Acid-wash denim, vinyl records, and neon lights are all back from the 80s, as popular as ever. Enter glam punk icon of the Reagan years—Billy Idol. Young and full of swagger and style 40 years ago, he has begun to make his return to the spotlight with a brand new album titled “Dream Into It.”
Idol’s last album was made 11 years ago, perhaps just a bit too early for the revival of riotous pop music he was known for in his original era. And his two albums from the 2000s were, unfortunately, mere attempts at refurbishing his style for a new musical landscape. But now, Billy Idolizers are finally able to get an earful of the “Rebel Yell” singer’s legendary sound.
Strangely enough, many of his fans still roaming the halls of Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) were apparently hard of hearing when it came to Idol’s new music—even the older, wiser teachers who remember his hits from the decade of their youth!
“I have not heard his new album,” science teacher Ms. Aimee Candella said. “I’ve only been listening to Amazon music for a while, but I know that he was really popular on the radio back in the day; he was one of the go-to singers you heard in skating rinks.”
That’s right, folks. Even those who have fond, wholesome memories of rollerskating alongside beloved friends like an episode of “Stranger Things” are somehow not in the know about Idol’s newest release. This may be due to the lack of exposure legacy artists like the “White Wedding” star get in today’s fast-paced world of ever-looking for the next young ingenue to go viral, or it may simply be the scientifically proven phenomenon of music lovers aging out of the habit of listening to new music.
One person at CHHS was an exception to the void of knowledge surrounding Idol’s new album, though, thus breaking the mold and following aging rockers into a new millennium despite pop culture’s insistence that many of them are past their time.
“I like his [most recent] album, but I respect Billy Idol more [as a person]; he survived a car crash, and still, he put himself in his music videos,” Bolles said. “The camera never zoomed out from his upper chest because he was in a wheelchair at the time. And even after all that, he still had a sense of humor. Billy Idol is a legend.”
Referring to his fabled 1990 accident, Bolles’s adoration of Idol proves that he’s been resilient for a long time. Even after all these years, both Billy and his music stay the same, now using “Dream” as a launch pad for a new chapter, collaborating with multiple other rock singers for his new album, including 70s “Cherry Bomb” heroine Joan Jett, 2000s mall-punk progenitor Avril Lavigne, and even indie blues band The Kills’ Alison Mosshart.
And yet, a persisting question that lingers in the mind of the average Billy Idolizer: What happened in the 11-year period between “Kings & Queens of the Underground” and today? Well, according to Idol himself, nearly all 11 years were put into this comeback effort, from writing and rewriting to recording and re-recording.
“It was a gradual process, really,” Idol said to the Associated Press. “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.”
During his time away preparing for the new album and releasing two EPs (“The Roadside” and “The Cage”) to quiet but critical acclaim, Idol also worked on his struggles with drug addiction and how it took hold of him in his early rocker years. Lead single “Still Dancing” is both a clever nod to his big 1981 hit “Dancing with Myself” and a declaration of survival. That it comes with a trademark anthemic chorus ripe for car ride sing-alongs only helps it go down smoother.
Even with fast-paced technology and musical artists who are also expected to be social media stars, there will be blind spots—even for longtime fans. Perhaps because the album came so late, many of his one-time followers found themselves no longer waiting for a new album but rather implicitly assumed that there wouldn’t be a new album. But after some more Idolizers have their chance to hear the new music, it’ll be like there wasn’t a day that went by since that cinematic night at the roller rink, cruising on the hardwood and hearing the words “got no human grace, your eyes without a face” echo on the loudspeaker.
