LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Billy Idol: New York
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Along with Duran Duran, Billy Idol was one the first pop/rock artists to achieve massive success in the early '80s due to a then brand-new U.S. television network, MTV. Mixing his bad-boy good looks with an appealing blend of pop hooks, punk attitude, and a dance beats, Idol quickly rocketed to stardom, before hard living derailed his career and almost proved fatal.
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Broad chose the stage name "Billy Idol" after remembering a comment a teacher had written on a report card. The teacher wrote "William is idle."[1] It was a comment which would stay in Broad's mind for a long time. Broad decided to change the spelling to "Idol" due to the fame of actor and comedian Eric Idle of Monty Python. Broad admired performers like David Bowie (born David Robert Jones), Iggy Pop (born James Newell Osterberg, Jr), Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld), Johnny Rotten (born John Lydon) and Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie) and since his heroes had all changed their names, it seemed like the logical thing to do when he started playing music of his own.
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Billy Idol's been accused of having nothing behind his whiplash smile, but he does know his history. Where better for this unreconstructed rocker - if you don't count the leg fractured in his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle crackup - to stage a comeback than at the Bottom Line, where London punks the Damned first played New York and Bruce Springsteen made his name with a series of pre-Born to Run gigs?
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One of the reasons Billy Idol is so dearly beloved is because he obviously didn't know any better. Of all the mindless new-wave haircut rockers of the '80s, he was the most mindless, the most rocking, and the most '80s, shaking his fist, greasing his hair, and boozing and brawling through a rock-star trip that was so unironic, it had to be ironic. He began as a punk, singing lead for Generation X....
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Keith Forsey and Billy Idol produced the Don't Stop EP in 1980. The EP was re-released in 1983 containing an interview with MTV VJ Martha Quinn. Billy became quite popular in the New York area and was building a name for himself. Since radio wouldn't play a "punk" record, Idol's single "Mony Mony" was shipped to stations without his picture attached.
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Dramatic new photo of Billy Idol on the front - alive with the electricity of his live performance! Tour dates from the 2003 tour are on the back. 100% cotton beefy tee.
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