I never got around to actually writing it down, but for a long time I maintained a mental list of musical acts I wanted to see live. Most of these were bands or performers that I missed during their heyday in my teens, or older “living legend” types who rarely toured, or at least rarely (if ever) came to Utah. Now, thanks to all the nostalgia touring and comebacks in recent years, I’ve been able to cross off Clapton, B.B. King, Journey, Def Leppard, Pat Benatar, Chris Isaak, Bon Jovi, and KISS — essentially my top-priority “A-listers.” That leaves the fantasy list, i.e., the ones who are semi-retired, unlikely to ever come to Utah, or really expensive/difficult to get in to see: Springsteen, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Bob Seger. There are also some acts that I’ve seen before that I’d like to see again, if they’re in the area: Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Night Ranger, ZZ Top. And there’s my main man Rick Springfield, of course — Anne and I have a standing date to see him whenever he’s nearby.
And then there’s the B-list, the acts that I like well enough but have never really been must-see “holy grails” for me. Billy Idol is one of those. I liked some of his music back in the day — “Rebel Yell,” “Hot in the City,” and “Dancing with Myself” all come to mind — but honestly I was always put off by his persona. My musical tastes as a teen and twentysomething were far more informed by my libido than by feelings of alienation or disaffection with the Establishment, so the punk scene held little appeal for me. And even though I always realized Billy’s solo work was pretty far removed from his punk roots, the leather-and-chains and the sneer and the raised fist were all too close to a subculture I just didn’t want any part of for me to really embrace him.
Well, funny things happen as you get older. At some point, I got over restricting my tastes according to rigid categories of what is and is not “my scene.” I picked up a Billy Idol Greatest Hits CD and discovered that I recognized and liked a lot more of his work than I had realized. And Billy himself mellowed. I’ve been downright charmed by his recent television appearances to plug his new memoir, Dancing with Myself. He comes across very much like Rick Springfield, actually, as somebody who survived a lot of really bad decisions and is grateful for it, who passed through all the bullshit that comes with celebrity and lived to tell the tale, who acquired some wisdom along the way and also learned to laugh at himself a bit. Hell, he even learned to smile. And when he does his trademark sneer now, it always seems to end in a self-deprecating chuckle that says, “Can you believe I’m still doing this?” In short, he’s turned into someone who seems like he’d be pretty damn cool to hang out with for a while. Only a couple weeks ago, I told Anne that if he happened to come to our Nevada-border outpost town of Wendover — to the casino venue where all the old ’80s acts play these days — it might be kind of fun to see him.
Well, as it so happens, I learned yesterday that he’ll be playing Salt Lake in just over a month as part of the X96 Nightmare Before Christmas holiday show (X96 is a local radio station, for my out-of-state readers). And I have to say, I’m actually pretty darn stoked about seeing him. I ordered the tickets within an hour of getting the announcement. It’s a general-admission show in a small, warehouse-style venue, so it really ought to be something — up close and personal, and probably pretty reminiscent of his early punk years. It’ll be different from the arena-style shows I’m used to, for certain. And we don’t even have to drive out to Nevada!
To celebrate this head-spinning turn of events that once would’ve seemed so unlikely — me, going to a Billy Idol concert! — here’s one of my favorite songs of his, a catchy tune called “Cradle of Love” from his 1990 album Charmed Life. It was his last top-40 single in the United States — it made it all the way to number two on the Billboard chart — and the video is… well, it’s pretty sexy, in my humble opinion. I guess my musical tastes are still driven, at least in part, by my libido:
Just as an aside, I wonder if anyone has ever totaled up how many videos involve sexy women (or girls, in this case) walking all over some hapless schmoe who doesn’t know what hit him? That was the motif for just about every one of ZZ Top’s MTV clips, for instance. Inquiring minds want to know!
