Greatest Hits - Billy Idol

...long enough to have a Greatest Hits album, no-one really thinks about how punk-pop got started. Even if they did, I'm sure most of today's Good Charlotte fans would look at me as if I were mad should I tell them that the sound their idols play first came out of New York in 1983, in the hands of a man from Sussex.

Unlike a lot of today's acts who see power pop as a way to makes sales, Billy Idol wasn't just out for a quick buck. Having ...
...a punk band, Generation X, who had a few hits in the 1970s. Unfortunately, his love of 1960s pop music meant he didn't fit in so well and so when the band split, he moved to New York and found a way to combine his punk music past with a love rock 'n' roll and see what happened. Despite nearly dying after a serious motorbike accident in 1990, Billy Idol is still going, and this album shows that the original is often the best.

Considering ... more

For some reason, pop-punk, or power pop, seems to be pretty big at the moment. Although they've just split, Blink 182 really brought the genre back into the mainstream in recent years, allowing bands like Green Day, who had been carrying along quietly in the background to hit centre stage again themselves.

Indeed, with Blink 182 now gone, it seems that it will be Green Day who will carry the pop-punk banner, as their latest album, "American Idiot" is gaining great reviews. There are a few young pretenders in the wings as well, with both Sum 41 and Good Charlotte having made it big with power pop records in recent years, although whether they will have the longevity of the other two bands, only time will tell.

What no-one seems to consider at a time like this is the past. There are very few new ideas in music, just old ones repeated. While Green Day look like the old hands because they've been around long enough to have a Greatest Hits album, no-one really thinks about how punk-pop got started. Even if they did, I'm sure most of today's Good Charlotte fans would look at me as if I were mad should I tell them that the sound their idols play first came out of New York in 1983, in the hands of a man from Sussex.

Unlike a lot of today's acts who see power pop as a way to makes sales, Billy Idol wasn't just out for a quick buck. Having been a fan of the Sex Pistols, he was in a punk band, Generation X, who had a few hits in the 1970s. Unfortunately, his love of 1960s pop music meant he didn't fit in so well and so when the band split, he moved to New York and found a way to combine his punk music past with a love rock 'n' roll and see what happened. Despite nearly dying after a serious motorbike accident in 1990, Billy Idol is still going, and this album shows that the original is often the best.

Considering that it's actually a left over song from Idol's punk band Generation X, the guitar riff on "Dancing With Myself" reminds me a little of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It". However, the bass line drives the song along an Idol's vocals turn it into a straight rock track as opposed to a glam rock one, with maybe a hit of punk attitude, but it's not really frantic enough to be a true punk track.

Billy Idol's version of Tommy James' "Mony Mony" has been played so often, it's difficult to remember the song ever sounding any other way. Combining his twin loves of rock 'n' roll and punk, this is the perfect way to do a rock cover version. It's more of a straight rock song than a punk one, but Idol's vocals are certainly edging towards punk, although the backing vocals are a reminder that this is a former rock 'n' roll song.

The opening bass line to "Hot in the City" gives it a down-tempo rock 'n' roll feel as well, but the heavy use of the synthesizers make this little more than a 1980s electro-pop track. It's a track that inhabits that difficult area between pop and rock, but has enough to work as either one. If nothing else, this track is the perfect indication of why Billy Idol was no longer welcome on the London punk scene.

If you've heard the Murderdolls' version of "White Wedding", forget it. This is how the song should be performed. It has a bouncy yet driving bass line, blurring the boundaries between punk and rock 'n' roll once more. But it's the vocals that really separate this from the recent cover version, with Idol's being much more laid back until late on in the song, although you can hear the sneer in his voice. It's essentially a straight out rock track, but one of the classics.

From the title, "Rebel Yell" sounds like it's going to be the song closest to Idol's punk roots. In fact, the heavy use of synthesisers mixed in with the guitars make it sound more like a power pop tune than anything else. It's perhaps on the more rock side of the rock-pop genre, but it's certainly not close to being a punk tune.

Every rock act has a big ballad and "Eyes Without a Face" with Idol's first attempt at providing it. It sounds very much a precursor to many of the 80s pop ballads that were around at that time, with a heavy use of synthesisers. If you heard this song on its own, you would never guess that Idol was a former punk singer and that most of his output is rock songs.

If "Eyes Without a Face" sounded like a 1980s pop track, "Flesh for Fantasy" is even more so. You could have given this song to bands like Curiosity Killed the Cat or Johnny Hates Jazz, and barely noticed the difference, apart from perhaps a cleaner edge to the vocals. It's retro pop music all the way, with just the addition of the guitars into a pop song to differentiate it from everything else produced around that time, although it means the song would possibly fit in to today's pop music fairly well.

The theme continues with "Catch my Fall". It's very much towards the heavier end of 1980s pop music, with the saxophone making it seem even more like a pop song than a rock song. It's really only the rough edge to Idol's voice that separates this from any other song.

Even accounting for all the classic hits that Billy Idol has had over the years, my favourite of his has long been "To Be a Lover", which was his version of soul artist William Bell's "Forgot to be a Lover", originally released in 1968. Somehow, though, the opening manages to remind me of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", before the song goes more up tempo. It's really only the backing vocals and piano that point this out as being a soul cover, as for the most part it's a bouncy 1980s style pop tune, with the synthesiser to the fore.

Things get a little more towards the rock end of the spectrum for "Don't Need a Gun". Although it's still heavily pop influenced, there's more of a rock edge, making it a power pop tune, rather than a 1980s style synth pop song. It's mostly the vocals that give the song the extra edge, with the rough edge to Idol's voice leaning towards his old punk roots.

"Sweet Sixteen" isn't another sixties cover; instead it's a largely acoustic, almost country tinged mid-tempo song. It's seems somewhere between Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" era solo material and Bruce Springsteen, although there's some hint of Dire Straits in this one as well. Not one of my favourites, it should be said, as even with Idol's rough edged vocals, it's strangely middle of the road soft rock.

The opening bars of "Cradle of Love" give you hope that this isn't a trend that will continue. It's a pretty much straight out rock song, with a driving drum beat and an edge to the vocals that leaves the song reminding me of the early 1990s soft rock "super group" Contraband, although a little more towards the rock end of the rock-pop spectrum.

I'd not consider myself a fan of The Doors, but if this cover of "L.A. Woman" is similar to their output, I probably should be. In fact, there's very little here that reminds me of the original band, apart from a slightly trippy section in the middle. For the most part, this is the kind of driving rock-pop track that was Idol's trademark early in his career and, indeed, early in the album.

"Shock to the System" is the only track here taken from Idol's 1993 "Cyberpunk" album, which was a flop by his standards. Although this track shows he was trying something new, with an increased reliance on electronica to go alongside his usual rock sound proving a step on from the synth pop influences of his earlier music. It's still a decent driving rock track, although perhaps a little more 1980s rock influenced than fans of the grunge rock that was prevalent in the early 1990s were happy with.

There's an interesting live acoustic version of "Rebel Yell" up yet, which keeps to the spirit of the original, even if not the sound. You can tell it's a fan favourite and the live vocals are perhaps surprisingly close to that of the original. The acoustic guitar doesn't quite work, sounding a little tinny, although this may have as much to do with the production as the guitar. It doesn't quite match the original for the punk edge, but punk was never acoustic. It's still interesting to hear a classic song played in a different way, though and this certainly merits an inclusion on that basis.

Given that Idol's sound in the early days was quite similar to the heavier synth pop bands of the 1980s, it's not really a great surprise to find that this album closes with a Simple Minds cover, although it is a bit of a disappointment as, being released seven years after his last studio album, Idol fans would have liked some new original material. However, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" never sounded this good before, with Idol giving the pop track a punk twist and leaving it as an even more dark and brooding song than it was before and turns it more into a rock track than a dark pop song as it was back then.

This is rock-pop music with a genuine sneer, not one that's been added because the record company think it might sell more copies. If you own any kind of 1980s rock or pop compilation album, there's a fair chance that you already have at least one Billy Idol song somewhere in your music collection. But that's no reason not to won this, as this collection proves that he ran the whole of the rock-pop spectrum in his career, from straight out driving rock songs to almost complete pop songs with just a slight rock edge to remind you where he came from.

If there is to be a down side to this album, it's that there are a lot of cover version. Whilst "Mony Mony" and "To Be a Lover" were major hits and so would need to be included on any Billy Idol "Greatest Hits" collection, I don't believe that "L.A. Woman" or "Don't You (Forget About Me") can claim the same. If you also removed the acoustic version of "Rebel Yell", which is nice as a curio, but doesn't add a great deal to the album, there is space here for another three Billy Idol originals, which might have been preferable. What's here is great, but there does seem to be room for a little bit extra.

In terms of today's music, Billy Idol would probably be categorised as "Emo", which is unfair on his style of music. There's far more of a rough edge to Idol's music than is usual on emo albums, which swings him towards the power punk pop and places him somewhere between Green Day and Good Charlotte in terms of sound. It's a fine example of how good these bands could really be if they would only take the time to consider the heritage of their kind of music, rather than just producing it for the sake of sales.

Apart from being better, the other major advantage Billy Idol has over the power pop acts of modern times is the value you get from him. Within 16 tracks and a running time of 72 minutes, there's more music here than on both Sum 41's first two albums combined. Combine that with a low price of £5.97 from Amazon, £3.89 from the Amazon Marketplace and from £1.00 at eBay, this is likely to be the best value album you're ever likely to find.

1980s rock fans will love it, although I suspect many will already have a copy of the "Billy Idol" and "Rebel Yell" albums which provide tracks that make up half this album. People who loved the 1980s rock scene but don't own this album should buy it immediately. New rock fans and pop punk fans should listen to it, as there's a lesson contained. That lesson is this: the original is the best. He's Idol by name, and an idol my nature. Join the worshippers now. 

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