Billy Idol turns 65 today. His song “Rebel Yell” is about a “fantastic” relationship. It peaked at number-46 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billy Idol’s second album as a solo artist, Rebel Yell, turned into the biggest seller of his career on the strength of four Top 25 rock singles: the title track, “Eyes Without a Face,” “Flesh for Fantasy” and “Catch My Fall.” Idol tells what he had in mind when he wrote “Rebel Yell.”
“Well, I was really writing it about, like, a one-on-one relationship that is really fantastic. And it says things like, ‘She doesn’t like slavery.’ ‘She won’t sit and beg.’ It was about when you’re really in love it’s not a domination thing, it’s a one-on-one thing. And then, of course, it has the element of in the midnight hour, yeah, when you’re really getting down to it she’s fantastic, she wants more. She’s never satisfied. And who is, y’know?”
