Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol

Author:Billy Idol
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Rock Star, Musicians, Music, Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780857205612
Publisher: Touchstone
Published: 2014-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I WANT MY MTV: VIDEO THRILLS THE RADIO STAR

Midtown Manhattan

IN THE SPRING OF 1982, MTV had been on-air for over half a year, but it had yet to make an impact because many cable systems weren’t yet carrying it, even in New York, where it was born.

Bill Aucoin had told me about this new network, and we decided to make a video for the first single from my debut LP, “Hot in the City.” It was very crude, and I don’t believe we ever ended up submitting it. It had me walking on some Tron-like computer grid.

The single came out and did quite well, getting to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. Chrysalis didn’t put my picture on the sleeve, as punk had been shunned by most radio stations and was not selling. This way, Chrysalis thought we might get a fair shake from radio, and they happened to be right. I also did a callout of a hundred American cities, so that each market could personalize the song in the space on the record where I shout, “New York.”

With the chart activity, I did another Solid Gold performance, this time with my new band. In addition to Steve Stevens, there was Gregg Gerson on drums, Phil Feit on bass, and Judi Dozier on keyboards. Having a woman on keyboards was part of our fresh edge, a combination of sexes at the dawn of this new era in music. Beginning in April, and through the summer, we played shows across the Northeast to introduce the new music and band members.

On the night of August 4, we played two separate gigs in New York, first at the Ritz and then later at the Peppermint Lounge. The Ritz was a prestigious venue for us, one of the Manhattan rock clubs where you had to go down well in order to proceed on to bigger and better bookings. I don’t know how many bands would’ve dared to play two venues in a single night, but it was fun, and the reaction was encouraging.

We then flew to the West Coast, beginning in Palo Alto at the Keystone on August 9, Bill Graham’s Stone in San Francisco on the 10th, and then to L.A. for two consecutive nights at the Whisky and the Roxy the following night. I was a bit dope-sick during this leg and had some wine before the Roxy gig to feel better, but it didn’t help! The L.A. Times’ Robert Hilburn reviewed the show: the caption under the photo of me read simply, HUBRIS. Bob was just a little more than a dozen years early in his prediction of what would bring about my fall, but I was already walking a fine line between success and disaster.

After that, the band and I headed to Europe, where we first played London, and then traveled to Germany for a gig followed by a TV show appearance, for which we spent the day in a freezing castle for an old-school video shoot for “Hot in the City.

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