The Eddie Van Halen Compliment That Michael Jackson Recycled
· Ultimate Classic RockMichael Jackson once paid Steve Stevens a huge compliment. The guitarist only discovered later it was the same one Jackson had previously given Eddie Van Halen.
Stevens had never worked with anyone but Billy Idol when he got the call from producer Quincy Jones to work on Jackson's Bad album, which arrived five years after 1982's Thriller. Stevens admits to being apprehensive about the gig, but he soon discovered there was nothing to worry about.
“With Billy it was always myself, Billy, a producer and an engineer. It was a very small group of people,” Stevens tells Guitar World. “When I flew to L.A. to do the Michael Jackson thing, I was thinking, ‘There’s going to be this huge entourage and all this crazy shit.’”
READ MORE: Top 10 Billy Idol Songs
That turned out not to be the case: “I opened the studio door, and it was exactly like doing an Idol session – it was Michael, Quincy, and the engineer. So no big egos, no entourage, none of that stuff.”
Watch Michael Jackson’s ‘Dirty Diana’ Video
What Michael Jackson Told Steve Stevens at ‘Dirty Diana’ Session
Stevens soon began to enjoy the experience. “What was cool is we got what they had in mind, the melody and the rhythm stuff – and then Quincy said, ‘You go in there and do what you want,’” he remembered.
The result was a solo that helped “Dirty Diana” become a No. 1 hit in the U.S. and other locations, emulating the success of Van Halen’s contribution to “Beat It.”
“After I had done the solo … Michael says to me, ‘Hey, I really like the high notes,’” Stevens recalled. “I go, ‘Okay, cool.’ And then when I met Eddie, I said, ‘I just worked with Michael.’ He goes, ‘Hey, man, did he say he liked the high notes?’”
11. ‘Happy Holidays’ (2006)
In the conservative and pop star-driven realm of holiday albums, Billy Idol’s unexpected foray with ‘Happy Holidays’ sticks out like a sore thumb. But the middle-aged punk rocker tackled the project with a smile (well, a smirk) and all his charm -- proving it’s not that great a leap from “White Wedding” to “White Christmas,” after all.
10. ‘Devil's Playground’ (2005)
‘Devil’s Playground’ marked Idol's return from more than a decade in recording exile, apparently seeking to reclaim his pop-punk crown from the likes of Green Day and Sum 41. But that fickle fan base was no more convinced than older fans by made-to-order numbers like “Super Overdrive” and “Sherri," and saw not a returning forefather of their favorite music, but what looked like the mean old man next door shouting “Get off my lawn!”
9. ‘Cyberpunk’ (1993)
A concept album inspired by Idol’s efforts to grapple with computers and technology, 1993’s ‘Cyberpunk’ embraced industrial and electronic music in a bid to stay current amid alternative rock’s cultural sea change. But while you have to give him credit for going all in, most fans simply weren’t sold on his new direction and an album filled with flow-interrupting narratives trying to advance a storyline that, in a nutshell, was telling them “You got mail.”
8. 'Kings & Queens of the Underground' (2014)
Idol’s seventh album sounds like an admission that you can’t go home again, so the veteran punk chose to move forward, and liberated himself from those old creative shackles. It didn’t spell a return to the top of the charts, but eclectic tracks like the symphonic title track and updated Idol template of “Postcards From the Past” were elevated by lyrics that Idol’s aging fans could relate to.
7. 'Valley of the Dolls’ (1979)
Produced by Mott the Hoople legend Ian Hunter, Generation X’s sophomore album was intended to follow the Clash’s recent foray into commercial punk realms, but let’s just say that the Billy Idol/Tony James songwriting team was no Jones/Strummer. The album’s reckless diversity saw attempts like “Running With the Boss Sound” and ‘50s throwback “King Rocker” flying too close to the sun, while ponderous fare like “Paradise West” simply fell flat.
6. 'Billy Idol’ (1982)
An exercise in trial and error (just look at the original cover photo of the singer in garish rising sun shirt, quickly scrapped for a leather-clad improvement), Idol’s solo debut was a bit short on great songs, but it yielded two incontestable home runs in the dark and sinister “White Wedding” and conversely upbeat and swaggering “Hot in the City.” Opener “Come On, Come On,” was also pretty great, and it marked the beginning of Idol’s fruitful collaborations with guitarist Steve Stevens.
5. ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ (1981)
Confusingly named after a song on their debut from three years earlier, ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ was Generation X’s third and final album, as Idol’s solo ambitions beckoned. But this sure doesn’t sound like a dying band, thanks to the irresistible thrust of “Dancing With Myself” (which later became a hit for Idol) and “The Untouchables.” Things get a little iffy later on, but other forgotten gems include “Heaven’s Inside” and “What Do You Want.”
4. ‘Charmed Life' (1990)
A serious motorcycle accident in the early months of 1990 arrived just in time to settle Idol down a little (just a little) for his fourth album, the gratefully titled ‘Charmed Life.’ Though its production was still lush and its songs -- including hit single “Cradle of Love, “Prodigal Blues” and Doors’ cover “L.A. Woman” -- still geared for mass appeal, ‘Charmed Life’ sounded relatively mature and a prophesy of better things to come.
3. ‘Whiplash Smile’ (1986)
A product of its times, ‘Whiplash Smile’ was draped in overwrought '80s production and the decade’s all-around excess, but it worked on smash hits like “To Be a Lover,” “Don’t Need a Gun” and the gentle “Sweet Sixteen.” Elsewhere, rockers like “World’s Forgotten Boy” and “Man for All Seasons” simply digitized familiar Idol hallmarks (for good and bad), and Steve Stevens’ flailing guitar histrionics were both amazing and distracting.
2. 'Generation X' (1978)
They couldn’t out-shock the Sex Pistols, never mind out-sell the Clash, but Idol’s punk band Generation X (completed by bassist and co-songwriter Tony James, guitarist Bob Andrews and drummer Mark Laff) did themselves proud with this spunky 1978 debut. The energy never flags from start to finish, and songs like “One Hundred Punks,” “Ready Steady Go” and the more deliberate “Kiss Me Deadly” already hint at Idol’s pop interests and unwillingness to be shackled by punk’s anarchic ethos and aesthetic.
1. ‘Rebel Yell’ (1983)
Where countless other members of England’s original class of ‘70s punks had failed to break through (or never bothered to try), Idol successfully packaged punk for mainstream consumption with ‘Rebel Yell.’ So what if the title track was more metal than punk, or if the No. 4 smash “Eyes Without a Face” was an artsy, stylized power ballad? Most American kids were none the wiser and didn't care anyway, and radio- and MTV-ready cuts like “Blue Highway” and “Catch My Fall” left little room for error. Whatever your definition of pop-punk, it arguably starts with ‘Rebel Yell.’
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