“The road manager would show me great big shards that just missed my head”: Billy Idol recalls the chaos of early Generation X shows
Billy Idol has reflected on the volatile crowds that attended Generation X shows, noting that his manager would later pick up large shards of glass on stage that had nearly hit him mid-performance.
Generation X, which was fronted by Idol, formed during the 1970s in London. The punk band released three albums together before he moved to New York in 1981 to pursue his own solo project alongside Steve Stevens, and clashes among subcultures at some of their shows led to some brushes with danger for Idol.
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Responding to a reader question in the print edition of Uncut regarding these hectic Generation X shows, and whether or not they influenced his decision to go solo and head over to the US, Idol responds, “It was par for the course, yeah.
“There were a few shows like that where people were throwing beer, pint glasses, and the road manager would show me great big shards that just missed my head. But it was really more that Derwood [Andrews, lead guitarist] and Mark [Laff, drummer] left the group. That’s what began the dissolution of Generation X.”
He adds, “Once a group’s not going in the same direction, it’s a nightmare – you might as well end it. So if I was going to start up on my own, it made sense to go somewhere else, because if you stayed in England you might end up propping up a bar – people feel that you’re over.
“I had an American manager by that time, and he was saying, ‘You should come to New York – this city’s bankrupt, anything goes. It’s a hell of a lot of fun at the moment.’ And it was,” Idol concludes.
Billy Idol is touring throughout June-September – you can grab tickets to see him live via his official website.
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