Billy Idol was 21 when he made his recording debut on Generation X’s 1977 debut single, “Your Generation,” a punk-rock response to the Who‘s pre-punk anthem for the previous generation. By the first part of the ’80s, he was one of the rising stars of the growing MTV generation.
Dismissed by Johnny Rotten as the “Perry Como of punk,” Idol rarely received the critical accolades of many other acts emerging from the first wave of the U.K. punk scene. But commercially, he became bigger than most of them, thanks to a larger-than-life image that fit in well with MTV’s increasing focus on the look of the music as much as the sound of it.
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As you will see in the list below of Billy Idol Albums Ranked, his records often mirrored the times, from spiky, dance-infused new wave through thorny and muscular hard rock to mature reflection in his later music.
Idol’s best albums were made with a pair of collaborators: producer Keith Forsey, a London-born drummer who cut his teeth with Giorgio Moroder on a series of influential disco songs, and Steve Stevens, a New York City guitarist who became Idol’s songwriting partner and right-hand man during his peak years.
Together, the team crafted some of the most identifiably ’80s songs of the decade, a melting pot of styles that helped define the era. With Idol as the peroxide-domed, lip-curling figure in front of it all, the music was stamped with an image that has now crossed generations.
Billy Idol Albums Ranked
The spiked-hair singer’s records mirror his life, from sneering punk to MTV star.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
