"It's a nice day to start again..."

 

Oh, dear. I'm not quite sure what to say about this, and I must confess that it leaves me a tad confused. If I tell you that Billy Idol, the famous 80's sneerer of "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell" fame, has made a bubbly Christmas carols album - without a hint of irony - what is your reaction?

 

On his personal site, you can read a lengthy interview with the man born William Broad, where he discusses his personal growth from punk rock days - where he admits that "in the 70's and 80's, I just got stoned for christmas: it's a different way of celebrating" - to the new family-man who realised that not only are christmas carols "powerful songs in their own way; they're actually really heavy", but my favourite yultide Revelation De Billy that, gee whiz, whaddya' know; "Christmas is not about that. It's not about hammer and tonging it." Why didn't someone tell me that, earlier? And here I've been, all these years, thinking Christmas was about shooting up with half naked rock groupies! Thankyou, Billy. 

 

So while some may scratch their heads a little as to how Billy Idol Idol ended up from White Wedding to White Christmas, to Billy, it's all one big, natural, ever so logical creative and personal evolution, and it's just as well he wasn't singing Christmas carols, before (you know, when he was famous), because "if we did do a Christmas album back then, it would have done it all punk rock, and that would be wrong."

 

Better to do it now that your middle-aged and broke - right, Billy?

 

"Hey, I've got bills to pay, too!" he laughs.

 

But of course, being reduced to financing his own records isn't in any way a step down for Billy. Far from it, it's all another step up on the great journey of Idolness. It has provided him with the kind of freedom of creativity that without, well, the world may never have known the explosion of seasonal love and joy that is the "Happy Holidays" CD.

 

"There wasn't all the stress and pressure because you're in a big studio and it's costing everybody a fortune and everybody is sweating 'Where's the hit single?' That's all gone with this project."

 

That would be the understatement of the century - or, at very least, the Christmas holiday season - but do go on, Mr Idol...

 

"Doing this album was mostly just me and Brian Tichy, so it was easy to keep two people in the right frame of mind, so that it stayed on course. Otherwise, if more people had to come into it, I think it would have been easy to lose the spirit of Christmas. After all, I didn't want to be standing here arguing about the spirit of Christmas, for God's sake - like, "Look motherfucker, you better lay back on that part about Frosty."

 

Just as well, then.

 

Billy has, in true millenial fashion, used Myspace.com to promote the album. To be honest, when reading his interview where he praises the power of Myspace for giving him the opportunity to release his Christmas spirit to the world, I kinda felt bad for poor Billy - or at least I did, after visiting the filmclip's Myspace page (there are several Christmas clips there, if the one below is not enough for you) and realising that his beloved public haven't exactly invested in the spirit (or perhaps they haven't heard enough of the album to be infected with the Idol holiday joy?). Comments included, "Bah humbug... terrible", "He looks so retarded", "Goodbye Billy Idol's carreer, hello hilarious Chritmas albums!", or the more simplistic (but I knew exactly where she was coming from) "OH MY GOD". I almost wanted to sign up and say something... you know... nice. Like... well... I don't know. Probably something all Christmassy - but I dare say "Thanx Billy! From now on, all you're troubles will be out of sight" is, in all fairness, a lie.

 

So one has to wonder if Billy's plans to do a follow up album, next year, will be realised ("There's just so many fucking Christmas songs," he explains) - but for all it's worth, I've just ordered my copy. What can I say? There'll always be a place in my CD tower for pop's most tragic moments, and I'm sure I'll get a kick out of Billy, come Christmas evening, when the family have scuttled back to suburbia, and I'm finally by myself... stoned. Unlike Billy, I learnt to balance the two. But each to their own evolution, I guess.

 

Enjoy...