80s punk rocker Billy Idol has a new Christmas album out. His myspace includes video and a clip from the album along with an interview about it. He seems to be aware his latest release might come off as a bit lame, but he doesn’t really care. Idol says he has bills to pay too, and that it’s a gift for his friends and family:
A Billy Idol Christmas album is one of those ideas so profoundly wrong; it’s right — so deeply uncool that, in the end, it’s strangely cool. Now ready for wrapping, Happy Holidays is not just another Billy Idol album; it’s a revealing and even heartwarming Yultide expression of love….
Happy Holidays is an excellent Christmas gift, but who’s it for?
Well, I see this album as just a massive happy holiday’s greeting card. It’s a musical gift for my loved ones, but everybody else has to pay. Hey, I have bills to pay too [laughs]. Really, it’s just meant as my way of saying “Happy Holidays” to my fans and my family.
Were you always a big Christmas fan?
Not at all. In the 70s and 80s, I would just get stoned for Christmas – a very different way of celebrating. But during the 90s, my parents, my kids and some of the rest of the family started coming to my house in L.A. for Christmas. I basically became the hose, the guy in charge of the music – The Christmas DJ. And that’s the best gig in the world because you get to find a soundtrack that gets everybody in the Christmas spirit
The album includes Christmas favorites like Silver Bells, White Christmas, and Let it Snow. There are two new Christmas songs from Idol titled Happy Holiday, and Christmas Love.
Reviewers on Amazon note that it’s typical holiday fare and doesn’t have the rock edge they expect from Billy Idol.
You can judge for yourself from the video clips below, found through Idol’s myspace.
Here’s Idol’s version of White Christmas
And here is his original song, Happy Holiday:
It’s kind of a disconnect to me to see Idol doing Christmas songs, but he still looks hot and he seems to have a sense of humor about it.
OMG that is some crap. Sounds like he was accompanied by a casio keyboard from Target. If he did some rockabilly type Christmas stuff sort of like Brian Setzer has done he’d sound great. He has the pipes for that sort of music. This is just sell-out, make a quick buck, rubbish.
Well, he still has a great voice that always nice to hear.
It’s so weird that I don’t know if I hate it or love it.
Remember the aging rocker in Love Actually…
haha Lynette!
Celebitchy, I agree with you – it is very strange, but it seems like he’s having fun with it. I personally hate x-mas music, but it’s pretty standard fare.
Do you suppose he’ll be doing that dumb ass sneer when he’s 60?
Guess he has bills to pay just like Rod Stewart who has gone this route too.
Sigh…it’s a sad, hang your head in shame, take a drill to your temple sort of thing to see Idol doing this kind of tripe. As a PunkRocker-Till-I-Die Grrl I’m horrible ashamed that anyone ever associated Idol with Punk. (I mean the man couldn’t even get a try out with the Ramones!!!) For him to do this is a disgusting ploy to make money adn get himself back in the media and should be ashamed. He went the way of the Sex Pistols, for shame Billy- for shame.
That, and I hate christmas music, hate celebrities coveringn christmas music and hate this. They used cheesy effects that you can accomplish on any iMovie program, the camera is constantly moving and trying to pul him out of frame (maybe the cameraguy was thinking what I was thinking….) Use a steadycam dude, You’re a professional! And that smirk…I just want to wipe it from his face. gah!
This has made me a very unhappy grrl. I need a beer now.
Billy Idol is so cool that he can do whatever the crap he wants to! I think this is AWESOME. And I want that album!!!
I think the album is fun. Yeah Billy!
Yes, Love Actually, the first thing that poped into my head. Life imitating Art!
If done with some genuine care and creativity, this might have been decent. But it wasn’t done that way, and is nausea-inducing instead, even for someone who likes Xmas music (like me).