There was a time where we might've never seen Billy Idol become a star. The 80s were a wild time, drugs and excess in abundance informing the music we loved. This was especially true for rock, punk, and pop. People were dying left and right to the epidemic and we've seen our legends die way too soon because of it. One of those people could've been the "Rebel Yell" rocker himself. He even admits it in the title of his new documentary, "Billy Idol Should Be Dead."
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Recently, the film premiered at NYC's Tribeca Festival on Tuesday night. Captured by the New York Post, it shows how drugs deeply affected Idol's livelihood, particularly heroin. One homecoming to London in 1984 after moving to New York 3 years earlier saw the legend nearly overdose due to his addiction.
Billy Idol Nearly Dies From a Heroin Overdose During His Prime
"There was a moment there where, you know, I'd done what I set out to do. I was coming back to England... in triumph, and I nearly ruined it. We flew to London where we met a load of our pals that we knew. They had some of the strongest heroin, Persian brown I think it was. Everybody did a line or so, and they all nodded out, except for me and this mate of mine. We kind of went, 'Well, that's funny.' So we did a few more lines," Idol recalls.
The experience almost turns fatal and tragic quickly. Thankfully, the people around him acted quickly. "I was basically dying. I was turning blue," Billy adds. "So they put me in an ice cold bath, and I remember them walking me around on the top of the building, you know, on the roof."
Now, surviving his addiction all these years later, Idol reflecting on the punk rock culture and why it revolved around drugs to begin with. "That's what was going on. The scene had embraced hard drugs really. A number of people were on it. [So] you know, you're wide open for it. A lot of the people we loved were all heroin addicts," Idol says. "Lou Reed wrote the song 'Heroin.' The New York Dolls were all heroin addicts practically. So we weren't thinking how dangerous it was. In fact, you're thinking quite the opposite. Maybe this could unleash something."
