Billy Idol - The Roadside

 

Billy Idol returns with The Roadside EP

Eighties pop-rocker Billy Idol is set to release a new EP, The Roadside — his first new release in nearly seven years — on September 17, 2021 via Dark Horse Records. Produced by Butch Walker (Green Day, Weezer) and featuring Idol's longtime lead guitarist and co-writer Steve Stevens, The Roadside was conceived, recorded, and mixed almost entirely under the shadow of the pandemic.

Along with Duran Duran, Billy Idol was one of the first young pop/rock artists to achieve massive success in the early '80s due to the advent of MTV. Mixing his bad-boy good looks with an appealing blend of pop hooks, punk attitude, and dance beats, Idol quickly rocketed to stardom before hard living briefly derailed his career and almost proved fatal.

The lead single from The Roadside "Bitter Taste" features some of Idol's most introspective and confessional lyrics ever, as he confronts death, rebirth, and his personal growth in the 31 years since his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident. "I think everyone has been feeling more reflective (during the pandemic). So, it seemed quite logical and natural to write something about my motorcycle accident," Idol explains. "Certainly, the motorcycle accident was the catharsis, the wake-up moment. A little bit of me got left on that roadside. But it wasn't necessarily a bad thing in the end; it was a wake-up call. Maybe on that roadside I left behind the irreverent youthful Billy and opened the door for a more attentive father and a more sensitive musician."

Side A

1. Rita Hayworth

2. Bitter Taste

Side B

1. U Don't Have To Kiss Me Like That

2. Baby Put Your Clothes Back On

Be the first to write a review for this item OR just rate it