Billy Idol Had It All, and Then He ‘Lit It With Butane’

Billy Idol has lived in the same gated compound in the Hollywood Hills since 1987, a lair of stone-facade buildings, valley views and a waterfall. The previous owner, he said, “was a soft-porn guy.” Idol recalled accidentally watching those films and seeing “people [expletive] in the garden.” “Into the spirit, we carried it on,” he added with a raspy chuckle.

Now 70, he has laid out his years of sex, debauchery and addiction in a best-selling memoir and the documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead, directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The film opens on him composing an introspective song — “In ’84, I OD’d on my kitchen floor / woke up and had some more” — and his recent work and touring have prompted fresh recognition from rock peers like Dave Grohl.

Nearly 40 years after his debut at Madison Square Garden, Idol returned last summer promoting his reflective 2025 album Dream Into It with his biggest tour ever. Idol says a long career was far from assured; during darker decades he was snorting heroin and riding motorcycles too fast.

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