Widely credited as one of the critical artists responsible for the golden age of Music Television and an early disciple of the art of controversy on the small screen, Idol will attempt to reinvent the video art form by making one for “Scream,” which will be completed early next year.

DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND is a journey through the musical mind, influences and taste of Billy Idol. The trip begins with the visceral thrust of the album’s opener “Super Overdrive, followed by the punk anthem “World Coming Down,” which borrows from his own history in the Bromley Contingent—the  crew that included Siouxie Sioux, Steve Severin, The Clash’s Mick Jones and others who followed the Sex Pistols—as well as his own early group, Generation X.  In total, there are 13 tracks to be experienced on DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND.

In the last few years, Billy Idol and his band, which once again includes longtime guitarist Steve Stevens, as well as new drummer Brian Tichy, bassist Stephen McGrath and keyboardist Derek Sherinian, have been revving up the engine by playing a few select gigs across the country. Billy was thinking about a new album but had not yet written the songs he wanted to record. After a particularly raucous concert at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York last year, Idol was approached by Sanctuary Group Inc. USA CEO Merck Mercuriadis, who asked him if he was ready to record “a great Billy Idol album.” The conversation that followed motivated the artist to do something that he had contemplated never doing again: Idol signed a new record deal.
 
Already secure with 6 platinum and /or multi-platinum albums (BILLY IDOL, REBEL YELL, WHIPLASH SMILE, VITAL IDOL, CHARMED LIFE, GREATEST HITS) , a #1 single (“Mony Mony”), 7 Top 20 Hits (“White Wedding,” “Hot In the City,” Rebel Yell,” “Eyes Without A Face,” “Flesh For Fantasy,” “To Be A Lover,” “Cradle of Love,”), 2 Grammy Nominations  and the first dance remix album to go Top 10 (VITAL IDOL) , Billy and the band went into the studio last April with long time producer Keith Forsey, with DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND as the end result.

Billy Idol will tour worldwide commencing March 2005.

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BILLY IDOL  -  A  TIMELINE...

1955: William Michael Albert Broad is born in Stanmore, Middlesex, England

1967: Kicked out of the Boy Scouts for making out with a girl.

1975:  Quits Sussex University and moves to London, where he joins the Bromley Contingent with Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin, The Clash’s Mick Jones and others who follow the Sex Pistols and bask in the punk ethos.

1976: William Broad takes the name Billy Idol.

“Everyone was making up their own names. I wasn’t particularly ‘vicious’ or ‘rotten’ but I when I was a kid in school a teacher once wrote  that ‘William is idle.’ How brilliant! I just turned it around and figured I could become an Idol just by calling myself one.”

1976: Forms Chelsea with vocalist Gene October and bassist Tony James, which eventually becomes Generation X when October departs. UK music magazine Record Mirror  calls the new band “one of the most entertaining and vibrant bands to spring from the initial British new wave explosion of the late ‘70s. As lead singer, Billy Idol sang with an angry, youthful urgency.”  3 albums—GENERATION X, KISS ME DEADLY, VALLEY OF THE DOLLS—produced UK hits “Wild Youth,” “Ready Steady Go,” “Your Generation,” and their final collaboration in 1979, “Dancing With Myself,” was is produced by Keith Forsey, who goes on to establish a long-term studio relationship with Billy.

1977: Gen X appears on the popular UK TV show “Top of the Pops.”

1980: Billy Idol leaves Gen X and England for New York City, USA. The U.K press hate him for doing so. He doesn’t care.

1980: DON’T STOP EP released, and it features his solo version of “Dancing With Myself,”  “The Untouchables,” “Baby Talk,” and a cover of  “Mony Mony,” which is notable as the song Idol was listening to when he lost his virginity at 11 years old.

1980: Little known fact: IDOL was one of the first rock artists to make DUB remixes, which he experimented with around this time.

1981: Billy Idol meets guitar whiz Steve Stevens. Their first gig together was at the legendary Max’s Kansas City.

1982: BILLY IDOL CD released, goes platinum.

“Billy Idol lives up to promise most of us didn’t know he had…Idol shows off an astonishing command of mainstream idioms ranging from the Mott-the-Hooplish bite of ‘Come On, Come On’ to the semi-Springsteen romance of ‘Hot in the City.’ But the real surprise is how well Idol sings. Not only is his delivery smooth and resonant, but he manages some characterizations on ‘White Wedding’ that would make Bowie envious. …”                                                                   -- Musician

1982: “Hot in the City” and “White Wedding” crack the Top 40 even as radio programmers admit out loud they are afraid that punk rockers can be dangerous. Idol laughs, makes a video for new music channel, MTV, and really scares ‘em.

“[‘White Wedding’ is] a call to innocence regained as desperate and persuasive as ‘Start Me Up.’”                -- Robert Christgau, Village Voice

1982: DON’T STOP EP re-released with a new video for “Dancing With Myself” with “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” film director Tobe Hooper at the helm. This first mix of  film experience with music video earns Idol and the clip heavy play at the new MTV.

1983: REBEL YELL CD released, goes platinum.

“…a mixture of heaviness, a groove and an emotion…the rhythm of heavy metal with the fleetness of dance music.”                           -- Tim Sommer, NY Daily News

1983: “Rebel Yell” hits Top 20.

1984: “Eyes Without A Face” goes Top 5; “Flesh For Fantasy” goes Top 20.

1984: Billy Idol is the only rock artist to have 3 LPs on the Billboard charts simultaneously for over 50 weeks straight: BILLY IDOL, REBEL YELL,  and DON’T STOP.

1984: Appears on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in his underwear, studded belt and sneer. 

1985: Grammy Nomination Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. Elvis rolls over in his grave and laughs.

1986: WHIPLASH SMILE CD released, goes platinum.

“impressive…a rock icon…amazing…WHIPLASH SMILE turns most reasonable expectations on their heads….energetic…surprisingly quiet and introspective….Idol pulls out all the punches…impressive…some of the best work Idol has done.”

-- J.D. Considine, Washington Post

1986: “To Be A Lover” goes Top 5

1987: Idol once again nominated for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male and gets into a boxing ring on the Grammy Awards to perform. He is very excited about the whole thing; part of his singing is censored.

1987: Billy Idol leaves New York City and moves to Los Angeles where he buys his first Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

1987: VITAL IDOL CD released, goes platinum.

…he and guitarist-sidekick Steve Stevens have come up with some terrific records.”

–        Robert Hilburn, LA Times

1987: VITAL IDOL becomes the first dance remix collection to go into the Top 10 of the Billboard Album charts, while the live version of “Mony Mony” included on the set, goes to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1987: Billy Idol portrays Cousin Kevin in the stage production by the Who of the classic rock opera “Tommy,” at London’s Royal Albert Hall and at Los Angeles’ Universal Amphitheatre. Elton John reprises his role as the Pinball Wizard, Steve Winwood plays Uncle Ernie and Patti Labelle is the Acid Queen.

1990: Idol completes CHARMED LIFE using Mark Youngersmith instead of Steve Stevens. He leaves the studio on the last day of mixing on his motorcycle and gets into an accident that left him with a fractured left forearm, plus a broken right leg with muscle damage that requires five operations to save it.

1990: CHARMED LIFE CD released, goes platinum.

“ * * * * Addressing the dualities within himself – good versus evil, tough versus tender, wild rock & roller living on the edge versus responsible human being who is now a father – with unflinching honesty, Idol winds his way through a dense maze of desire to arrive at a place where he can rock hard for life. Without denying that for many the thrill of living has a lot to do with risking their lives, Idol opens himself up to the counterbalancing emotions of love, mercy and humility and, in doing so, explores new dimensions in his character and his work.” – Parke Puterbaugh, Rolling Stone 4 star review

1990: “Cradle of Love” becomes a #2 single and his first gold single.

1990: Billy Idol who, before his accident, was to have played a major role in Oliver Stone’s bio-pic “The Doors.” still performs in the movie but on crutches and in a minor role. Concurrently, he releases his version of “L.A. Woman” from CHARMED LIFE in homage to Jim Morrison and the city where he now lives. Idol was under serious consideration for the part of the villain in Jim Cameron’s “Terminator 2” but the accident put paid to his aspirations to get the part.

1993: CYBERPUNK CD released 

“…a new way to re-explore his roots in the late ‘70s British punk movement…When it comes right down to it, Mr. Idol has spent his entire career putting his peculiar slant on pop styles….Get used to it: Billy Idol will never go away. Like Tom Jones, the Rolling Stones or ‘Mony Mony,’ he’s a pop music perennial…Billy Idol has soul. He is deep.”

–        Karen Schoemer, New York Times

1993: CYBERPUNK is a Top 10 rock album.

1994: A Drug overdose, a desire to sit back and evaluate where music was going and family issues prompt Billy Idol to make some serious adjustments to his lifestyle that include no long-term plans for recording or writing a new album or touring, but does consist of many cross-country motorcycle rides with friend Stephen McGrath.

1996: Writes and performs the title cut to the soundtrack of the blockbuster film, “Speed,” starring Keanu Reeves.

1996: Idol rejoins The Who founders Pete Townsend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwhistle, along with Zak Starkey, in the doing a stage production of “Quadrophenia.” They sell out New York Madison Square Garden 6 times, then tour the U.S. and England. Idol plays Ace the Face, and gets great reviews.

“Billy Idol as Ace the Face idealized the character’s studied cool and hollow core. (He’s a Mod icon by day, humiliated bellboy by night.)”  -- Jim Farber, NY Daily News

1996: Billy Idol appears with Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum, Gregory Hines and Diane Lane in the MGM/United Artists’ film “Mad Dog Time,” written by Larry Bishop.

1998: In New Line Cinema’s “The Wedding Singer,” starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, Billy Idol makes a classic appearance as himself.

1999: MadameTussaud’s in Las Vegas unveils a wax image of Billy Idol. Having seen this one and another revealed at the Museum in London a few years earlier, the  real Idol goes for another motor bike ride.  

2000: Contributes a song called “Buried Alive” to the “Heavy Metal 2” soundtrack, and does the voice of the character “Odin” in the animated feature of the same name.

2001: EMI coerces Idol into releasing a GREATEST HITS CD, to which he adds a cover of “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” Although the label budgets for sales of only 100,000, the album goes on to sell well over 1 million copies gaining the attention of fans and the music industry once more.

2001: GREATEST HITS CD goes platinum.

2001:  As one of the architects of the music channel’s early playlist, it makes sense that Billy Idol performs at MTV 20: Live & Almost Legal, the 3-hour retrospective of the channel’s first 20 years. Idol gets props from the hip-hop community including Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Naughty by Nature and others who claim that he’s their idol. 

2001: Requests come in for Billy to perform, so he asks mates Steve Stevens, bassist (biking partner) Stephen McGrath, drummer Brian Tichy and keyboardist Derek Sherinian if they’d be interested in having some fun. They play a few low key dates. 

2002: VH1 takes notice of the shows as well as the GREATEST HITS CD sales. They ask—and Billy agrees—to be interviewed for “Behind the Music.”  He also consents to do “Storytellers” for VH1, who then release the unlikely acoustic performances as a special CD and DVD.

2003: Billy enjoys performing and continues touring with  McGrath, Tichy, and Sherinian.

2003: Sanctuary Group Inc. USA CEO Merck Mercuriadis shows up at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York and likes what he sees and hears. Asks the rocker if he would make him “a great Billy Idol album.” Idol signs a new record deal.

2003: Billy Idol goes into the studio with Keith Forsey, Steve Stevens, Stephen McGrath, Brian Tichy and Derek Sherinian and records new songs.

MARCH 22, 2005: DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND CD will be released. World tour to commence.

“DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND is a journey through the musical taste of Billy Idol—punk, rockabilly, country & western, rock, dance,” Idol says. “My job is to make people be in love with the world that the music has created because I am.  That’s really important to be in love with what you are, sure of what you are, proud of what you are. To be able to stand there and say I’ve still got it in my fingers and this little piece of wood with six strings.”

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