TS: Billy Idol vs Billy Squier

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I'm going to guess largely in favor of Billy Idol, but I'm hoping this is gonna be interesting. Idol has more classic rock status, for sure, and to me, not many a song beats "Dancing With Myself." But Billy Squier's "Don't Say No" is a very enjoyable generic-areana-rock album, and if "Lonely Is the Night" sounded any more like Robert Plant, it makes me wonder if that song is what Zep WOULDA sounded like had Bonzo not died...

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Sunday, 3 August 2003 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Have you ever seen the video for "Cradle of Love?"

Billy Idol wins, no question.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Sunday, 3 August 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I've a hard time recalling anything i've ever liked 'bout Billy Squire.
...No, have to change that - I've a hard time recalling anything at all about Billy Squire & his music. Though there must be a coupla vinyls of his - not bought by me, sent by a friend - in the other room somewhere, I think. Never listened to them too, prolly.

So could as well give my half-point to Idol, fwiw.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Sunday, 3 August 2003 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Idol

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 3 August 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

i only know 1 billy squier tune but it's hot hot poop - y'know "THE STROKE" - billy idol's got a ton of good songs or @ least songs i dug on the radio at 1 time or another but right now i can't get excited thinking about any of em for some reason, also i'm pretty sure he made a few songs i absolutely hated, can't remember any of those right now tho either - so squier "wins" for the moment but maybe idol'll make a comeback later when i haul out a few sides for reappraisal...dunno. favourite rockin billys : wild (...) childish, (...) te kahika (AKA TK), (...) lee riley.

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Sunday, 3 August 2003 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Billy Idol. Squier might actually be more consistent career-wise, but I definitely take Idol's best singles over Squier's.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 3 August 2003 20:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I picked up a cheapo "best of billy squier" compilation 2 years ago. It's got about 11 songs on it, and while the names of the songs (except for "The Stroke") don't really ring any bells, every single song sounds familiar - probably due to my classic rock upbringing. I think you'd be surprised how many Billy Squier songs you know but don't know it - especially if you were born before 1972 or so. I vote Squier, just because while I enjoy Mr. Idol, I really don't ever need to hear any of his songs again - except for "To be a lover". Mr Squier is pure arena-rocking fun, and isn't worn out in my brain yet.

― chr1sb0y (chr1sb0y), Monday, 4 August 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I did love the blog coterie wondering who the hell he was in re: dizzee.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Wot they never heard "Roxanne, Roxanne"?! Kids today.

Anyway, Squier wins, not even a contest.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Squier, unquestionably.

― J (Jay), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Billy Squiers dance moves in the video for The Stroke are quite possibly the best ever.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

..yes, but his moves in the video for "Rock Me Tonite" were impossibly effete.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

..but I forgive him (Don't Say No being one of the first albums I really loved).

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll vote for Billy Squier.

I have no idea who he is but I can't stand Billy Idol or anything he's done since 1979.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Squier's video for "Rock Me Tonight" (which pretty much cost him his career) renders him the loser every time. In said clip, Billy prances around in pink and yellow dayglo sweats, slit "Flashdance"-stylee and writhes around a bed, air guitaring.

yes, Billy Idol did a lot of embarassing shit too, but nothing quite as dire as this.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

is the 'rock me tonight' video the one where he sued the director for making him look like a girl?

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

anyhow, this matchup is alot closer than you'd think

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Yep.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

this matchup is alot closer than you'd think

Ah, not entirely, given that Piper (Squier's pre-fame band) were no match for Generation X (Idol's pre-fame band)>

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Generation X > Billy Squier > Billy Idol >> Piper

― J (Jay), Monday, 4 August 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I have to balk a little bit at your claim that Idol's never done anything so embarassing as "Rock Me Tonight," Alex. While Squier's video is undeniably more pathetic, videos like "Eyes Without A Face" and "Flesh For Fantasy" are equally ludicrous. Idol is just able to maintain his badassness in them.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

one could even argue that Squier's prancing in that video is more risky, moving and startling than any of Idol's shock tactics, which is why we find it so uncomfortable.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

it's why he sued the director

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh don't get me wrong --- I'm not defending videos like "Eyes Without a Face" and "Flesh for Fantasy", but for some reason they don't scream "CAREER-JEOPARDIZING MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" like "Rock Me Tonight" did. Moreover, Billy genuinely seems to be relishing and enjoying his roles in those videos, however ludicrous, whereas Squier, I'm sure, shudders to this day at the mere thought of "Rock Me Tonight".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

J nailed it. GenX was the King Rocker.

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 4 August 2003 20:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I doubt Squier would hate that video if it wasn't such a failure. His dancing is undeniably spirited.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 4 August 2003 20:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Billy Squier vs. Pat Benatar, anyone?

PS per the original query, kinda neck and neck i think, offsetting penalties etc; Squier wins if you're in a bowling alley, however.

PPS I'm betting Pat--it's just that some circuit in my brain just can't call up one without conjuring up the other.

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Monday, 4 August 2003 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

given that while i'm sure i know squier i can't recall a single song Idol wins

― H (Heruy), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 06:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Re 'Rock Me Tonite' video, the whole phenomenon perplexes me. If he hated it that much - well, it WAS him 'dancing', wasn't it? He must've thought at one point while doing those moves, "I think I'm making an ass of myself"! It's not like they got an animatronic model to do it! I think it was his idea.

― dave q, Tuesday, 5 August 2003 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

At the tail end of said video, Squier's bass player give the camera some worry as well, insisting on disrobing and displaying his greasy shoulder blades. It's like some crazed Fire Island nightmare.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 12:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I figure the "Rock Me Tonight" video is a lot like when a drunken person dances around like an idiot and it gets caught on video. SURE, he REGRETS it. He says it's BAD. But while he was doing it he just thought he was a big sexy beast bustin' awesome moves.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

nine months pass...

my votes w/ billy squier on this bitch!!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Billy Squier all the way. I think I even prefer Billy Joel to that arsehole with the non-housebroken upper lip. (Like Gen.X fine, tho)
Don't Say No is simply the finest LP of its sort (AOR/corporate rock, and that's a compliment BTW.) And I can't understand what the fuck VIDEOS have to do with a performers musical worth. (Answer: Absolutely nothing.) 90% of 'em are idiotic anyways, either now or 20 yrs ago.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 08:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahahaha, and then there's his cover of "Heroin"!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 10:16 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

The Rock Me Tonight video...

Okay, it has dumb dancing. I like it because of all the art hanging around.

I have to say I like Billy Squier better because no one is going to play him at my high school reunion.

― u s steel, Monday, 2 March 2009 04:20 (sixteen years ago)

I just saw this thread and the first thing I thought was: did I start this? Because this is totally a thread I would start.

And it shouldn't be close, right? I mean, Billy Idol's just this massive, era-defining artist with a string of truly kick-ass singles, and Billy Squier's this kinda pop-Zep classic rawk dude who plays guitar and sings pretty good.

And I mean, Billy Idol is one canny motherfucker and Steve Stevens is a student of the instrument and a genuine guitar hero and between them they turn out to be very nearly the pop-metal Petty/Campbell. But then this funny thing... other than those monster singles, it doesn't all really hold up so well. Whereas Don't Say No still kicks all kinds of ass and is pretty much solid asskick front-to-back. And Emotions In Motion ain't half-bad either. And "The Stroke" is genuinely awful lyrically but otherwise pretty dope.

And "The Big Beat" (and srsly I can't believe no one's mentioned this yet) turns out to be one of the absolutely seminal tracks without which hip-hop as we know it would not exist. Like, in the annals of hip-hop, there's James Brown and then there's Billy Fucking Squier!!!

Because it turns out that to do pop-Zep, you need a drummer nearly as badass as Bonham. RIP Bobby Chouinard, got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one.

― butt-rock miyagi (rogermexico.), Monday, 2 March 2009 09:09 (sixteen years ago)

The music sounds really fresh now. Like, there's no corn all over it. Not that Idol is particularly corny.

― u s steel, Monday, 2 March 2009 12:23 (sixteen years ago)

three years pass...

my votes w/ billy squier on this bitch!!
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, May 24, 2004 8:39 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i must've been on some very power drugs when i wrote that, though i don't remember.

― kurwa mać (Polish for "long life") (Eisbaer), Saturday, 16 June 2012 22:24 (thirteen years ago)

powerful otmludes

― mookieproof, Saturday, 16 June 2012 22:27 (thirteen years ago)

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