Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad, better known as Billy Idol, began his musical career as a guitarist in several bands, but the first success came to him only after switching from guitarist to lead singer when this British young man together with his friend Tony James co-founded the «Generation X». Working in the genre of punk rock which was very popular at that time, the band managed to record three albums, before disbanding suddenly and drifting apart. Billy Idol moved to New York in order to embark on a solo career.
Billy Idol’s first album titled «Don't Stop» consisted of four songs, two of which were the «Generation X» legacy. In fact, this EP couldn’t be called album as such, as its main purpose was to introduce the newly arrived musician to American audiences. Billy Idol’s self-titled golden album «Billy Idol» which was considered his solo debut album, was released a year later and the audience received it very favorably – it ranked the 45th place in the charts. A year later, the «Rebel Yell» was released. It marked the beginning of the artist’s platinum era - not only did the album get to the sixth line of the charts, but it also brought Idol a Grammy nomination, with music video for the song «Eyes without a face» getting nominated for the MTV award. By the number of sales this LP was a peak in the singer’s career, as none of the following albums could succeed in matching it. The reason for this phenomenon was the widespread decline of interest in punk rock in general - this genre was no longer something new and unknown, it entered the mainstream and gradually found its niche in the history of modern music.
However, without taking the sales into account and considering Idol’s subsequent albums solely in the light of their popularity, we will see that they were accepted just as good his debut: «Vital Idol» and «Whiplash Smile» both got platinum status and repeated the «Rebel Yell» success. The «Charmed Life» which was released in 1990, completely surpassed all Idol’s albums by its groundbreaking success, charting straight at number one of the Billboard Hot 100. The video for the song «Cradle of Love» from this album brought Idol the long-awaited MTV award.
In 1993, Billy Idol’s fans were thoroughly surprised by the release of his next album titled «Cyberpunk», in which he decided to move away from the usual style and focus on the emerging electronic technologies, adding the elements of techno, synthesized voice and other fun stuff to his songs. Despite the rather scathing reviews from critics and the relative financial failure, «Cyberpunk» nevertheless left its mark in history - many believe that this album was simply ahead of its time and only recently it began to get popular.
After the experimental «Cyberpunk» Billy Idol has adopted a low profile for a decade, surfacing from time to time for touring, recording discs with singles, and participating in various musical projects. After twelve years of silence, he released «Devil's Playground» LP, which was to commemorate the singer's possible return to the big stage, however it ended up failing the task, getting up to 46th place in the top only. After that, Billy Idol drifted along, having released a collection of holiday songs titled «Happy Holidays» in 2006 and covering his own hits in «The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself» in 2008.
