Tag: Cyberpunk

Billy Idol – “Shock To The System” (1993) – Promo CD w/ Floppy Disk (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic11 Comments

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.

Continue reading “Billy Idol – “Shock To The System” (1993) – Promo CD w/ Floppy Disk (The Billy Idol Series)” →

The Collection: EP. 15 – Billy Idol – “Vinyl Idol”

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic11 Comments

Welcome back to The Collection. This week we are going to walk through William Broad’s vinyl catalog. Who is William Broad? Well, he is none other than Billy Idol. We will start with the 1981 E.P. ‘Don’t Stop’ and go all the way through to ‘The Cage’ E.P. from 2022 and touch everything vinyl in between. So, if you are fan of Idol or even Steve Stevens, come check this out!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, May 27, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And if you are interested, you can check out all the Billy Idol reviews I have done on the site. Heck, take the day off and spend it with Billy!!

Continue reading “The Collection: EP. 15 – Billy Idol – “Vinyl Idol”” →

Billy Idol: A Career Retrospective w/John T. Snow at Grant’s Rock Warehaus

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic4 Comments

Tonight at 7pm, check out the Billy Idol Retrospective on Grant’s Rock Warehaus on YouTube. Thanks so much for Grant inviting me as we blast through the entire Billy Idol solo catalog as well as some of his rare vinyl releases. We had a great time and I hope you will too!! Give it a watch and then Subscribe to Grant’s channel as there is so much fantastic content!!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=188CfmUiflo%3Fsi%3DrOY3oVLNmmR4E1lg

Billy Idol – The Best and Worst Songs on Every Album (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic25 Comments

I have done two posts already on the Best & Worst songs from every Judas Priest album, Cheap Trick and even Whitesnake. I really enjoyed doing those so I thought I would continue that process and this time we would go through every Billy Idol album and see what is the best song and the worst one off each album as well. Billy Idol has 8 studio albums to go through and we will throw in the 3 E.P.’s and the 2 Vital Idol remix albums for fun. So, sit back and take it all in. Let’s preface this with the fact that these are my choices and not necessarily yours as we can have different opinions. If you watched the show you will see that sometimes my worst song was their favorite so you never know what people like and we all like different things or this would be a very dull world. I hope you enjoy!!

‘DON’T STOP’ E.P. (1981)

BEST SONG – “DANCING WITH MYSELF”: The Gen X track, “Dancing With Myself”, was not re-recorded for this release.  Instead, they took the extended version of the original song which was over 6 minutes and remixed it down to under 5 minutes to change it up a bit.  It is still just as fantastic as the original cause it was still the original.  The song was released as a single, but didn’t do anything. I don’t know if it was bad timing or what it was as it is a great song.  It wasn’t until 2 years later when they released as a bonus track on the first full length album did the song finally blow up.

WORST SONG – “MONY, MONY”: The song is a cover of Tommy James & the Shondell’s #1 song, “Mony, Mony”.  The song was a really good cover, but it didn’t really do much on the radio.  Compared to what was to come later from this song when he released the live version years later, this version is a little flat and doesn’t have the sonics and feel of that version.  It is missing a little of that charm and energy.  It is not a bad introduction to Billy, just kind of missed the mark as I know the live version so well.

Continue reading “Billy Idol – The Best and Worst Songs on Every Album (The Billy Idol Series)” →

Billy Idol – The Albums Ranked Worst to First (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic48 Comments

For the past 8 to 9 months, I have been reviewing the entire Billy Idol catalog from Generation X back in 1978 through his solo years and even a Generation X single released in 2019 on Record Store Day.  It has been such a fun journey and I hate it has come to an end.  To wrap it up, we are going to rank all the studio albums from his very worst (and it is bad) to his very best (which is sensational).

 

THE WORST – HAPPY HOLIDAYS (2006):

 

 

I am not sure what Billy was thinking, but this should have never been released and probably never recorded.  Hell, it is so bad that even Steve Stevens wasn’t involved with recording it.  That should tell you something right there!!  It is a rehash of classic Christmas songs that we are better off listening to the originals as these do not spark any Christmas cheer.

The original songs Billy wrote throw every cliche in the book out as lyrics and they are sappy, crappy songs.  The best thing about “Happy Holidays” is that it is only 2 minutes.  The only good thing about “Christmas Love” is that it does eventually end. My Christmas gift to you is to avoid this at any cost.

Continue reading “Billy Idol – The Albums Ranked Worst to First (The Billy Idol Series)” →

Billy Idol – ‘Cyberpunk’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic55 Comments

After ‘Charmed Life’, Billy wanted to do something different.  He didn’t want to keep repeating his previous work over and over again.  Let me tell you he completely succeeded.  The album is nothing like his previous work and I think was way ahead of its time. ‘Cyberpunk’ delivered Billy’s most experimental and most controversial album.

Billy 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, this 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.

IMG_0070

When he released the single for “Shock to the System” he released it with a 3 1/2″ Floppy Disc.  MP’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 no longer works).

IMG_0071

Continue reading “Billy Idol – ‘Cyberpunk’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)” →