'You saw it explode': Billy Idol recalls excitement of 'Rebel Yell'

British punk rocker Billy Idol can barely believe one of his greatest hits was more than 40 years ago.

"It's peculiar," he told dpa in a telephone interview, thinking back to 1983, when "Rebel Yell" was released and brought him global stardom. "It's a long time, but of course, it feels like it was just yesterday."

To mark the 40th anniversary, an expanded new edition of the cult album is being released, somewhat belatedly. "I think we wanted to make some kind of a statement with the second record because so many people were sort of slagging off the 80s," he says.

"The people in the 60s and 70s just didn't want to think the 80s was going to be any good at all. So there was a big reason for us, apart from me cementing myself with America, was we wanted to make a really great record to show everybody from the 60s and 70s... there's still great music coming out."

By "we," Idol means US guitarist and songwriter Steve Stevens, who he still works with today. He also kept collaborating with British producer Keith Forsey in the US, who worked with him on the punk band Generation X in the 1980s.

"We really wanted to do something great, but we didn't know if we could," he says. "It was risky. It was more of a challenge. You didn't really know what was going to happen, but that's what life is all about."

In terms of process, the duo did what they had with the first album, he says. "We just started to work through songs, me and Steve, in New York. And then every now and again, Keith Forsey would come to New York and have a listen to what we were doing and either give us a few pointers on what we're doing, then he'd go off again."

They did not overthink it. "We're really living for the moment, writing songs for that moment, not really thinking about the future or anything," he says.

He was calling London from his adopted home of Los Angeles, where he first settled down more than 30 years ago.

He emigrated to the US in 1981, initially living in New York City for his career, after having released several singles with Generation X, including "Dancing With Myself." But a breakthrough remained elusive.

"It's just that in England, things that go fashions or music styles or whatever, go through very quickly," he says of what drove him stateside.

"I mean, a record can be over in three weeks in England, whereas it's just starting to get going after six weeks in America. So if you've just been in a band like I was in Generation X, and it breaks up, it's very easy in England for you to end up sort of propping up a bar, a bit of a has-been."

It seemed only natural to go where he knew he would find other like-minded people, namely New York. "I knew there was a ton of great musicians in New York. I met some of them when they'd come over to England during the punk rock days. So you just knew there was a load of people in New York. And so if you're going to go anywhere to reignite this solo career, why not go to New York?"

Plus, he already had an American manager in Bill Aucoin, who had brought the band Kiss to fame. "He also knew there was this 24-hour music cable channel coming, which was going to be called MTV, which I was going to be perfect for," he recalls.

His debut album, called simply "Billy Idol," was released in 1982 and was also commercially successful thanks to the music video for the single "White Wedding." What he needed was to cement this success with a second album.

"Rebel Yell," released on November 10, 1983, delivered exactly that breakthrough, paving the way for Billy Idol's career.

Alongside the immortal title track of the same name, the LP had other hits now regarded as rock classics, such as "Flesh For Fantasy", "Catch My Fall" and the ballad "Eyes Without A Face."

Other album songs such as the fast-paced "Blue Highway" or "(Do Not) Stand In The Shadows" are in no way inferior to the singles.

"Rebel Yell" is the perfect fusion of hard rock, new wave and danceable pop with a punk attitude. With it, Idol established his own musical style.

After that, he says, he was no longer "held in" by punk. "We went all over the map a little bit with our music, and I did that in my solo career."

"If I wanted to do a soul song, I was going to do it. If I wanted to do a ballad, I was going to do it. If I wanted to do a rock song, I was going to do it. It's Billy Idol music." That could just as well mean "Rebel Yell" as "Eyes Without a Face," he says.

He became a figurehead for new music channel MTV and was just as big a hit on the radio and in discos. "I said to Bill Aucoin, what we need, for want of a better word, is a rock and roll disco dance producer. I was going to take the music into this danceable place straight down the line."

Aucoin asked Giorgio Moroder, a star producer and disco pioneer, though he declined, but recommended his drummer and sound man Keith Forsey.

He had played drums in major West German bands before experimenting with disco pop and working with artists such as Boney M. and Italo-pop icons La Bionda. He was ideal for Idol's vision.

The "40th Anniversary Deluxe Expanded Edition" of "Rebel Yell" includes a second CD or LP with bonus tracks. They include two songs that almost ended up on the album in 1983 and are now being released for the first time: the rock song "Best Way Out Of Here" and a fantastic cover of soul ballad "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Rose Royce, which Idol makes his own.

The track lay dormant, archived for four decades due to Madonna who recorded the song at around the same time for her album "Like A Virgin."

"We had a full complement of songs for 'Rebel Yell.' So it was a bit like, well, okay, let's leave 'Love, Don't Live Here,' and let's revisit it at some point. And we never came back to it until today," says Idol.

Little more was needed. "Steve just had to play a new guitar on the outro. Otherwise, it was all there," Idol says.

The bonus CD also contains early versions and demo recordings of other songs.

Idol is still extremely active. After two EPs and a concert film, he is currently focusing on his next album. But "Rebel Yell" remains one of his best and most important works.

"We were just working really hard to really make that second step," Idol says, looking back. "It was a year-long tour. We went from clubs to theatres to big venues. You saw it explode... It was really exciting.