It’s more than a little obvious from this 1985 clip from The Old Grey Whistle Test that interviewer Andy Kershaw hasn’t got much time for Billy Idol.

Kershaw refers to the “Sneer of the Year” as “show business” and wonders what the 12-year-old Idol would have thought of his current musical output. At moments Kershaw seems desperate to ask Idol straight up “Aren’t you just a prat?”

Kershaw’s contempt is barely concealed, but Idol takes it all in good grace. I must admit I have always been surprised that the bargain bin star of British punk pock became so successful in the States during the 1980s. It is perhaps a small reflection of what the country was like under Ronald Reagan’s leadership. Or cocaine. (At approx the 7:35 mark Idol talks about how drug dealers named narcotics after him in New York.)
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

H/T Carl Richard Aylott and Francis Wheen