Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens reveals secret to Idol’s lasting appeal

Billy Idol‘s longtime guitarist and collaborator Steve Stevens has worked with him since the early ’80s and has a good idea as to why Idol’s popularity has lasted as long as it has.

“I think it’s always been cool to like Billy Idol, and our records were never something you could pigeonhole,” he says in a new interview with Guitar World.

“I came from the rock side with guitar heroes like Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, a little prog, some new wave and New York punk,” he says. “Then you have Billy with the punk-rock/Elvis thing, and our early producer Keith Forsey came from working with [Italian composer] Giorgio Moroder on dance records like Donna Summer. So, because we’ve always had this gumbo of different styles, we were never pigeonholed when it came to writing music.”

Stevens notes that while Idol’s biggest hits, like “Rebel Yell,” “White Wedding” and “Eyes Without a Face,” came in the ’80s, “Billy’s roots go back to 1977 London.”

“I think that’s served us really well. He’s got a timeless image and people appreciate that,” Stevens adds. “He’s a real-deal rock ’n’ roll star. Honestly, we sound better now than we did back then.”

Idol released his last album, Dream Into It, in 2025. A documentary on his life, Billy Idol Should Be Dead, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, was recently acquired by Evan Saxon Productions and is expected to have a theatrical release in early 2026.

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