billy idol : eyes without a face classic or unbelievably amazing.

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PRIORITIZE. war criminals = worse than destiny's child. ACT LIKE YOU KNOW THIS.

For myself, I would gladly cease having to post my monthly series of "It's....in Iraq" on ILE, say. Perhaps I will never be given the chance to stop, and I will have to keep counting up the dead and snarling at the idiocies of this world. This said, I still happen to merrily believe that, say, the Darkness deserve massive and bloody beatings.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 00:21 (nineteen years ago) link

surely the dustbin of history is a more fitting (and more likely) punishment for pop acts we don't approve of, in which case RAGE, even strenuously retarded rage like ari in nyc's, counteracts our purpose, yes?

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 00:25 (nineteen years ago) link

I give to you an article from 1992 I've always enjoyed (which is why I transcribed it to share):

A peek into the past: Neil Tennant on the power of hate

While the references in many cases are dated, this specific point is potent:

That?s the thing about negative energy, about hatred. It can be positive. It throws into relief all the things you know you like. It tells you, by elimination, what you?re about. Sometimes you can only define yourself by what you hate.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 00:29 (nineteen years ago) link

it was printed in SELECT that one (october 92 issue) and there was an ace shot of neil t with 'hate' written across it in A4 on the opposing page. reminded me of ian curtis who used to have a jacket with 'hate' written on the back.

piscesboy, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link

'les yeaux sans visage' = an awesome move < /drunk>

cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Let's keep things in perspective here, shall we? Hateful JJ made a dismissive comment about Billy Idol, so I returned fire on Billy's behalf (fuck Prince!), and he got his little feelings hurt and decided to make things personal (taking potshots at the fact that I work at TIME Magazine...like it's my calling or something.) Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not nor ever have been a Bush supporter, so the point is moot. For the record, I don't think the magazine I work for is a tool of the Right, but if you want to think that, that's ultimately your choice. I can count the co-workers of mine there who voted for Bush on one hand.

War criminals, killer tsunamis, racism = a more serious matter than discussing music on the internet.

OTM.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:11 (nineteen years ago) link

i don't know ned, there's a real element of 'definining yrself by yr enemies' there that pretty much inescabably turns into crippling smugness. cf. dubya taking pride in who his enemies are (most disturbing thing about this is that he doesn't define his enemies as bin laden or zarqawi but moveon and michael moore - yeesh). dish best served cold, etc.

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:13 (nineteen years ago) link

where did i make a dismissive comment about billy idol? how strenuously retarded are you???

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i can count the number of timewarner hacks who've written something critical about bush on one finger - guess which one?

jj dncer, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link

haha - and really alex who are YOU to accuse someone of being hateful? i mean seriously do you even post three posts a year where you aren't spewing venom?

jj dncuh, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:18 (nineteen years ago) link

there's a real element of 'definining yrself by yr enemies' there that pretty much inescabably turns into crippling smugness

The same, though, as defining yourself by your friends and/or certain values -- both approaches can lead to a self-righteous state (but do not have to).

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:22 (nineteen years ago) link

where did i make a dismissive comment about billy idol? how strenuously retarded are you???

Well, by your estimation, the only reason "Eyes Without a Face" was a sizable hit was because that it was "Prince-like". Why not give Billy Idol a little of his own fuckin' credit, huh?

You interpret my opinions as hateful, yet we've never met. Nine-tenths of the comments I make are with tongue firmly in cheek and they are rarely meant as personal slights.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:27 (nineteen years ago) link

where did i say 'the only reason 'eyes without a face' was a sizable hit was because it was prince-like'? again i must ask, how strenuously retarded are you?

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:29 (nineteen years ago) link

his most prince like track probably (probably why it was the biggest hit at the time).

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Have you always been this much of an utter jackass, or is this simply a recent development? I must confess to not normally paying attention to your posts.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:31 (nineteen years ago) link

...and if you're so gung-ho to go after Bush-supporters, why not direct your imperious venom accurately for a change and go after Roger Fidelity.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:35 (nineteen years ago) link

ned agreed that defining yrself by what/who you approve can be just as crippling, and even all-embracing positivity (with the all being embraced falling within a narrow range)(cf. local music boosterism at alt-weaklies) can lead to banalities beyond the scope of yr ari in nyc type spewings (which is to say pretty fucking banal). the problem with both is the lack of critical thinking and/or willingness to engage with the object of desire/derision. fandom prompts uncritical adoration, this is known and well understood, but hatas who might appear to be skeptical, after all they decry what presumably someone else promotes, are just as thick headed and miss, just as much or probably even more so than the adoring fan, the key element of skepticism, which is probing with the hope that one will gain insight ie. curiosity. hatred of this type is even more unlikely to yield insight than blind fandom and the two both suffer from the unwillingness to understand (ie. think 'too much' about something) and furthermore taking pride in this unwillingness, which is a cornerstone of smugness.

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:40 (nineteen years ago) link

So much typing. So little content.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:43 (nineteen years ago) link

I keep reading the thread title as "Billy Joel: Eyes Without a Face," which would have been horrifying.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:52 (nineteen years ago) link

How were yer holidays, Ned?

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Yowsa!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:57 (nineteen years ago) link

alex is it yr contention that 'eyes without a face' isn't billy idol's most prince like hit or that when it charted top 40 radio wasn't riddled with prince like traxx? is it your position that a track that sounds fairly prince like released into a market very friendly to prince like traxx (cf. sheena easton, shalamar) and charting higher than other more typical 'billy idol'ish cuts but then subsequently declining in popularity (enough so that you can confuse it with another song) with the concurrent decline in the popularity of that prince sound that the success of the track had nothing to do with the, how you say, zeitgeist (which is just a fancy word for market here)? i mean if you want (since rebel yell did come out before purple rain ergo 'eyes without a face' did come out before 'the beautiful ones') we can say 'most gary numan but with a funky drum machine like track' instead but 'most prince like' seems quicker to the chase and more to the point yknow 'zeitgeist wise' which if you want to examine why 'eyes without a face' was his biggest hit at the time you might want to look at yknow, the time (note: not meaning morris day and the time)(who were pretty damn prince-like obv.). although since i gave myself an out by saying 'probably' (lesson o the day: moral certainty/obstinancy not an attractive trait - cf. ari in nyc, dubya) i'll say now that PROBABLY 'eyes without a face' was billy idol's biggest hit AT THE TIME cuz it was SLOWER and hence more ac and maybe am friendly AT THE TIME (was am radio still a factor with music in the early eighties? i know wabc went talk around then right?). o and it had the best video which, AT THE TIME, woulda definitely been a factor. probably.

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:58 (nineteen years ago) link

haha alex does that really count as 'so much typing' for a timewarner hack nowadays? i remember when journalists * cough * knew how to read in this country (of course now they just retype white house press briefs)(and put pretty paintings of dubya on the cover of their mags).

jj dncr, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Uncle! I give, I give. I don't have time to wade through your masturbatory gobbledigook. Moreover, I already conceded that "Eyes Without a Face" could be considered Prince-like (like I mentioned upthread, I initially mistook the subject of this thread as "Flesh for Fantasy", which I wouldn't consider Prince-esque at all) My intial point way back when was to give Billy Idol the credit for the song in question (Prince gets enough handjobs here on ILM, why give him another?) This wasn't supposed to touch off World War fuckin' Three.

And as a final thought before I go pick my wife up at the airport, while it's true that I do indeed work as a tiny cog in the vast corporate Death Star that is Time Warner, I do not define myself by my job. I dearly love a lot of the folks I work with at TIME magazine, but if you've been reading ILX over the past year and a half, you might've noticed a thread or two wherein I lament the fact that I'm working where I'm working and that I'm actually trying to leave the magazine (although my reasons have nothing to do with the magazine's hotly debated political leanings). You never honestly answered my question about how you pay your rent and feed your family, so I can't grill you in kind.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 02:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I just wanted to give a shoutout to cozen and agree that Les Yeaux Sans Visage is indeed a great MOVIE and I felt bad he/she was so drunk they weren't able to properly spell the word and the meaning was lost.

Other than that, you're all just a bunch of wet noodlers.

Bimble..., Wednesday, 29 December 2004 05:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Readin' murder books tryin' to stay hip!

My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 07:49 (nineteen years ago) link

ah, to be a teenager again ...

... both wr2 "eyes w/t a face" (a big hit when i was a teenager) and a certain poster's lefter-than-thou rhetoric (and who has, undoubtedly, never worked at a REAL job a day in his life, has no loans/mortgages/etc. to worry about, yadda yadda yadda).

Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 08:31 (nineteen years ago) link

jh

Riot Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 09:53 (nineteen years ago) link

The ludicrous bridge about the "psychedelic bus" is unbelievably amazing for sure.

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I showed the video to my 12th grade english class when each of us had to bring in an example of "comedy."

miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:07 (nineteen years ago) link

And Prince couldn't rock this hard if his purple little life depended on it.

Alex, COME ON.

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Understand that I do not think you are a racist, but I have noticed that you are disproportionally dismissive of black musicians than you are of white musicians. Like, to the point where I'm surprised when you say something positive about black musicians.

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:32 (nineteen years ago) link

He likes "Freek-A-Leek"!

miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Every time my dad asks me if I've heard That New Song by Those Black Guys I'm going to say yes, and that its called "Freak-A-Leek."

miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Billy Idol is motherfucking classic. Period.

Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Scroll around ILX and you'll see I've said nice things about "Freak-a-Leek" (which does indeed kick butt), Gil Scott Heron, Parliament (I started a damn thread about Mothership Connection, thank you very much), Bad Brains, New Kingdom and even Sade. I didn't say I hated Prince, I just shudder at the amount of fawning undue praise he receives here (hell, I own a copy of Purlple Rain like every other person on the planet). I just don't think his music is necessarily the fuckin' Rosetta Stone.

Don't call me a racist, please.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link

What part of "Understand I do not think you are a racist" was ambiguous in my last post?

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 23:10 (nineteen years ago) link

just please don't invoke the term. i get enough shi asit is. Sorry, Dan.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 23:11 (nineteen years ago) link

This thread got no human grace.

What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 23:21 (nineteen years ago) link

A Peter Murphy cover of this would be amazing.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 23:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Yes it would make perfect sense!

the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 23:47 (nineteen years ago) link

It could also be well sung by Nick Cave, perhaps. Or any crooner with a taste for the darker side of life.

the music mole (colin s barrow), Thursday, 30 December 2004 00:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Idol's doing Iggy Pop anyway

LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Thursday, 30 December 2004 00:28 (nineteen years ago) link

this humble little thread has gone to
places i could never have imagined a thread
about a billy idol song could ever go in 24 hours.

sheesh!

piscesboy, Thursday, 30 December 2004 00:40 (nineteen years ago) link

haha - I wandered around New York today looking for a used vinyl of Rebel Yell so I could play "Eyes Without A Face" (which blindsided me a year or two back) for my New Year's Eve gig.

without having seen this thread!
didn't find it (can always iPod it), but I did find Van Halen II, so whoever shows will "Dance The Night Away"

Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:02 (nineteen years ago) link

i would think that rebel yell would DEFINITELY be in a return bin or two. that it isn't is telling about something, i suppose?

Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:05 (nineteen years ago) link

and what the hell are THESE lyrics supposed to mean:

"i'm on a bus,
on a psychedelic trip,
between burning up books
and trying to stay hip"

does this belong in the same category as the contemporaneous lyrical hash that duran duran were slinging out? or is it actually supposed to MEAN something?

Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:07 (nineteen years ago) link

didn't hit ALL the stores, but saw lots of other Idol stuff on LP/12" etc, so yup fans beat me to it

xpost

Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:07 (nineteen years ago) link

this far in and nobody brings up Henry Booth Luce.

KIDDING!

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:19 (nineteen years ago) link

the lyrics in the sort of breakout part of this are fucking hilarious and terrible. they feel like they were written by someone's dad impersonating a rebellious figure. especially the way he sings "ooh, the gigolo pool".

When you hear the music you make a dip
Into someone else's pocket then make a slip.
Steal a car and go to Las Vegas oh, the gigolo pool.

Hanging out by the state line,
Turning holy water into wine
Drinkin' it down, oh
I'm on a bus on a psychedelic trip
Reading murder books tryin' to stay hip.

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 23 January 2017 23:26 (seven years ago) link

i think id like to make an edit of this track where that bit doesn't happen

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Monday, 23 January 2017 23:33 (seven years ago) link

ha, i didn't read the previous revive of this thread. a common complaint it seems

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Monday, 23 January 2017 23:35 (seven years ago) link

i would also put the bpm down by 5 or so

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Monday, 23 January 2017 23:35 (seven years ago) link

i always thought the lyric was "ooh, the gigolo crew" which is funnier and worse than "gigolo pool" which sounds like a venue or something. i like the idea of idol referring to himself and some cronies as "the gigolo crew".

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 23 January 2017 23:37 (seven years ago) link

this is a boss tune and the breakdown and the rest are as luridly trashy as each other

killing yourself would be preferable to editing it into a lynch meets soft sad techno komkukt jam

r|t|c, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 00:07 (seven years ago) link

it's all trashy but the breakdown guitar sound is just unforgivable.

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 00:10 (seven years ago) link

the arguing at the beginning of this thread between press outlets about Dubya coverage is ... something

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 00:15 (seven years ago) link

xp great riff, you're unforgivable

r|t|c, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 00:18 (seven years ago) link

Apart from that, it's a classic. And Prince couldn't rock this hard if his purple little life depended on it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, December 28, 2004

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 00:18 (seven years ago) link

I'm on a bus on a psychedelic trip
Reading murder books tryin' to stay hip.

Can imagine Dylan flipping over these cue cards

blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 02:49 (seven years ago) link

I never heard this song growing up, only heard the italo disco version (sung in Italian!) that omits the middle section, and assumed it was an original until only a few years ago. Funny that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJIfAciHPo8

Michael F Gill, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 03:43 (seven years ago) link

I like the solo but yeah the bridge singing is pretty mood-breaking. Still a fantastic song

Vinnie, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 05:40 (seven years ago) link

i'm into the bridge. lyrics look ridic spelled out like that, but it's all about that cadence and the marriage of the groove with the buttrock riff. plus it has that cool, careening guitar feedback thing in there. i'll go the opposite way: i'll make an edit of just this part and rock all y'all!

andrew m., Tuesday, 24 January 2017 14:58 (seven years ago) link

say your pra-hayers

saay yo-our pra-haayyers

andrew m., Tuesday, 24 January 2017 14:59 (seven years ago) link

i'm always psyched to hear this song, such a finely distilled mood. I understand wanting to erase the middle eight but then you'd lose OOOH GIGOLO POOL which along with THE WOMAN IS WILD OOOOOO is one of the most useful 80s eruptions for almost any situation

his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 15:44 (seven years ago) link

Mangzorz1 month ago
The break down is the best part of this song... "I'm on a bus on a psychedelic trip, reading murder books and trying to stay hip" Dude, my entire life, Billy...you truly get me.

salthigh, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 17:03 (seven years ago) link

the opening synths are incredible

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 17:11 (seven years ago) link


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