of 90, but I was happy that my mother was able to appear in the movie. Many people around me are also starting to pass by. It’s time to do it while there are still people.
