Billy Idol has lived to tell his tale

There was a period of time in the ’70s and ’80s, where it seemed like if something exciting was happening in music.

Billy Idol was there. He was there at the beginning of punk in the U.K., following around The Sex Pistols and forming his own band, Generation X.

He was there, at the drug-fueled parties of New York City in the ’80s, weaving his punk roots with poppier, new wave sounds — and when MTV debuted in 1981, his face dominated the channel. He was part of a new generation of artists whose videos would launch them to even higher heights of stardom. All of those moments — and everything that came next — are covered in the new documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead.

Today, Idol talks about his life, his career and the way he’s found balance lately between being the arena-filling star and a grandparent.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe‘s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.