Billy Idol Documentary Is A Story Of The Veteran Rocker’s Nine Lives

Billy Idol.

credit: David Raccuglia

A poignant moment in Billy Idol Should Be Dead, a new documentary about the iconic British rocker, occurs when he recalls a conversation with his father, who became sick towards the end of his life and began listening to some of his adult son’s earlier records.

“‘Did I upset you, Will?’” Idol, whose real name is William Broad, remembers his father saying, per the film. “‘That didn’t care about your music?’ I said, ‘Dad, I was crazy to think I can do it.’ I could see at that moment that’s what he needed…What he needed me to say was the truth, which was, ‘I was crazy to think I can do it.’”

Idol truly did “do it” in spectacular fashion during the 1980s and early 1990s, with such hits as “Mony Mony,” “White Wedding,” “Dancing With Myself,” “Eyes Without a Face,” “Hot in the City,” and “Cradle of Love.” But as told in Jonas Åkerlund’s moving new film, there was an underside to Idol’s fame and fortune, which explains the title of this warts-and-all documentary. Following its screening last year at the Tribeca Film Festival, Billy Idol Should Be Dead recently premiered in theaters nationwide and comes on the heels of Idol’s second nomination for induction into this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Drawing from archival footage and featuring interviews with the man himself and his contemporaries (among them Sex Pistols members Steve Jones and Paul Cook, Nile Rodgers, former partner Perri Lister, producer Keith Forsey and longtime guitarist Steve Stevens), Billy Idol Should Be Dead traces Idol’s colorful life and career beginning with his normal upbringing in England to his immersion into the 1970s British punk scene, first with the band Chelsea and later as the lead singer of Generation X.

“That was the fun of punk rock,” Idol says in the film. “That was what it was asking you to do, to go out on a f***ing limb. And hope to hell it’s not sore off behind you, because it’s probably going to be. But by the time it is, we’ll probably be dead.”

After the end of Generation X, Idol relocated to New York City in 1981 and started his solo career, culminating three years later with the massive success of the Rebel Yell album. During that time, Idol became a bona fide major star and a fixture on MTV with his wild punk-rock persona and trademark snarl.

But the most harrowing moments discussed in the documentary were Idol’s struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction — including heroin — that affected his personality and behavior; his addictions led to him experiencing a psychotic break in one instance and trashing a hotel room in another. The other turning point in his life was his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident in Hollywood that might have resulted in the amputation of his leg.

Other interesting bits from the film included Idol’s strained yet loving relationship with his father; his attempt at a movie career (he tried out for the T-1000 role in 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day); the cool reception to his 1993 concept album Cyberpunk, which foreshadowed the growing influence of technology on society and the merger of the Internet and music; and the rocker’s relationships with his three children, one of whom he didn’t know he had until much later in life through a DNA test.

The documentary also features a new song, the sweeping orchestral ballad “Dying to Live,” presented as a mix of archival footage and animation. With lyrics such as “First came luck, then pressure/One man rollercoaster” and “I had to walk through, didn’t think of the price,” the song not only encapsulates the movie’s themes but also Idol’s life.

Like most rock documentaries, Billy Idol Should Be Dead is a tale of an artist overcoming the odds. When it comes to having second chances or a “charmed life” (to borrow the title from his 1990 album), Idol is the poster boy. “Part of life is luck. But an even bigger part is what you do with that luck,” he says.

Billy Idol Should be Dead, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, is currently playing in theatres.