Billy Idol’s Cyberpunk era is upon us again. Two music videos from the rock icon’s 1993 album, “Heroin” and “Adam In Chains,” have officially made their way to YouTube for the first time.
Produced by Robin Hancock, Cyberpunk was a concept album inspired by Idol’s fledgling use of technology in his life and music. The pioneering, heavily experimental release incorporated electronics into his sound to an unprecedented extent and leaned on elements such as the internet, email, and online communities for marketing purposes.
“Heroin” was Cyberpunk’s lead single, setting the tone for the project with a thumping, morphing Velvet Undergound cover that weaves in Patti Smith’s famed “Gloria” lyric “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.” In Billboard at the time, critic Larry Flick wrote that Idol’s “penchant for caustic sounds and frenetic rhythms makes this track ring remarkably true.” The video for the “Heroin” radio edit, a long sought-after rarity among Idol fans, has now been uploaded to the rocker’s YouTube channel. Previously it was viewable as part of the three-DVD box set The Music Video Anthology 1977-2015.
“Adam In Chains” was released later in the Cyberpunk cycle. Directed by Julien Temple, the video features Idol bound in a chair under observation by scientists. He is eventually hypnotized and placed into a virtual reality simulator, where he ventures into an underwater fantasy world. When Idol rejects the fantasy, the water world is consumed by flames, and his real-life body convulses in the chair.
The Cyberpunk resurrection comes as Idol promotes the new documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead. Directed by Jonas Åkerlund and produced by Live Nation Studios, the film tells the story of Idol’s rise from an everyman punk rocker fronting Generation X to an MTV-era celebrity changing the face of rock stardom. Billy Idol Should Be Dead had its theatrical premiere last month and will begin streaming on Hulu in the US on March 26.
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