Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Dancing with Myself (1980)
Like many others in the early 1980s, Billy Idol used the new medium of music video to become a star. But he got his start in the London punk scene of the mid-'70s.
Young William Broad joined the band Chelsea as a guitarist in late 1976, but quit after a few weeks along with bassist Tony James and drummer John Towe to form Generation X. Broad changed his name to Billy Idol and became the frontman of the band, adding guitarist Bob Andrews. The group soon started writing their own songs and recorded a demo. Towe was replaced by Mark Laff and in July 1977 the band signed with Chrysalis Records. They avoided the political lyrics of contemporaries like the Clash and combined the energy of punk with more melodic sounds influenced by older acts like the Who and the Kinks.
After releasing a few singles, the group released their self-titled debut in 1978 and toured constantly. The album hit #29 on the U.K. albums chart, and a single, "King Rocker," went to #11 on the U.K. singles chart in 1979. But the follow-up album, 1979's Valley of the Dolls, didn't fare as well, only reaching #51. Idol was beginning to indulge in hard drugs and the band quibbled over musical direction; Andrews was inspired by Joy Division and wanted more input in the songwriting, but Idol and James were going in more of a commercial dance-punk direction. Andrews quit the band in late '79 and Laff ended up leaving to join Andrews in a new band called Empire.
Idol and James recruited Terry Chimes (original drummer of the Clash) and guitarist Steve New and renamed the band Gen X, going with a New Romantic image. In addition to New, other guitarists came in to work on the band's new album including John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) and Danny Kustow (Tom Robinson Band). The 1981 album was produced by Keith Forsey and called Kiss Me Deadly; Idol and James ultimately decided not to include New in the band because of HIS drug problem.
Despite that, New played lead guitar on the single "Dancing with Myself," which was released in October 1980, while Jones and Kustow provided additional guitar. Idol and James wrote the song after touring Japan in 1979 and seeing the patrons of a Tokyo disco dancing with their own mirrored reflections instead of each other.
"On the floors of Tokyo/Or down in London town to go, go/With a record selection and a mirror's reflection/I'm dancing with myself/When there's no one else in sight/In the crowded lonely night/Well, I wait so long for my love vibration/And I'm dancing with myself."
The song didn't do much in the U.K., only getting as high as #62 on the U.K. Singles chart.
"If I looked all over the world/And there's every type of girl/But your empty eyes seem to pass me by/Leave me dancing with myself/So let's sink another drink/And it'll give me time to think/If I had the chance, I'd ask the world to dance/And I'd be dancing with myself, oh oh/Dancing with myself, oh oh oh oh."
The album failed to make the U.K. charts and the band did a short tour, playing their last show in January 1981. By this point, Idol indicated to manager Bill Aucoin (known for his work with KISS) that he wanted to go solo, Chrysalis Records dropped the band, and the group broke up in February.
Idol moved to New York City and began working with guitarist Steve Stevens, recording an EP called Don't Stop. The EP featured a cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' hit "Mony Mony" and a re-recording of the Gen X song "Untouchables."
"Dancing with Myself" was also on Don't Stop, but it wasn't re-recorded. Instead, it was remixed from the 6-minute extended version of the song, fading down the guitars and bass and boosting the vocal and percussion tracks. The new 3:19 single was labeled as "Billy Idol featuring Generation X" and only reached #102 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and #27 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.
But "Mony Mony" became a radio hit and then Idol's self-titled 1982 debut album scored hits with "Hot in the City" (#23 on the Hot 100) and "White Wedding," which got plenty of play on MTV and later reached #36 on the charts when it was reissued in 1983. The label also reissued "Dancing with Myself" along with a Tobe Hooper-directed video that also become popular on MTV.
The self-titled album hit #45 on the Billboard 200, but Idol's next album, 1983's Rebel Yell, was a huge hit. It reached #6 on the Billboard 200 and had four successful singles: the title track, "Eyes Without a Face," "Flesh for Fantasy" and "Catch My Fall." Idol's videos were played constantly on MTV and he became a huge star. His next album, 1986's Whiplash Smile, sold well, albeit not as well as Rebel Yell.
He was set to have two major acting roles in Hollywood movies, The Doors and Terminator 2, but had to pass after getting into a serious motorcycle accident in 1990 that nearly cost him a leg. His 1990 album Charmed Life hit #11 and "Cradle of Love" was a big hit, but Idol was unable to tour because of his injuries. His next album, 1993's Cyberpunk, was recorded using a Macintosh computer but it flopped in the U.S.
Idol has only released three albums since then, the most recently one coming in 2014. But he's continued to tour and released a best-selling autobiography, Dancing with Myself, in 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment