Billy Idol is taking an all-good-things-come-to-those-who-wait attitude toward his second consecutive Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination, announced earlier this week.
“I started to realize you don’t always get in on your first time; that’s quite unusual, I think,” Idol tells Billboard via Zoom from London, where he’s promoting the theater roll-out of his new documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead. He was nominated for the first time in 2025 and finished third in the public fan vote with nearly 260,500. “It’s a process, and I can see why,” he continues. “There’s quite a large number of people involved in deciding who gets in. It’s no guarantee.”
That said, Idol makes no bones that if elected he WILL serve.
“It’s fantastic. It’s really exciting. It would be incredible this year. This is 50 years ago when I started (with the band Generation X), so it would be really incredible,” he says. “It would cap off an amazing 50 years … When I walked through that door that punk rock opened up, you really didn’t know if you’ve got the goods; only over time you see I really did have the goods, and I think the songs I’ve made are lasting, the recordings are still good. And I had great people around me to get to where I wanted to go.”
Idol also still has warm memories about taking part in the late Ozzy Osbourne’s 2024 Rock Hall induction as a solo act, singing “No More Tears.” “It was an incredible night; it really showed me how much fun that night at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame can be,” Idol recalls. “It was just fantastic to be part of Ozzy’s tribute.”
Idol — whose guitarist, Billy Morrison, was one of Osbourne’s closest friends — also paid tribute to Osbourne during his North American dates last year. “His passing was a shock … even though we knew Ozzy had a lot of problems and he was feeling a lot of pain and stuff the night of his induction. I know that when I helped him to get up at one point it hurt him. We thought that we would have more time, but of course that’s not how it works. But of course it almost seemed like it was all meant to be with that Back to the Beginning (concert).”
Considering this year’s entire Rock Hall ballot — which includes contemporaries such as Joy Division/New Order, who Idol says he’s never met, and INXS, as well as friends including Oasis and the Black Crowes — Idol adds that, “It’s really a competition. That’s what’s fantastic; whoever gets in will be a fantastic class …. We were all kind of making our way towards really doing this forever. It’s a serious thing we all believed in, that we really wanted to see where our generation would take music. I think with the punk and then the music in the 80s, we really did establish what the sound of the 80s would be — and beyond.”
Idol says that the half-century since Generation X’s formation in London — the band released four albums, while Idol has released nine solo sets, including last year’s Dream Into It — “has gone by in a flash, like 50 seconds or something. It’s been a roller coaster. There have been ups and downs, but in general it’s been great, and I’ve had a fantastic time.”
All of that is reviewed in Billy Idol Should Be Dead, which debuted at last summer’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York and opened in theaters this week. Directed by Jonas Akerlund, it takes a deep dive into Idol’s life and career, which includes sales of more than 40 million records worldwide and hits such as “White Wedding,” “Dancing With Myself,” “Rebel Yell,” “Eyes Without a Face” and more. It features in-depth interviews with Idol, as well as his mother and sister, colleagues including longtime guitarist and co-writer Steve Stevens and others.
“We really worked on it,” Idol says about the film, which began filming during 2019 and was made in fits and starts due to the COVID pandemic — something he feels helped the project. “We were able to marinate what we were doing and really see what we needed. The gestation period, even though quite a long time, really helped get what we were aiming for,” he says.
“It’s one of those things I never could have imagined, that one day I would see a really well-done film of my life that is warts and all. We didn’t shy away from some of my more crazy moments or whatever; I think it’s all part of it. You need to show both angles, the success and some of the failures and mistakes I made. The main thing is I was really lucky I got to do the thing I loved; that’s what you’re really watching, someone who knows he’s lucky, but at the same time you really had to work at what you’re doing and find out if you really could do it.”
The movie and the Rock Hall nomination may be putting the spotlight on Idol’s past, but he promises that “it’s not over yet.” He plans to start working on a follow-up to Dream Into It — whose title track is featured in the documentary — during the spring, and there are also plans to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his third solo album, Whiplash Smile, and its hit remake (and rename) of William Bell’s Stax single “To Be a Lover.”
“I’m going to make more music,” Idol notes. “I’m still trying to see where we can go with my life. I’ve still got plenty of vistas we’re looking at. You never know what’s gonna happen.”
The Rock Hall has opened fan voting via rockhall.com and at the museum in Cleveland. This year’s inductees are slated to be announced during late April, with the ceremony taking place this fall at a date and location yet to be announced.
