Record Weirdo: The Billy Idol Workout

By Kevin Hillskemper

A lot of things have been said about Billy Idol but not very many of them have been nice. It has been said, perhaps more than once, that he is dumber than snot and twice as slimy. He has been called, among other things, The Benedict Arnold of Punk, The Doofus of Doom, and The Gary Busey of Rock . Although I confess to inventing the last two, I have no idea what they mean. To admit to my current interest in Mr. Idol would certainly destroy my punk/indie/street credibility. Fortunately, I have none so I will continue.

Billy Idol wasn’t always such a bad thing, but more on that later.

Here’s the story of “The Billy Idol Workout”. I made a New Years resolution to lose some weight. I put a second-hand Nordic-Track in my garage and went to it. I dug up an old cassette desk and a randomly selected a tape of Billy Idol’s “Whiplash Smile”. It still had a price tag on it – 25 cents. I bought the tape at a yard sale a couple of years ago but never really listened to it. Now I did – every day for the next two weeks while I exercised. I set the player on auto-reverse and started the tape each day where it had left off the day before. It got to the point where I was singing along as I sweated off the unwanted poundage – but I could also feel the wrinkles in my brain getting smooth. “This must be why jocks are so stupid?” I thought to myself as I pounded my fist in the air and coughed up a fur-ball just like Billy.

When I reached the half-way mark to my goal, I decided to exercise to nothing but Billy Idol related recordings until I reached it.

It’s a nice day to start again.

This kind of mutton-headed endurance test is nothing new to me. I once had a job testing mixing boards. I spent my days listening to CD’s through a mixer on headphones and twiddling all of the knobs on the mixer to make sure it worked. Simple enough? I went nuts. On a dare, I listened to “KISS Alive III” for thirty-four consecutive work days. This Billy Idol thing is going to be a cakewalk.

With a rebel yell -- more, more, more.

However, I will not use any more space to discuss Billy Idol solo albums. You’re welcome.

In the late 70’s, Bill (as I now refer to him) recorded two and a half albums as the singer for Generation X. The albums “Generation X” and “Valley of the Dolls” are both great in different ways, the first one generally considered to be the best of the two. You should already know this. In 1979, before the band released a third album, they broke up. Billy Idol and bassist/co-songwriter Tony James got a new drummer and guitarist, called the band “Gen X”, put out an album called “Kiss Me Deadly”, and then broke up for good. The album has some good songs but, overall, is fairly dull.

Before the first break-up, the original band did do some demos and sessions for a third album but they were never properly released. There have been several bootlegs and quasi-legal “import” compilations of these recordings, but this time someone finally got it right.

”KMD-Sweet Revenge” by Generation X is on Munster Records out of Madrid, Spain. It touts itself as the long lost Generation X album and it pretty much lives up to it. I assume that the “KMD” in the title stands for “Kiss Me Deadly.” (If this were a lost Ted Nugent album, it would probably stand for “Kill My Dinner” but it’s not.)

First of all, this record sounds great. It’s pressed on super thick vinyl and weighs about eight pounds. This thing is like a manhole cover.

The production is minimal – this is just guitar, bass, drums, and voice all recorded clearly and without too many effects. There is some echo and delay thrown in here and there, but it comes off as being playful and not slick. It’s sounds live and spontaneous with false starts, studio chatter, and occasional sloppy playing which is okay by me. For those of you who need comparisons – it’s closer in spirit and sound to the “Generation X” album than to “Valley of the Dolls” and it whoops the tar out of “Kiss Me Deadly”.

Here’s a brief rundown on the “KMD – Sweet Revenge” songs:
“Dancing With Myself”, “Stars Look Down”, “Triumph”, and “Revenge” were all re-recorded by the Mach II line-up for “Kiss Me Deadly”, but these sound better. You’re probably sick of “Dancing With Myself” and so am I, but this version isn’t as bad as the other three-billion versions. “Triumph” is sung kind of tentatively, but it ends in a great “Youth Youth Youth”-style guitar freak-out. “Modern Boys”, “Girls Girls Girls”, “Flash as Hell”, and “Psycho Beat” are half-written throwaways, but I mean that in the nicest possible way. If these songs came out in 1979, they would have been great.

“Anna Smiles” and “Cathy Come Home” represent the sensitive side of Generation X. It’s fortunate that the band broke up before they started to think of themselves as serious artists.

I like this record – it has a good beat and it’s easy to exercise to. I give it four-hundred and twenty-six stars.

Munster Records website: www.munster-records.com

Other recommended fairly-recent Generation X releases are “Live at the Paris Theatre, 1978-81” and the English 2002 CD re-release of “Generation X” with a slew of bonus tracks.

Billy Idol – Punk Pioneer, Rock Star, Personal Fitness Trainer.

Next month I’ll finally get around to discussing record scores at yard sales and thrift stores, which is what this column is supposed to be about. I promise.