Dancing With Myself

One of the most eye opening things I took away from reading
Dancing With Myself was just how intelligent
Billy Idol really is. For obvious reasons, the media never portrays him in that light because he is a 'Rock Star' and with that comes certain connotations and expectations. It's a bit unfair to
Billy that this is just the way it is. But the book goes a long way in correcting this. As for the book itself, it's all there. Well, mostly there. A good chunk of the book is devoted to his
Generation X years as well as the bedlam surrounding his
Self-title debut,
Rebel Yell, Whiplash Smile and
Charmed Life, going into great detail of how some of his biggest hit songs came to be. I found this to be fascinating. Also cool and was getting to hear somone else's take on his manager
Bill Aucoin. As a long time
KISS fan, we all know about him basically being the 6th member of
KISS (after
Sean Delaney who is consider the 5th member). Up until this book, all the stories that I know about
Bill have come from
KISS books. So, to hear what
Billy had to say was very interesting to say the least. FYI, it's basically the same situation that he had in
KISS and the fall out from his drug use.
Billy wasn't immune to his ways either and goes into great detail about his own spiraling addiction.
The book isn't perfect. One of the things that I was really looking forward to was hearing what exactly happened between
Billy and
Steve Stevens and why their partnership dissolved prior to
Charmed Life.
Billy mentions a shouting match and how they came to blows once with
Steve getting the better of him, but I still didn't come away knowing anything substantial beyond what has been rumored or speculated over the years. I do think
Billy was holding back something else and just didn't want to go to deep with it. Just glad that
Steve is back in the band (has been for a long time). As for the rest of the book, it's a fast and easy read. Definitely worth checking out from the
Library. One last thing, reading the last few pages will leave tears in your eyes when
Billy talks about his Mum and Dad.