Billy Idol is the first artist in this series that probably doesn’t strictly qualify as “metal,” but 1993’s Cyberpunk definitely meets the other qualifications – and there’s a lot of crossover with the metal crowd.
Idol made a name in the 1980s with punk-influenced hard rock, but in 1993, he threw fans quite a curve ball with an electronics-laden concept album about the dark side of technology. It was supposed to be an evolution. Instead, it almost ended Billy Idol’s career. Cyberpunk landed in the discount bin within months of its release, and it would be more than a decade before we’d hear new music from the rocker.
The album is mostly forgotten now, but I believe it’s gotten a bad rap. Yes, I said it. Cyberpunk is not a bad album. Weird, yes, but not bad. In fact, it has a couple of my favorite Billy Idol songs on it.
He introduced the idea of his electronic evolution slowly with the single “Shock the System,” which is probably the nearest thing to a classic Billy Idol tune on this record. The electronics are there, but it’s a raging rock tune that’s not far off the mark. I get why fans were stunned by the rest of the album. So was I. In fact, I didn’t always have the opinion of the record that I do now. In 1993, with the exception of a couple of songs, I thought it deserved the bargain bin treatment – or perhaps the garbage bin treatment.
The two standout songs for the younger me were album opener “Wasteland” and the cocky and energetic “Power Junkie.” The former gave me very high hopes for Cyberpunk on first listen. I absolutely loved the post-apocalyptic feel of the song. It put me in the middle of a Mad Max-type future, that lone rebellious bastion of hope. The song still gets me every time and it’s a staple in my writing soundtracks.
“Power Junkie,” on the other hand, is all pumping adrenaline, from the opening sample of Muhammad Ali telling the world he’s a bad man through to Billy Idol screaming that same quote in his own way on the chorus. If you need to get pumped for something, this song is a great choice. And I loved it – despite an electronic beat that, as a metal guy in my early 20s, I absolutely hated on anything else.
That was where the album lost me. Everything else seemed so mellow and trippy in comparison to those three songs. But I revisited it years later and discovered that, with age for both myself and Cyberpunk, I enjoyed it far more.
Looking back, there’s more Idol on this record than I gave credit for at the time. “Then the Night Comes,” like “Shock the System,” was close to what I was used to with just a few electronic additions. Oddly, I didn’t like it much at the time, but it’s a favorite from the record now. “Neuromancer,” despite its techno beat and large lack of guitars, is definitely a Billy Idol song in its attitude and melodies with a catchy hook and a weird, but cool chorus. The same could be said of “Heroin.” With a big Steve Stevens guitar riff and a little (OK, maybe a lot) less synth, it probably wouldn’t be that out of place on one of his previous releases.
The weirdness, though, sometimes slips into the silly, for example on “Adam in Chains,” where the first three minutes of the song is this odd hypnosis ritual before we get into the actual tune which finds Idol attempting to channel his inner David Bowie, not for the only time on this record. Whether he succeeds, well, I guess that’s up to the listener, but it’s a cool chill-out song and a sharp contrast to songs like “Power Junkie” or “Shock to the System.”
That very element, though, was the downfall of Cyberpunk for me at the time. There was no way that 21-year-old 1993 me was ever going to enjoy songs like “Love Labours On” or “Shangrila.” I wanted balls-out rock ‘n’ roll, something that let me pump my fist and cry “more, more, more.” This was not it. Today, I can appreciate the nuances of these songs and the middle-eastern flavor of the latter.
I have to admit that some songs still don’t resonate with me. The dance beats of the album-closing “Mother Dawn,” for example, still do nothing for me – even though it has a bit more guitar than some of the other tracks.
As a concept album, Cyberpunk is certainly flawed. I’m never quite sure what statement Billy Idol is trying to make, other than some vague notion of technology’s effect on the world. Is it good? Is it bad? Hard to tell. Supposedly, the concept was influenced by William Gibson’s Neuromancer, but it really doesn’t seem to have much to do with the book anywhere but in Idol’s mind.
Admittedly, I’ll more often go to Rebel Yell or his self-titled debut for my Billy Idol needs, but Cyberpunk is an interesting piece of his history. In the right mood, it’s a great listen, and there are definitely a few outstanding tracks no matter your mood. If, like me, you wrote it off back when this album was new, it’s worth revisiting.
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