Billy Idol became fascinated with technology and the cyberpunk movement of the early 90’s. He saw how the advancement could be used to make music and in fact, ‘Cyberpunk’ was one of the first albums to use ProTools for almost the entire recording of the album. He felt the use of the computers allowed him to do things faster and he felt it gave the whole feel of a garage band. I don’t know about that last part, but it was the very early stages of how albums and music would be recorded down the road. ‘Cyberpunk’ is the result of all these technological advances and it was an album way ahead of the times. How far ahead?
Well, when he released the single for “Shock to the System” he sent out the promo copies that contained a 3 1/2″ Floppy Disk. MP3’s eat your heart out. The disc housed pictures, bios and all the things you now see issued in todays electronic press kits (EPK). He was also was one of the first albums to actually have an email address in the booklet that came with the album (don’t try it, it though as it no longer works). I finally found a pristine copy of the Promo and now I have the 3 1/2″ Floppy Disk as well. This is now one of the coolest pieces in my collection.
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2 Loud 2 Old Music 