Billy Idol vs. Sid Vicious

[Guest Len B'stard]

I never got round to listening to that one, tuned out after CyberPunk, is it good then yeah? Whats it like musically, like rock n rolley or..?

[machinegunner]

Yeah it's rock n' rolley, and quite punky actually in a slightly Greendayish or Rancid 2000s upgraded punk-charged kind of way, which I had some reservations about but hey It's Billy and the guy has never sold out or let me down, and it hardly pauses for solos. Some of the songs are quite melodic and a couple of slower tunes. Cyberpunk i also liked but it took me a lot longer to take in.

[Guest Len B'stard]

It's amazing how fresh faced the bastard looks too, amazing considering what he's been through. Then again although he did the sex, drugs and hedonism bit pretty fuckin' hard it was only really for a few years in the 80s if you think about it so thats probably why. One thing i like about Bill is that he's a very intelligent sensible straightforward sort of bloke, I mean he's not like...he don't have 'issues' if you get my meaning, sensible lad is ol' William Broad of Stevenage.

And he's never been cavelier or neglecting of his craft, even as early as the Generation X era he was doing like, dub versions of songs, shows how influential reggae was, i think they did a dub version of Wild Youth called Wild Dub with tons of echo and all that, it was fantastic. And a John Lennon cover, that takes a bit of nerve as a punk but then i guess he had the freedom to do that cuz they all considered him a sellout anyway so in a weird way it frees you up cuz once you're a sellout you have a certain freedom, don't you?

Edited June 6, 2013 by sugaraylen

[Zint]

You lot getting along now then?

[Guest Len B'stard]

I never didn't get along with him, he just has a strange tendency to attempt to try and bait me into arguments without waiting to see what side i'd be on in the first place

[dalsh327]

To me "Billy Idol" is Steve Stevens and Billy Idol, not just Billy.

I think this was the only time Gen X reunited. Forgot about that hairdo!

[Guest Len B'stard]

Steve Stevens bears an eerie resemblence, both physically and in certain aspects of his guitar playing, to Johnny Thunders. Fantastic player though.

[T.wa.T]

Would I be wrong in saying the legend of Sid has misled a vast amount of the worlds youth. He was a junkie, supposed murderer of his girl, couldn't play the instrument for which he is so famous for playing and barely played a lick for his world famous band. Lol

Somebody educate me on the legend of Sid!!

[Guest Len B'stard]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Edited June 6, 2013 by sugaraylen

[Zint]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Exactly!

[T.wa.T]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Yeah, I totally get that. So I guess its more of his reputation that draws kids in. Most of which don't realise his lack of talent as a musician till later on.

[T.wa.T]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Yeah, I totally get that. So I guess its more of his reputation that draws kids in. Most of which don't realise his lack of talent as a musician till later on.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Yeah, I totally get that. So I guess its more of his reputation that draws kids in. Most of which don't realise his lack of talent as a musician till later on.

I'm pretty sure everyone recognises his lack of musical talent right off the bat, it's the first thing you hear about him, y'know, Sid Vicious, bass player, Sex Pistols, couldn't play, i don't think it's something that suddenly occurs to people once they're deep into fan-dom.

[T.wa.T]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Yeah, I totally get that. So I guess its more of his reputation that draws kids in. Most of which don't realise his lack of talent as a musician till later on.

I'm pretty sure everyone recognises his lack of musical talent right off the bat, it's the first thing you hear about him, y'know, Sid Vicious, bass player, Sex Pistols, couldn't play, i don't think it's something that suddenly occurs to people once they're deep into fan-dom.

Yeah I hear ya. Wish I could get into them, bought Bollocks when I was a kid, but it never clicked with me. I blame GnR cuz I found them first but you'd think because they're of the same ilk I'd been drawn in. I do like their last concert in S.F, great gig.

[Guest Len B'stard]

You should check out Live at Longhorns, it's fantastic

[T.wa.T]

You should check out Live at Longhorns, it's fantastic

Just took a peek for about three songs, gotta finish it up later. One thing I do love about the Pistols is that for a band with one guitarist they re loud as hell, plus Johnny's arrogance is great.

Thanks for the heads up.

[dalsh327]

Most people who became fans of the Sex Pistols never got to see them or even saw any of the concert footage for years. Rock N Roll Swindle and The Punk Rock Movie was about it as far as video goes.

[phaeryen]

I love Billy Idol. He was a videostar, but he was also smart, and since he didn't get everything right away, more like had to get up and try again a couple of times and was on the mature side of things when he broke out big time, was a big boost to him. He was fairly conscious of everything that was going on, what was built around him, but he was cool and english enough to go with it, laughing all the way. His image and the videos and the sex appeal thing that was there, it was a joke to him even when he was living the life 100%.

A true musician at heart too, since even after his career his health and his lovelife were destroyed by a combination of his excessive lifestyle and a motor bike accident, he still said that he would sacrifice anything for a good song.

[moreblack]

So with Syd, was the guy just empty hype?

[machinegunner]

So with Syd, was the guy just empty hype?

Yea. But he was the perfect embodiment of the idea:

'if this virtually talentless fuck-up can rock out in a band so can anyone' , not so much the embodiment of any punk ethos, that his master Malcolm McLaren (Vicious wan't even his own idea, that's how much of a puppet he was) devised.

He predicted the effect Vicious would have, that waves of conformists would subsequently latch onto Never Mind The Bollocks.

Pretty ironic really when they were supposedly making anti-conformists statements... but therein lies the paradox - they were sellouts, but it took sellouts to make all the 'punk' statements that they made like 'figure it out for yourself'. That was all part of it, they sold the public these virtuous ideas but they also wanted to be huge and presumably make lots of dough. They even played with the idea of being sellouts, they didn't deny it (eg. 'the big rock n' roll swindle' or whatever it was called).

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Exactly!

So who did you vote for, Zint? Who, in your mind (...), is the superiour punk?

Billy Idol - LA Woman ... in honour of Ray Manzarek R.I.P

Edited June 7, 2013 by machinegunner

[Guest Len B'stard]

So with Syd, was the guy just empty hype?

All hype is empty, thats why they call it hype, whats real is the human beings underneath.

[machinegunner]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Flawed yes, but are you sure he was deep?

[Guest Len B'stard]

Sidney wasn't rated for being a musician, or an artist, he is rated or was rated for being the living embodiment of a certain ethos (no, not punk, at least not entirely). He was a deeply flawed person but it is the nature of those flaws that are why he is loved. Sidney was a very very silly boy.

Flawed yes, but are you sure he was deep?

If he weren't he fuckin' is now Actually, sadly, like everything else about Sidney, even the demise of his remains was a monumental fuck up, his mum Anne Beverley dropped the urn near an air vent and poor ol' Sidney blew all over Heathrow So next time you're in Heathrow, deep breaths!

[izzygirl]

Who the hell is Sidney?

[Guest Len B'stard]

Sit down, have a glass of water, think about it and have a stab at it dearie