Table of Contents
Prologue: They Say If You Hear the Bang, You're Still Alive 1
Part I London
1 I Let Out My First Rebel Yell 9
2 England Swings Like a Pendulum Do 16
3 Rock 'N' Roll High School: Long Hair, Flares, and Hash Tobacco Cigarettes 28
4 Sucking in the '70s 39
5 And Then There Was Punk 50
6 In a Revolution, One Year Equals Five 55
7 Generation X Marks the Spot: William Broad Becomes Billy Idol 60
8 A Night at the Roxy 70
9 Punk Comes of Age When the Two Sevens Clash 78
10 Youth Youth Youth: Break On Through to the Other Side 85
11 White Light, White Heat, White Riots 88
12 Not Selling Out, But Buying In 92
13 Bands Across the Ocean 102
14 Ready Steady Go 108
15 And I Guess that I Just Don't Know 120
16 You Better Hang On to Yourself 124
Part II New York City
17 A Rock 'N' Roll Conquistador Invades America and Burns His Boats Upon Arrival 135
18 Making Mony Mony: A Left-Coast Fusion of Punk and Disco 142
19 If You Can Make It Here 149
20 Hot in the City: The Making of Solo Billy Idol 153
21 Hollywood Daze and Tequila Nights 160
22 I Want My MTV: Video Thrills the Radio Star 170
23 Rebel Yell with a Cause 177
24 A Change in Pace of Fantasy and Taste 184
25 Everybody Must Get Rolling Stoned 189
26 The Roar of the Lion and a Nonstop Global Orgy 196
27 Just a Perfect Day 202
28 King Death: An Aborted Film Project Signals the End of an Idol Maker 210
29 Top of the World, Ma 214
30 Return to Splendour 224
31 The Luck of the Irish 232
Part III Los Angeles
32 We Need a Miracle Joy, We Need a Rock and Roll Boy 239
33 La Vie Enchanté 245
34 City of Night 249
35 Trouble with the Sweet Stuff 253
36 Drunken, Stupid, & Naked 257
37 I Bear a Charmed Life, Which Must Not Yield 262
38 Hollywood Promises 269
39 Have a Fuck on Me 274
40 The Madam and the Preacher 281
41 Mind Fire 287
42 Bitter Pill 293
43 My Road Is Long, It Lingers On 298
Epilogue 307
Acknowledgments 313
Index 315