"Generation X," or the amazing luck of Billy Idol.

The advent of MTV in the '80s made London punk. Billy Idol one of the stars of that era! Inspired by the performances of the Sex Pistols, William Michael Albert Broad entered the nascent '70s punk scene as guitarist for the band Chelsea before swapping his glasses for contact lenses, bleaching his hair and becoming an idol to millions.

Since leaving Chelsea, he has had considerable success with the Generation Xand then built a successful solo career with hits such as "Rebel Yell." и "White Wedding Pt 1". At the height of his fame, he became addicted to substances and later had a motorbike accident and almost lost his leg... But managed to pull himself together and become a decent parent who values the interests of his children.

"A confrontation between two generations."

William was born in Middlesex but managed to live with his parents in New York for a while. He was rebel from childhood: he was always getting into some kind of adventure, pissing off his school teachers and being very popular with the girls. He could easily have become a footballer, but the rock scene was everything to him....

"My mother was very religious, and the first thing I did publicly was read the Bible in church. But I rebelled against all that. I didn't try very hard at school, and eventually, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, my father wouldn't talk to me. I had really long hair, and it pissed the hell out of him. But that's when I really got interested in the rock scene. I had all the Beatles singles, and my friend, who I used to visit all the time, had all the Rolling Stones singles.

According to Idol, the music scene gave him and his friends "a sense of freedom.":

"The rock scene was so alive, unlike the real life that surrounded us. My parents didn't realise that. They grew up with the Depression and World War II and couldn't imagine something like that... We grew up watching our idols leave their homes, travelling the world, expanding our horizons... We looked askew at our parents' world, not understanding what they were going through. And they looked at us, not understanding how we could dream of something like that."

"Punk rock gave hope."

In 1976, Billy decided he would no longer attend university. He was determined to join a punk rock band, but in his trademark style gave his parents another reason:

"The whole point is that the girls who study there wear shoes without heels!"

He became a guitarist Chelseabut as a child his first instrument was drums.

"I started trying to play drums when I was about seven years old. Then I realised that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were ahead of the curve: they were writing songs, playing guitars. So I started learning to play guitar at ten."

Speaking of his teenage ambitionsIdol emphasises:

"It was an amazing time: there were so many bands playing different music - The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones. Thanks to that, we started to realise that even if our musical abilities were not great, there was music we could play! Punk rock in the form of the Sex Pistols gave us hope..."

"Generation X" and the solo path.

Transformed, Billy realised that he was now worthy to take the role of frontman. He also realised he wanted his own punk rock band.

Generation X appeared in November 1976. But unfortunately it didn't last very long. William and Tony James had a good relationship at first, but then their different views on sound led to the departure of the former.

"That's the thing, bands are good when you're all going in the same direction, but they're terrible when you don't understand each other..."

Fortunately, thanks to his charisma and voice, Billy was able to build a successful solo career. Some of his songs became huge hits on both sides of the Atlantic, and millions of teenagers overnight wanted to "bleach" their hair and become cool punk rockers like him.

"A lot of it is luck. I was really lucky, because that's when MTV came along. Because of that I was able to sell millions of copies... But being a star is quite strange. I used to be able to walk down the street safe in the knowledge that I would be recognised by only a few people - the most dedicated punk rock fans. But at the height of my fame, I literally had to stay at home, because when I went out on the street, it was chaos...."

In conclusion

Looking back, Idol doesn't doubt it for a second: punk rock gave him the much.

"Punk rock gave me a chance, and I'm grateful to fate that I was able to grab it. But what I'm more happy about is that I was born at a better time. Our generation was special: we made music out of love. We were just fascinated by it all, and we wanted to get closer to the industry. We never did it for money or fame, we wanted to be in a musical movement that was changing things, influencing society, talking about youth issues. We wanted to have credibility, and we got it. We got our dream...Unbelievable!"