These pages have been scaned from Popular Music (click on the picture to see the full-sized version), and the parts having to do with Billy Idol have been retyped:

	Like so many British acts before him, Billy Idol (real name William Broad) had to go to America for his big break. But for him it's success a second time around, having already had a substantial bite of the cherry with punk band Generation X in the late Seventies. Generation X called it a day in 1980, and Idol went to New York to seek fame and fortune on his own. Retaining his punk image, his career suffered from a prejudice against his appearance until the arrival of MTV and the power of the video. His second album, Rebel Yell, released in 1983, went double platinum and yielded a string of US hit singles, and now he enjoys a status in the US second only to Duran Duran.
	She [Siouxsie Sioux of The Banshees] met Steve Bailey at a Sex Pistols gig in 1975. Two years older than Sue, he shared her musical interests. In addition to glam-rock — Bowie, Roxy Music, T. Rex — they both had a passion for American bands like the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls and the Stooges. With their friends Bill Broad (later Billy Idol), Simon, Debbie and Sue Lucas (Catwoman), they attended every Pistols gig in 1976. The 'Bromley Contingent', as they were called, became famous as Sex Pistols camp followers, posing for photographs with the band and even joining them on stage at times.
	[picture description only] Below: Bassist Tony James and vocalist Billy Idol of Generation X.
	Jimmy Pursey's agit-rock group Sham 69 were also notable for their political stance, and were indirectly responsible for the growth of Oil later in the Seventies, while Generation X, fronted by Billy Idol — a Bromley contingent friend of the Pistols and Siouxsie — hit back at the Who with their debut single, 'Your Generation', The Adverts — 'One Chord Wonders', as one of their songs proclaimed — had a Top Twenty hit with the topical and tasteless 'Looking Through Gary Gilmore's Eyes' in August of 1977, while other regulars on the scene included Chelsea, 999, Eater — famed for their 14-year-old drummer Dee Generate — the Vibrators, the Lurkers and the Australian band the Saints.
	[Picture of Generation X, middle left.]