In 1983, William Michael Albert Broad (better known as Billy Idol) released his 2nd album, Rebel Yell. In addition to the title track, he had a string of hits like “Dancing With Myself” and “White Wedding.” His videos were in regular rotation on MTV which, at the time, was enjoying its peak of success. On stage he was “a mix of James Dean swagger, Sid Vicious scorn and futuristic cool.” (Ann Powers, New York Times, April 30, 2001)

Forty years later, Billy Idol, with his sidekick guitarist Steve Stevens, embark on a 20th anniversary Rebel Yell tour. There is no longer anyone looking for him on MTV (nor is anyone looking for MTV). The confederate flag has been buried. And the smirk is maybe not quite so menacing. Yet, all through 2024, while touring Canada, he was up on stage playing his music.

But the road from 1983 to 2024 was not always a smooth one. There are some big gaps in his resume. Ben Raynor of the Canadian Press (March 23, 2005) offered one answer to the question of whatever happened to Billy Idol:

“Rock ‘n’ roll lore recalls few career derailments as spectacular as the one suffered by Billy Idol at the dawn of the 1990s. Perhaps the first performer truly deserving of the description ‘pop-punk.,’ Idol enjoyed a long reign as one of the biggest mainstream hitmakers of the 1980s before an Olympian appetite for heroin, crack and general hard living allowed him to squander his inspiration. his credibility, his family and, very nearly, his life. A couple of dark years at the beginning of the next decade would reach their bleak nadir with the release in 1993 of Cyberpunk, …one truly awful record.” 

Idol was the epitome of the drug-fueled, out-of-control, rocker of the era. Here’s one example that happened in Thailand in 1989:

“’We went there to have a whale of a time – a sex holiday, really. But it got out of hand. Bad things started to happen.

“’We were just going to drink and not take any drugs,’ he recalled of his Thai getaway. ‘After about a week, drinking all the time was getting really heavy so we asked this cab driver if he could get us some blow. He went off and came back with this thin vial. It was six or seven inches long. We looked at each other, like, ‘What do you think this is?’ Because cocaine doesn’t usually come in a long thing like that. My friend put his finger in it and had a taste [mimes gingerly dabbing a sample on to his tongue]. It wasn’t blow.’

“This eventually led to Idol trashing his hotel suite while high, with several reports suggesting the damage ran between $140,000 and $250,000, and attempts to manage withdrawal symptoms with over-the-counter pharmaceuticals prior to their return flight to the U.S.

“Idol’s disruptive behavior in the Thai capital is said to have attracted the attention of local authorities, leading to his removal from the country. However, there is discrepancy regarding the manner in which Idol was subdued. While some versions claim Thai police shot him with a tranquilizer, others suggest a local nurse or medical professional likely sedated him.” (Nikki Dobrin, snopes.com, April 22, 2024)

In 1990, Idol suffered a life-changing event:

“Idol was still awake when dawn stretched into his Hollywood Hills living room. He’d been up from the night before thanks to a mixture of drugs, alcohol, and a rebellious attitude that kept him rocking instead of sticking to the everyman’s nine-to-five. This wasn’t any random long night of partying. There was a reason to celebrate. Idol had just finished the album Charmed Life literally that day. The partying had kind of a dark hue for Idol, who says he was feeling pressure now that the album was finished.

“That morning, he decided to take his bike out for a spin and let the air wash all the negative feelings from his mind. The ride was going well until his 1984 Harley-Davidson Wide Glide was struck by a truck while Idol was running a stop sign, according to the Los Angeles Times.” (Nick Vrchoticky, grunge.com, Sept. 29, 2020)

He nearly lost a leg in that accident and had a steel rod inserted into it. Perhaps now he had second thoughts about the lifestyle.

“I really started to think I should try and go forward and not be a drug addict anymore and stuff like that,’ he said of the accident. ‘It took a long time, but gradually I did achieve some sort of discipline where I’m not really the same kind of guy I was in the ’80s. I’m not the same drug-addicted person.’” (Anagricel Duran, nme.com, May 3, 2024)

The changeover apparently wasn’t immediate as it was four years later that he reportedly collapsed from an overdose outside an LA nightclub (Roy Trakin, Variety, Jan. 5, 2023).

The accident cut short what might have launched an acting career for Idol. 

“While he was still recovering, he got a call from James Cameron about auditioning to play the morphing, cop-impersonating T-1000 in Terminator 2. Cameron took Idol on a tour of Stan Winston’s visual effects offices, where the singer was excited to see production sketches that already showed the new Terminator looking a whole lot like Billy Idol.

“‘I even acted some of the part,’ Idol says… “I had to act that scene where he goes to the stepparents with the picture…   But the trouble is that I had this terrible limp. And James Cameron said, ‘The only problem is, I really need you to be able to run’… And I’m just about walking, you know?’” Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, Oct. 31, 2019. 

There was one other positive development related to the accident. He ditched the Confederate flag. These two tweets from the @BillyIdol account explain why.

“I never wear the Confederate battle flag ever since 1990 as I realized it symbolizes oppression to certain Americans…”

11:54 AM · Jun 23, 2015

“A black man washed my hair in hospital ’90 & explained his feelings on seeing the Confederate flag, I promised him I would never wear it.”

1:07 PM · Jun 23, 2015

Like many of us, his later years proved to be more grounded. He describes himself now as “California sober,” A concept that apparently means you are almost, though not entirely, sober. 

“‘I can have a glass of wine every now and again,’ the former Generation X frontman continued. ‘I’m, I suppose, California sober. 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.’” (Naledi Ushe, Palm Beach Post, May 3 2024) (The second or third time you read that quote it starts to make a bit of sense.)

A few years ago, he made an appearance with then New York mayor Bill de Blasio to promote an environmental issue:

“The campaign — ‘Billy Never Idles. Neither Should You’ — naturally led to a chant-along led by Mr. Idol, following his claim that “Billy never idles. No way!’

“With music blaring from concert-sized speakers, the two Bills walked toward the lectern outside City Hall. One was indisputably an Idol; the other was Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“What brought the two Bills together was a new campaign that aims to prevent trucks and buses from idling by getting New Yorkers to file complaints with environmental authorities.

“‘You can shut off your engines and save my health, help my lungs. I need my lungs to breath and sing,’ said Mr. Idol, who lives in Los Angeles and said he mostly rides a motorcycle.” (Jeffery C. Mays, Feb. 27, 2020, New York Times)

(I don’t think this campaign really caught on. I live in the New York area and never heard of it until I did the research for this post.)

It may be hard to imagine this hard-living punk-rocker as a grandfather, but that’s exactly what he is.

“When Billy Idol is not performing for audiences onstage, he spends some of his downtime with his grandchildren, and it’s something he loves doing.

“‘It is really lovely. It’s nice, I’ve got the best of both worlds,’ Idol tells People regarding his work and career. ‘But it’s been lovely and it’s all worked out in an incredible way that I could never imagine.’

“The 68-year-old Idol has three grandkids: 3-year-old McKenzie, his son Brant‘s daughter, and 3-year-old Poppy and 2-year-old Mary Jane, his daughter Bonnie’s kids.

“‘[What’s] lovely about being granddad, you’re not disciplining them. You’re more giving them advice if they ask you stuff like that,’ Idol says. ‘So the pressure isn’t the same as being a parent where you’re having to discipline … it’s quite different.’ (kslx.com, May 6, 2024)

But Idol has also not left the stage. Last year he played the first ever show at the Hoover Dam and in August of this year he and Stevens could be found at the Empire State Building.

“Billy Idol and his guitarist Steve Stevens performed an acoustic version of Idol’s iconic hit ‘Rebel Yell’ while tethered to a balcony atop the Empire State Building.
“After playing the first-ever concert at the Hoover Dam last year, Idol went a step further — and much higher — by strapping himself to a narrow balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building to play the acoustic number. The platform was originally built as a disembarkation deck for passengers of airships tethered to the Empire State’s spire.” (Jon Hadusek, consequence.net, Aug. 5, 2024) 

Billy Idol – Rebel Yell – Live From the Empire State Building

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Note on links in story. No links are provided for stories from the New York Times and Rolling Stone since these stories are behind a paywall. Other newspaper and wire service stories cited without a link were accessed through newspapers.com.

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