Wow. I still like Billy Idol.

I'm a late Baby Boomer, so I went to high school around the start of the 80s. After enduring about half of my life with nothing but British Invasion rock, I happened upon a radio station that played "New Wave" music. I also found MTV, a cable television station that defined music television. And from there, I found Billy Idol.

I don't have any of his CDs. You might remember those shiny discs they used to sell with music encoded on them. I still have my collection, but Billy Idol never made it to my collection because, like The Rolling Stones, I heard his music on the radio every single day. And he was in heavy rotation every hour on MTV, and probably more so on radio.

Back then, radio and MTV were a thing. There was a lot more "shared experience" of media. It was never going to be like the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show again, and as the diversity of music grew, so did music sources and outlets. Cable TV was a huge dilution of media given the number of channels that were becoming available every year.

So last night I spent some time watching Billy Idol videos just for fun, just to unwind after a long day off. We done some gardening and had taken the kids to the recreation center to enjoy some time at the indoor pool. My kids are older now, and with their floaties on, they could enjoy themselves in the water and have some fun. I got some exercise. My wife got some exercise. I rode the water slide. Twice. I'm an old fart, but I still like water slides.

Anyway, I watched videos of all of my favorite songs from Billy Idol. I don't listen to radio much and I'm so far removed from his music now. I just had to listen again, so here are a few choice tracks you might like:

That last track, Hot In The City was one that I had never actually heard on the radio until a couple weeks ago. A friend of mine had turned me onto a new radio station in Salt Lake City, 103.1 KSQN The Wave, a station dedicated to The New Wave of music from the 1980's. I was bored at a party hosted by Vietnamese friends of my wife (they didn't speak much English). So I retreated to the car and put that station on. And they were playing Hot In The City by Billy Idol.

Now I wasn't familiar with that track, but I knew the voice. So I used my phone to see who did that song, and sure enough, it was Billy Idol. Since then, I've been thinking about this performer, this act, that had been such a big part of my young life in music.

As I watched Idol's videos last night I laughed out loud at how ridiculous those videos seem now. Yet, I was still impressed by his swagger, his sneer, his sheer enthusiasm for his brand, his music, his chutzpah. Idol was the ultimate showman and he knew what he was doing. He was doing what he loved to do.

Slogan by @tecnosgirl

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