BILLY IDOL
Whiplash Smile
After the Wedding: Steve Stevens remembers the early days of true international stardom
BY JOE BOSSO
FOLLOWING THE 1981 breakup of his punk band Generation X, singer Billy Idol left the U.K. and began a solo career in New York City. There, he hooked up with Manhattan’s best-kept guitar whiz secret, Steve Stevens, and the two got off to a fast start with the dance rock hit “White Wedding” off 1982’s Billy Idol. A year later, things broke wide open with the multi-platinum Rebel Yell, which included a trio of radio and MTV smashes: “Flesh for Fantasy,” “Eyes Without a Face” and the blitzing title cut.