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Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a

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Speaker 1: story about a rock and roll animal, about the rock

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Speaker 1: and roll animal. It's about debauchery, so debaucherous that listing

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Speaker 1: all of it out here at the beginning of this

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Speaker 1: episode won't do the insanity of it all justice. It's

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Speaker 1: about a rock star. We take for granted he's always

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Speaker 1: been there on our radios, on our televisions, looking like

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Speaker 1: they contrived his technicolor punk rock MTV image in central casting.

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Speaker 1: But the truth is that look, that attitude, and that

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Speaker 1: rock stars songs were as authentic as it gets, and

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Speaker 1: his behavior, his transgressions, prove it. High speed car chases,

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Speaker 1: destroyed hotel rooms, John Belushi, overdue dead, next door arrests,

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Speaker 1: accusations of sexual deviancy, military extradition, under for sedation because

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Speaker 1: he was just that fucking unhinged. This is a story

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Speaker 1: about Billy Idl, a man who made great music. Unlike

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Speaker 1: that music I played for you at the top of

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Speaker 1: the show. That wasn't great music. That was a preset

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Speaker 1: loop from my melotron called I can't believe a fucking

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Speaker 1: hot that chicken. That video is MK two. I played

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Speaker 1: you that loop because I can't afford the rights to

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Speaker 1: how Am I Supposed to Live Without You? By Michael Bolton?

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Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of

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Speaker 1: No Talent Ass Clown Cheese? Could I afford it? Because

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Speaker 1: that was the number one song in America on February sixth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety And that was the day that Billy Idol,

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Speaker 1: after returning from what would go down as one of

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Speaker 1: the most out of control rock star vacations of all time,

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Speaker 1: ran a stop sign and crashed as Harley Davidson, nearly

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Speaker 1: dying in the process. On this episode, a motorcycle crash

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Speaker 1: speedballs a Banghok bender to beat the band No Talent

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Speaker 1: Ass Clown Cheese, and Billy Idle, I'm Jake Brennan and

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Speaker 1: this is.

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Speaker 2: Disgraceland and.

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Speaker 1: Alone and confused. Billy Idol awoke in a hotel room

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Speaker 1: bed and the rising sun outside shone through the Florida

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Speaker 1: ceiling windows, violently piercing his eyes. His head was pounding,

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Speaker 1: and the phone started to ring, and there was that

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Speaker 1: voice again, a voice he thought he was just imagining,

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Speaker 1: but now was convinced was somewhere in the room, a

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Speaker 1: voice that was saying, out go the light Billy shot

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Speaker 1: up to a sitting position so fast that his brain

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Speaker 1: or what was left of it, sloshed around in his skull.

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Speaker 1: He felt like he was going to vomit. He looked

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Speaker 1: around the room. What a mess. Liquor bottles, pill bottles,

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Speaker 1: empty vials that once contained one illicit white powder or another.

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Speaker 1: Articles of clothing were strewn about. Furniture was turned upside down,

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Speaker 1: glass was broken, and blood was shed. Wait was that

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Speaker 1: really blood? The phone finally stopped ringing, and Billy looked

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Speaker 1: around for whoever was talking, but saw no one. Where

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Speaker 1: the hell was he and where the hell was.

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Speaker 2: Harry Jesus Christ?

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Speaker 1: He needed some a dope, something, anything. Again he heard

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Speaker 1: the voice, and again it sounded like it was coming

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Speaker 1: from inside the room, and this time it was saying

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Speaker 1: something different, and this time it said boom boom. Suddenly

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Speaker 1: there was a pounding on his door and he heard

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Speaker 1: voices on the other side speaking a language he could

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Speaker 1: not understand. He began to really panic. Now it wasn't

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Speaker 1: unusual for Billy Idle to overdo it, to partake in

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Speaker 1: some wild concoction of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and or pills

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Speaker 1: that eventually knocked him out, only to wake him up

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Speaker 1: with some big breasted bombshell at his side. But this

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Speaker 1: was different. Everything was foggy and nothing was making sense.

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Speaker 1: Put the knocking on the door intensified, and Billy sprung

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Speaker 1: to his feet and felt his knees wabble. He struggled

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Speaker 1: to stay upright, and as he tried to catch his balance,

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Speaker 1: his hotel room door was kicked down and into the

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Speaker 1: room flooded men in mill military gear. First split second,

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Speaker 1: Billy had a moment of clarity. This was the Thai Army.

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Speaker 2: He was looking at. Shit was he in Bangkok?

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Speaker 1: And the army men began to surround him like dogcatchers

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Speaker 1: cornering a mangy old mutt, and they grabbed his arms

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Speaker 1: and legs and wrestled him onto a hospital gurney. Billy

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Speaker 1: knew he'd really fucked up this time. If only he

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Speaker 1: could remember just how he'd wound up in this situation

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Speaker 1: in the first place. He racked his adult brain, but

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Speaker 1: before he could find any answers, he was being stuck

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Speaker 1: with a long needle and delivered a very powerful sedative

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Speaker 1: which sent his mind back not to the beginning of

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Speaker 1: this three week bender, but to eight years earlier, all

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Speaker 1: the way to nineteen eighty one.

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Speaker 2: Eight years earlier.

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Speaker 1: It was nineteen eighty one and Ronald Reagan was not dead,

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Speaker 1: but punk Rock was. The fortieth President of the United

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Speaker 1: States had been shot and wounded in Washington, d c.

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Speaker 1: Just days after twenty five years Billy Idol moved from

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Speaker 1: London to New York City. Years earlier, when Billy was

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Speaker 1: just a little boy and still going by his given name,

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Speaker 1: William Broad, Billy's family relocated from their native England to

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Speaker 1: Long Island for his father's work, even though they only

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Speaker 1: lived there for four years before returning to the UK.

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Speaker 1: In some ways, this felt like a homecoming, but things

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Speaker 1: were different now. New York, like London, had been forever

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Speaker 1: changed by punk Rock. Punk had been Billy's salvation once too,

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Speaker 1: the thing that drove his teenage rebellion, that inspired him

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Speaker 1: to cut school, even to stop talking to his father

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Speaker 1: for two years, and Billy remained Punk's avatar, really his

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Speaker 1: gene Vincent ducks ass Hairdoo died shockingly blonde, his leather

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Speaker 1: fingerless gloves, his curled upper lip, his fists clenched in

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Speaker 1: youthful defiance. As the lead singer of the excellent London

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Speaker 1: punk band Generation X. Billy Idol breathed the same as

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Speaker 1: the Clash, the Ramones and the sex Pistols, But even

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Speaker 1: Johnny Rotten had left all that behind, now fronting Public

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Speaker 1: Image Limited as John Leiden. In New York City in

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, the survivors were everywhere, Patti Smith, David Johansson,

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Speaker 1: Debbie Harry, and now Billy Idel looking at a new

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Speaker 1: world that very much resembled the one that he knew

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Speaker 1: so well. The grime, the dirt, the disgusting bathrooms that

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Speaker 1: smelled like last night's puke, The walls decorated by some

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Speaker 1: spray paint, Picasso, stretches of wet pavement that wreaked of

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Speaker 1: garbage and piss. The little slots and tenement doors through

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Speaker 1: which the man, once you were done waiting for him,

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Speaker 1: of course, handed you your fix. The fury may have

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Speaker 1: been old news, but the filth remained. Billy Idol was

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Speaker 1: subsisting on a not so steady diet of heroin and

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Speaker 1: late night pizza slices, living like an animal, because that's

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Speaker 1: what he was, a rock and roll animal, obsessed with

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Speaker 1: what punk music really and truly was. When he got

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Speaker 1: down to it, which was just rock and roll, simple

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Speaker 1: music that made you feel great, Simple music made by young,

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Speaker 1: ordinary people about their young, ordinary lives. Add to that

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Speaker 1: the pulsing sounds of Alan Vega and Suicide, the orgasmic

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Speaker 1: moans of Donna Summer, all of it visceral, All of

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Speaker 1: it is vibrant as punk once was, as essential as

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Speaker 1: Oldies but good He's like Tommy James and the Chondell's

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Speaker 1: is money money. The music throbbed in his head as

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Speaker 1: he descended into the heart of darkness, the Lower East Side,

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Speaker 1: and some dude he just met with a thirty eight

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Speaker 1: stuck in his waistband as his guide, his protection, because

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Speaker 1: scoring dope in New York City in the early eighties

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Speaker 1: was no fucking joke. With the help of his armed companion,

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Speaker 1: Billy Idol procured that weak smack and snorted it as

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Speaker 1: was his preference, and the euphoria hit, helping him forget

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Speaker 1: about his girlfriend. Perry Lister, a smoke show redhead, was

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Speaker 1: back in the UK and also easing the guilt he

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Speaker 1: felt about getting high with and fucking other women in

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Speaker 1: her absence. And then those timeless oldies but Goodies melodies

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Speaker 1: flooding into his brain again. Billy sought out another junkie,

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Speaker 1: a fellow lover of old rock and roll and punk

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Speaker 1: rock alike Lou Reid, and suggested to collaborate on some

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Speaker 1: songs for Billy's debut solo album, which he was about

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Speaker 1: to begin recording. Lou was into it, but he didn't

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Speaker 1: come cheat. He told Billy that he charged not by

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Speaker 1: the hour, but by every half hour. It was an

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Speaker 1: insanely high rate, higher than that low grade a street

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Speaker 1: junk made you feel so fuck that and fuck Lou

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Speaker 1: Reid too true. Billy was used to a songwriting partner,

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Speaker 1: which was how he came up with the material for

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Speaker 1: Generation X, including their hit Dancing with Myself, which was

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Speaker 1: technically recorded by his old band General Accident, only later

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Speaker 1: re released under his own name Billy idol In, which

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Speaker 1: also featured cameos from members of The Clash and the Pistols.

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Speaker 1: But I Digress. Billy was a solo artist now with

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Speaker 1: a new path to forge, which meant some things he'd

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Speaker 1: have to go alone, like writing songs and so long

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Speaker 1: before he became one of the biggest rock and roll

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Speaker 1: stars in the world, years before he woke up in

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Speaker 1: the luxury hotel room in Bangkok, with no knowledge of

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Speaker 1: how he got there or what he'd done. Over the

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Speaker 1: course of three very long and debaucherous weeks, with the

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Speaker 1: local military literally knocking down his door, sedating him like

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Speaker 1: his heroes and the Ramones once sang about, and strapping

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Speaker 1: him to a gurney, Billy Idol left his new home

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Speaker 1: of New York City without lou Reed, without his girl Perry,

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Speaker 1: without much butter record contract, and he took off for

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Speaker 1: the warmer climbs of Los Angeles, California, where the sun

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Speaker 1: was shining, and the birds were singing, and the women

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Speaker 1: were willing, and the drugs were plentiful. In short, it

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Speaker 1: was a nice day to start again. Billy Idol had

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Speaker 1: a debut album to record. Chrysalis, the British record label

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Speaker 1: which had previously signed Billy's band Generation X, had it

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Speaker 1: all planned out. Time was booked in early nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: two at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, where Billy could

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Speaker 1: first hammer out some demos for his signature epiphone, Casino

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Speaker 1: hollowbody electric guitar and a drum machine before presenting them

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Speaker 1: to the band, which was being led by the pyrotechnic

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Speaker 1: guitarist Steve Stevens, who also possessed some of the biggest

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Speaker 1: hair in the game, for what that's worth. But Billy

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Speaker 1: still needed a few new songs for the record, and

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Speaker 1: he still had doubts about his being able to write

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Speaker 1: them on his own. But that was a problem for

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Speaker 1: future Billy Idle to figure out because all that the writing,

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Speaker 1: the recording, it was happening tomorrow, the day after Billy arrived.

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Speaker 2: In Los Angeles.

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Speaker 1: He was just trying to make sure that today, his

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Speaker 1: first day in town, wouldn't be his last, and it

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Speaker 1: wasn't looking good. Billy braced himself as the car he

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Speaker 1: was riding and rocketed through a busy intersection Wincy as

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Speaker 1: it barely missed getting tee bone by a car coming

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Speaker 1: from the cross street. He turned to give an incredulous

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Speaker 1: look at his driver, a washing machine salesman high as

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Speaker 1: shit on too many berg Dans. The guy's cheeks were

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Speaker 1: still puffy and swollen from that morning's wisdom teeth extraction,

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Speaker 1: and his eyes were clearly communicating that yes, the drugs

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Speaker 1: had taken hold, and no, he was not stopping for

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Speaker 1: the police cruisers that were hot in pursuit with their

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Speaker 1: sirens screaming at full blast. Billy looked back at his

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Speaker 1: friend Ga sitting in the backseat, and then at the

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Speaker 1: LAPD squad cars gaining on them now with every second

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Speaker 1: perkad him Man cut the wheel hard and to the

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Speaker 1: tune of screeching tires, motored the very fast moving vehicle

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Speaker 1: down an alley again, taking another corner at the end

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Speaker 1: of Seid Alley, where he suddenly had a slam on

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Speaker 1: the brakes to avoid crashing into someone's fence. The cops

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Speaker 1: were blocking them in now and the bright lights of

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Speaker 1: their cruisers cutting through the darkness. Then came the piercing

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Speaker 1: squeal of a bullhorn. Hands on the fucking dashboard where

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Speaker 1: we can see them. Why was Billy Idol in a

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Speaker 1: car driven by a washing machine salesman, high on prescription opioids,

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Speaker 1: actively out running the police on this his first day

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Speaker 1: in La Why are you even asking? You'll find no

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Speaker 1: real clarity to this sort of question in the lawless

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighties For a rocker such as Billy Idol, a

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Speaker 1: junkie such as Billy Idol, life was one big blur

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Speaker 1: of scores, fixes, verses, and choruses. And not always in

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Speaker 1: that order. Furthermore, the only true clarity one had to

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Speaker 1: possess was in the recording studio or on stage, where

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Speaker 1: the real work was to be done. So after Billy

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Speaker 1: smoothed things out with the lapd, and after the cops

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Speaker 1: were satisfied that no one in the car had a

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Speaker 1: criminal record, after perkadam Man agreed to pay a small

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Speaker 1: fine for the damage done, and after Billy's friend Ga

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Speaker 1: promised he would take the wheel, they were free to go,

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Speaker 1: which for Billy meant going to Westlake Studios the very

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Speaker 1: next day. With the zepophone casino in his hands and

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Speaker 1: the clock on the wall ticking away, he found his

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Speaker 1: favorite key of b the same key he'd written Generation

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Speaker 1: x's Ready Steady Go in his favorite time signature for

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Speaker 1: four in a compelling story from which to write a song,

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Speaker 1: and that story was not what had just happened to

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Speaker 1: him the day prior, but instead one inspired by his

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Speaker 1: own sister, who had recently he got married while pregnant.

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Speaker 1: The lyrics came to him quickly, as did a twist

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Speaker 1: in which he pivoted away from his own life and

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Speaker 1: had the song's narrator hint at some sort of incestuous relationship.

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Speaker 1: It was weird, dark, incredibly compelling. In just twenty minutes,

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Speaker 1: Billy Idol had written the minor key goth punk pop

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Speaker 1: smash White Wedding. In the fall of nineteen eighty two,

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Speaker 1: White Wedding, with its unmistakable hopscotching pick slide intro by

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Speaker 1: Steve Stevens. That song was released as the second single

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Speaker 1: from Billy's debut solo album. It didn't make him a

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Speaker 1: star overnight, but thanks to all the play it received

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Speaker 1: in urban dance clubs, as well as the heavy rotation

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Speaker 1: on the then new MTV, which had a finite library

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Speaker 1: of videos to choose from the time, White Wedding lifted

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Speaker 1: Billy Idol up a bit, which, most importantly for Billy

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Speaker 1: at the moment, meant that his inner circle of rock

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Speaker 1: and roll friends got bigger, as did his drug budget

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Speaker 1: and the caliber of place in which he did those

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Speaker 1: drugs with those friends. I'm talking places like the Chateau

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Speaker 1: MArmand on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and that's where Billy

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Speaker 1: and Steve decamped when they were kicked out of the

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Speaker 1: Sunset Marquis, up the street a bit and around the corner,

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Speaker 1: armed with a stash at tequila and heroin. Billy did

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Speaker 1: his best to get kicked out of his Chateau Bungalow

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Speaker 1: as well, and he probably would have, that is, if

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Speaker 1: the cops weren't busy with John Belushi's corpse after the

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Speaker 1: famous comedian, former Saturday Matt Live cast member and fellow

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Speaker 1: hard party or just so happened to overdose in his

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Speaker 1: own bungalow. A few doors down from Billy Les Devon

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Speaker 1: were the hangout sessions with Rock Royalty like the Rolling Stones,

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Speaker 1: with whom Billy found himself sharing a bottle at Ronnie

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Speaker 1: Wood's birthday party. Ronnie passed the bourbon to Keith, and

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Speaker 1: then Keith to Mick, and then Micked to Billy, upon

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Speaker 1: which Billy took a look at the bottles label, which

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Speaker 1: featured a picture of a Confederate soldier riding a horse

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Speaker 1: next to the bourbon's name, and the name of that

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Speaker 1: bourbon was a Rebel Yell. The name stuck with him,

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Speaker 1: and just like the blast of creative inspiration he channeled

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Speaker 1: to write White Wedding, he did the same with his

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Speaker 1: next big hit, which would also be the title of

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Speaker 1: his next album. Upon its release in November of nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty three, Billy Idol's second solo record, Rebel Yell Again,

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Speaker 1: with the help of MTV, solidified the one time punk

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Speaker 1: rocker as one of the most recognizable faces and voices

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Speaker 1: of contemporary rock and roll in the same way that

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Speaker 1: Madonna or Michael Jackson represented the pop side of the tracks.

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Speaker 1: Billy set out on a massive tour, and he fucked

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Speaker 1: and drugged his way across North America and then back again,

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Speaker 1: an embarrassment of women in heroin and cocaine and booze.

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Speaker 1: It was all so much. Billy would play, he'd party,

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Speaker 1: he'd pass out, he'd wake up, he'd be strung out,

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Speaker 1: he'd get pissed, he'd fly into a rage, break shit,

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Speaker 1: and then repeat the whole process all over again pretty regularly.

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Speaker 1: He woke up in two Sounds with a sheriff pointing

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Speaker 1: a loaded gun in his face. He woke up in London,

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Speaker 1: his unconscious junkie body being miraculously revived in a freezing

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Speaker 1: cold ice bath. He woke up with a bloody nose,

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Speaker 1: with a throat on fire, naked, the curtains drawn, porn

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Speaker 1: flickering on the TV set, his broken, free base Pipe

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Speaker 1: held together.

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Speaker 2: With Gaffer Tape in.

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Speaker 1: Rochester, New York. He was accused of sexual deviancy by

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Speaker 1: a woman who claimed he kicked her out of his

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Speaker 1: hotel room for not fucking another woman in front of him.

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Speaker 1: His long suffering girlfriend, Perry Lister, the one who first

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Speaker 1: stayed behind in England when Billy made the move abroad.

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Speaker 1: She definitely had some idea about Billy Idol's sexual deviancy

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Speaker 1: even after the charges were dropped, but as long as

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Speaker 1: that idea wasn't flaunted in her face while she was around,

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Speaker 1: which was becoming more frequent as the years went on.

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Speaker 1: That whatever Billy did, it was all good with her.

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Speaker 1: And that was until Billy got sloppy. First, there was

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Speaker 1: the undercover staying in Washington Square in New York, which

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Speaker 1: landed Billy in a female friend in police custody. NYPD

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Speaker 1: only needed one crackheaded cuff, so the friend took the

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Speaker 1: fall and then immediately gave a press conference at which

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Speaker 1: he introduced yourself as Billy's girlfriend. Perry wasn't going to

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Speaker 1: take any of that, and Perry responded by giving her

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Speaker 1: own press conference to make sure the world knew that

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Speaker 1: she and not the coke smoking Harlotte on Billy's arm

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Speaker 1: on that faithful day in Washington Square Park. She wanted

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Speaker 1: the world to know that she Perry was Billy's one

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Speaker 1: and only girlfriend, and Perry further proved it by moving

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Speaker 1: with Billy to Los Angeles to the Hollywood Hills, where

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Speaker 1: after Billy Idol's live version of the Tommy James classic

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Speaker 1: Money Money went to number one on the Billboard Hot

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Speaker 1: one hundred and after Billy used the money from that

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Speaker 1: huge hit by himself a Harley Davidson Wye Glad motorcycle

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Speaker 1: and then joined a local motorcycle club called Rude Dude,

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Speaker 1: and after the couple welcomed the Sun in the summer

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Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty eight, Perry's suspicions of the depths of

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Speaker 1: Billy's sexual deviancy were confirmed when she heard him talking

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Speaker 1: to his side piece, I shit you not over the

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Speaker 1: baby monitor. Later in nineteen eighty nine. This memory, this

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Speaker 1: colossal fuck up by Billy Idol and how his girlfriend

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Speaker 1: Perry responded to it by moving out and taking the

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Speaker 1: baby with her. All of it was flooding Billy Idol's

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Speaker 1: head like an old rock and roll melody as he

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Speaker 1: began to regain consciousness inside of a Bangkok airport. The

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Speaker 1: Thai soldiers who'd busted into his hotel room forcibly removed

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Speaker 1: him and sedated him, and had dumped him here with

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Speaker 1: a one way ticket on the first plane leaving so

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Speaker 1: that they could get him the hell out of their country.

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Speaker 1: This pain, this emotional pain now that was occupying Billy's head,

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Speaker 1: was the reason Billy came to this country in the

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Speaker 1: first place, to cast out this grief by snorting and

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Speaker 1: smoking and fucking the pain away. But the pain was

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Speaker 1: back now, and so was his memory. And now Billy

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Speaker 1: Idol could remember everything. We'll be right back after this.

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Speaker 2: We're We're. We're.

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Speaker 1: Three weeks earlier, Billy Idol and the leader of his

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Speaker 1: Rude Dude motorcycle gang, his friend Harry Johnson. No, that

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Speaker 1: is not a joke. That's actually his name. Look it up.

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Speaker 1: Billy and Harry flew from Los Angeles to Bangkok in

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Speaker 1: search of escape. In the short time between when Perry

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Speaker 1: left him and when he left. On this trip, Billy

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Speaker 1: had managed to father another child, a daughter with another woman,

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Speaker 1: But his failure to hang out of Perry it still

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00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,280
Speaker 1: hung over him like a dark cloud and so drowning

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Speaker 1: his sorrows and untold amounts of hedonism halfway across the

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Speaker 1: world sounded like just what the good doctor feel good

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Speaker 1: that is ordered. Billy was also in need of a

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Speaker 1: break from recording his fourth solo album, Charmed Life. He

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Speaker 1: wasn't sure if that title was wishful thinking or whether

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Speaker 1: it was the truth. But seeing as though he could

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Speaker 1: pick up stakes at the drop of a hat and

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Speaker 1: fly eight thousand miles to Thailand for a boondoggle, he

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00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: was doing all right all things considered. The making of

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00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:12,000
Speaker 1: Charmed Life was, even by Billy Idols standards, a degenerate

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Speaker 1: affair in which recording sessions were regularly punctuated by doses

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Speaker 1: of ecstasy in GHB, lines of cocaine, and scores of

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Speaker 1: naked women, at whose arrival Billy and the crew would

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Speaker 1: just strip down to their biker boots and scarves. So

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Speaker 1: I guess. In a rare show of abstinence, Billy and

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Speaker 1: Harry agreed that once they got the Bangkok it would

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Speaker 1: be alcohol only. Furthermore, they planned to spend as much

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Speaker 1: time in the brothels as they could handle, and they did.

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Speaker 1: The women were beautiful and the sex was mind bending.

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Speaker 1: They had to drag themselves away to retire to their

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Speaker 1: presidential suite on the top floor of the Oriental Hotel

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Speaker 1: with incredible views that competed with Bangkok's sex workers when

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Speaker 1: it came to taking Billy's breath away. But this self

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Speaker 1: imposed alcohol only ruled got old real quick. All that

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00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: drinking just made them pass out earlier, and they wanted

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Speaker 1: to go all night, so they hailed the cab and

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00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: asked the driver if he could score them some blow.

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00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,640
Speaker 1: He was more than happy to oblige, but he did

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Speaker 1: them one better. He procured for Billy and Harry not cocaine,

380
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Speaker 1: but China white heroin. This defeated the whole purpose in

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Speaker 1: a way, which was to get some drugs that would

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Speaker 1: keep them awake and alert. But once a junkie has

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Speaker 1: that little vial in his hands, there's no way he's

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Speaker 1: giving it back. And a little of this stuff went

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Speaker 1: a long way. Within minutes, the two friends were stratospherically

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Speaker 1: high and when I say hi, Billy wrote in his memoir,

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00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 1: I mean zombie high. And pretty soon the hotel staff

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Speaker 1: was asking questions, why are these two American gentlemen buying

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Speaker 1: so many chocolate bars from their mini bar. Why. Well,

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Speaker 1: because they couldn't find any tinfoil at the local stores

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Speaker 1: to cook their heroin in. Another question, why are there

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Speaker 1: so many scantily clad women from the brothels running through

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Speaker 1: the lobby and hallways of our respectable establishment at all

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Speaker 1: hours of the night. Well, obviously because those two American

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Speaker 1: gentlemen are screwing their brains out six ways to Sunday.

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Speaker 1: And oh, excuse me, sirs, would you mind moving to

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Speaker 1: a different room so that a very special guess, the

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00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 1: President of Cambodia can use the presidential suite. It is,

399
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 1: after all, called presidential for a reason. Well, the answer

400
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: to that question was fuck No, fuck the President of Cambodia,

401
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,680
Speaker 1: and fuck this really good heroin which Billy and Harry

402
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,919
Speaker 1: had finally run out of. They replaced the smack with

403
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 1: bottles of cocaine and such purchased at a nearby pharmacy

404
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: so that their withdrawal from the China White wouldn't be

405
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: too much of a bitch to conquer, and they chased

406
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: the pills with more liquor, and once again, Billy Idle

407
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:54,119
Speaker 1: collapsed and everything went black. He woke up on the

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Speaker 1: floor the hotel's elevator, half of his body inside the

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Speaker 1: elevator car and half of it in the hallway. The

410
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,280
Speaker 1: elevator doors were trying to close, but they kept hitting

411
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 1: his motionless body and then reopening. Billy, come on, man,

412
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: get up. Harry was standing there trying to rouse him,

413
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Speaker 1: and Billy opened his eyes to see multiple pairs of

414
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,119
Speaker 1: feet navigating their way around what appeared to be is

415
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Speaker 1: pretty corpse. It was a family, and Billy looked up

416
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 1: at the father and thought, wait, is that Mel Gibson

417
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 1: was ushering his children past the very fucked up Billy

418
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 1: idol and towards another elevator bank, all while giving Billy

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Speaker 1: a look that was part sympathy and part pity. Clearly

420
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 1: this was a sign that it was time for a change,

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00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: and I don't mean as in time to go home.

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00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 1: Billy and Harry checked out of the Oriental and made

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00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 1: their way to the seaside resort town of Patiah, Thailand,

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00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 1: some ninety miles away, where they moved into the Royal

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00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: Cliff Hotel. There they took more pills tranquilizers this time,

426
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 1: and the result was more of the same. Billy passed

427
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: out and Billy woke up hours later in the middle

428
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 1: of then to find Harry gone and two new sex

429
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 1: workers by his side, and Billy pulled that old Chateau

430
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 1: Marman bulshit again. He picked up the hotel room's table

431
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 1: and launched it through a sliding glass door, and that

432
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 1: little outburst cost him twenty thousand dollars to ensure that

433
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: the hotel management didn't call the cops. This on top

434
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: of the twenty five grand that he'd already paid for

435
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 1: a jet ski he'd rented and crashed while high as fuck.

436
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,679
Speaker 1: And so once again it was time to move on

437
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: back to the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, and it was

438
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 1: there where all the transgressions of the last three weeks

439
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 1: were beginning to pile up and inflict real damage on

440
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: Billy's body and mind. And that mind of his was

441
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: cramped with smells, tastes, and sounds, the music of ecstasy

442
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: and indulgence, some cut up tapestry of orgasmic shrieks and

443
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 1: butane lighters and crumpled up chocolate barfoil and jet ski motors.

444
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: And that Vietnamese woman Harry had picked up and was

445
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: dragging around the one only knew two phrases in English

446
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 1: outgo the light and boom boom, And now on top

447
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: of it all, the phone was ringing, America was calling,

448
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: his record label was pissed. He of the rebel yell

449
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 1: was rebelling a little too much, and the only way

450
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,960
Speaker 1: to curb such rebellion, to get the rebel back on track,

451
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: to get him back to yelling in the recording studio

452
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 1: and on stage, back on schedule, was to tap the

453
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: big guns, literally as in Thailand's very capable and very

454
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 1: efficient military who quickly overpowered Billy Idel and despite urban legend,

455
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: did not shoot him with some huge tranquilizer gun, but

456
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,879
Speaker 1: instead injected him with a sedative and then drove him

457
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 1: to the airport where he woke up puking his brains out,

458
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 1: and put him on a plane back to Los Angeles,

459
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 1: where he returned to the recording studio to put the

460
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: finishing touches on his Charmed Life album while continuing to

461
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 1: do more drugs, not just cocaine and heroin, but now

462
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,679
Speaker 1: extas in g HB as well, all while more naked

463
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,879
Speaker 1: women paraded into the studio's control room to get Billy

464
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,520
Speaker 1: off again and again, right there on the floor on

465
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,199
Speaker 1: the couch on the chair as a rough mix of

466
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,200
Speaker 1: Billy's cover of the doors l A woman thundered to

467
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:24,160
Speaker 1: the studio speakers, the music, the sex, the drugs, the friends, strangers, vacation, work, home, away.

468
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 1: There was no differentiating one thing from the next. It

469
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:34,399
Speaker 1: was all decadent, all depraved, all encompassing and never ending.

470
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: February sixth, nineteen ninety, Los Angeles. The morning sun reflected

471
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 1: off the black and chrome of the Harley Davidson Wyeglide

472
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 1: as Billy Idol, his belly lined with boos and pills,

473
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 1: steered his bike away from his house in the Hollywood

474
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,480
Speaker 1: Hills down a steep canyon road toward what was certainly

475
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: main drag gridlock on sunset below. The wind whipped through

476
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: his spiky, bleached blonde hair, just the way he liked.

477
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 1: No helmet, no safety net. Not back in London in

478
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, not in the Lower East Side in

479
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, and not in Bangkok the year prior,

480
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: certainly not now. On the streets of his second adopted

481
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 1: American home. Clutch throttle, the white Glide lurched forward, giving

482
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 1: Billy that thrill in the process, the same thrill that

483
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:50,760
Speaker 1: sex drugs and rock and roll gave to him pure euphoria.

484
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,680
Speaker 1: But this euphoria, like all the others, had a tendency

485
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,479
Speaker 1: to be too much, too distracting. The Harley kept up

486
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 1: its fast cliff, gaining sp even, and Billy was oblivious

487
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: to the world and to his troubles and to the

488
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 1: stop sign he'd just blown through. The UK press broke

489
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 1: the news that Billy Idol was dead, but unlike the

490
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 1: rumor that he was subdued with a tranquilizer gun in Bangkok,

491
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 1: the rumor about Billy Idol's death took only hours to

492
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 1: debunk because although he was not wearing a helmet and

493
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,640
Speaker 1: was also admittedly intoxicated and thus very easily could have died,

494
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 1: Billy Idol was in fact very much alive, and the

495
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 1: truth was much earlier than fiction. Billy had indeed been

496
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 1: hit by a car, and upon impact he was thrown

497
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: from his bike and his right leg took a beating.

498
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 1: Pieces of bone had shattered inside his shin, leaving a

499
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 1: gaping hole in his flesh the size of a baseball.

500
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: His forearm was broken, as were as clavical in some ribs,

501
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: but it was his leg that was the real issue,

502
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,120
Speaker 1: he nearly lost it. It took seven surgeries over the

503
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,760
Speaker 1: next month to put him on the men. A brand

504
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 1: new walking cane now helped him get around.

505
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:06,160
Speaker 2: And this is why.

506
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,200
Speaker 1: If you remember nineteen ninety the music video for his

507
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: number two Billboard Hot one hundred single at the time,

508
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: Cradle of Love, you know, the one with that check

509
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: who strips down and seduces an uptype businessman in his apartment.

510
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 1: That video features Billy only in occasional shots and only

511
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,960
Speaker 1: from the waist up, working his ass off to sell

512
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 1: the song. In the video, even though he was no

513
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: longer on hospital morphine into Della's pain and keep him high,

514
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: but once again relying on the copious other recreational drugs

515
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,760
Speaker 1: he continued to take on the regular Hold up, I

516
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 1: know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Wait a minute, Jake.

517
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 1: Shouldn't this be the part of the story where our

518
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 1: hero Billy Idol has a near death experience after years

519
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: of destructive behavior, which immediately serves as this monumental wake

520
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 1: up call to get clean and sober. Well, You're not wrong.

521
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 1: Read any recent interview with Billy Idol and he'll point

522
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 1: to this very incident as the moment when he realized

523
00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: he had to do something about his reckless, devilmakecare behavior

524
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:00,479
Speaker 1: if you wanted to be around on which as two

525
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: small children grow up. The thing is, it didn't happen overnight.

526
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 1: Asking Billy Idol to immediately stop being Billy Idol is

527
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 1: like asking mister Rogers to stop wearing that red cardigan.

528
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: Billy is the manifestation of what we talk about when

529
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: we talk about the rock and roll animal today in

530
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,560
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, he may seem like an overblown caricature

531
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: of this ideal, but that's only because hot topic became

532
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: a thing and anyone with a few bucks could suddenly

533
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: buy a bunch of quote unquote edgy punk swag and

534
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 1: pretend they were a fraction of the badass that Billy

535
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 1: Idol is. Billy Idol is and was authentic to his core,

536
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,600
Speaker 1: and so in nineteen ninety learning how to alter the

537
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 1: way that an authentic rock and roll animal lived while

538
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 1: also maintaining that authentic image was gonna take a minute,

539
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 1: But for the moment, he remained a version of the

540
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: animal he'd always been. In nineteen ninety two, that animal

541
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 1: went feral when Billy Idol pleaded no contest for punching

542
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 1: a woman in the face while in the back of

543
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 1: a car. It was fined two thousand dollars for the offense.

544
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,440
Speaker 1: A less deplorable and more mischievous example of the continuing

545
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 1: rock and roll animalism came on the final show of

546
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 1: the US leg of the Charmed Life tour in Seattle

547
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: on Halloween Night nineteen ninety. As the opening band, The

548
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: Incredible Faith Note More played their alternative rock hit Epic,

549
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 1: They were pelted with six hundred dead fish by the

550
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 1: road crew upon Billy's instruction, and then during Billy's headlining set,

551
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,800
Speaker 1: five men naked from the waist down there, swinging dis

552
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 1: just swinging away, danced a conga line across the stage

553
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: as Billy sang his nineteen eighty six song to Be

554
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: a Lover. That little stunt summoned Seattle pde who showed

555
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: up to the Seattle Coliseum ready to make some arrests

556
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,280
Speaker 1: for a decent exposure and perhaps even put this curled

557
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 1: lip rebel in his place once and for all. But

558
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 1: by the time they arrived, the idol and his crew

559
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 1: had already hit the road. And besides, since those five

560
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 1: mostly naked dudes have been wearing paper bags over their heads.

561
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 1: No one can say for sure just who had gone

562
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: streaking on stage. For the Seattle Police Department, that was that,

563
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,839
Speaker 1: But for Billy Idl it was the start of a

564
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 1: new era, a new day to start again. I'm Jake

565
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 1: Brennan and this is Disgraceland, all right, thanks for hanging

566
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,320
Speaker 1: out with me and Billy Idol in this episode. I

567
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: hope you guys dug it. Apple podcast listeners, make sure

568
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 1: you have automatic downloads turned on so you don't miss

569
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,799
Speaker 1: any episodes. All right. This week's question of the week

570
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,879
Speaker 1: is who is the most debaucherous rock star you've heard

571
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,440
Speaker 1: about here in Disgraceland and why Is it Billy Idol

572
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,520
Speaker 1: or is it someone else? Six one seven, nine oh six.

573
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 1: Let me know via voicemail or text at disgrace lampod

574
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 1: let me know via Instagram, Facebook, or x and you'll

575
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 1: be able to hear your answers on the afterparty bonus

576
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 1: episode coming up right after this one. If you want

577
00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:13,560
Speaker 1: more stories from me like this one, but about actors

578
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 1: and actresses and not about physicians, then check out hollywood Land,

579
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 1: our Hollywood and crime spinoff podcast search and follow hollywood

580
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 1: Land wherever you get your podcasts. We're releasing episodes every

581
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:27,520
Speaker 1: week on John Waters, David Lynch, James Dean, Patty Hurst

582
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 1: and more. Leave a review for Disgraceland or Hollywood Land

583
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,760
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and Winson Free merch. Okay,

584
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 1: here come some credits. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly

585
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,040
Speaker 1: and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for

586
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: this episode can be found on the show notes page

587
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,359
Speaker 1: at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland

588
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 1: All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We

589
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,840
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a

590
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Speaker 1: member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com. Slash

591
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:03,360
Speaker 1: membership can listen to every episode of disgracelam ad free,

592
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,240
Speaker 1: Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every month,

593
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Speaker 1: weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access

594
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 1: to merchandise and events. Visit disgraceslampod dot com slash membership

595
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 1: for details, rate and review the show, and follow us

596
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 1: on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod and on

597
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 1: YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgracelampod rock a

598
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 1: Rolla

599
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 2: Hee, the bed Down Man,