Billy Idol‘s single “Rebel Yell” was a huge hit for him, thanks to its video being in heavy rotation on MTV, and that was exactly what he was hoping for when he shot the clip.
In a new video posted to social media, Idol gives fans some behind-the-scenes info on the making of the video, and what he and his team hoped it would do for his career.
“We deliberately did a live performance video … we wanted to show the people in America and around the world what a Billy Idol concert was like,” he shared. “We wanted to show the excitement we had for the music but also the excitement the fans had for discovering me in America solo.”
Idol says his manager at the time knew MTV was about to launch with videos playing 24 hours a day, noting his manager “knew I’d be perfect for it.”
“We knew this was going to give us a platform that was going to break the new music we were making, because there was kind of a holdout against the new music from the people from the ’60s and the ’70s that really didn’t want things to change,” he says.
He added, “We were going to show them … we’re showing these old people, F-off.”
Idol also just shared video of a 2023 live performance of the song, the title track of his multi-Platinum 1983 album, which also featured “Eyes Without A Face” and “Flesh for Fantasy.”
Idol’s set to release a 40th anniversary deluxe expanded edition of Rebel Yell on April 26. It will include the original album, and an album of previously unreleased songs and demos. It is available for preorder now.
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