Nice Day to Start Again

Thanks to endless '80s nostalgia--and a night with Los Lobos--Billy Idol is back. And so is the snarl

WHETHER YOU LOVE THE '80s or hate the '80s, there's no denying that Billy Idol was the '80s. Of the myriad good-looking, platinum-haired, leather-clad guys who sang about sex, Idol had the sharpest jaw, the spikiest mane, the tightest pants and a dirty trinity of hits about masturbation (Dancing with Myself), virginity (White Wedding) and the age of consent (Cradle of Love). Depth was not his specialty, but as a snarling, seductive wild child--half Elvis, half Sid Vicious--he captured the ebullient superficiality of the age. When he faded from the scene in 1990, the timing seemed preordained. He was as ill...

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