Search - Generation X :: Perfect Hits 1975-1981

Thanks to relentless MTV exposure, Billy Idol became a virtual one-man parody of himself--and the tattered, all-too-quickly recycled remains of mid-'80s new wave--in near record time. And before it became one of the '90s most overused cultural labels, Generation X was the name of Idol's short-lived ('78 to '81) entrée into London's oft-sordid punk wars, often to the chagrin of U.K. critics who found their antics a trifle posed. But Idol and guitarist Tony James didn't let concerns about authenticity get in the way of some lively age-baiting (thumbing their noses at the Who on "Your Generation"), faux anthems to "the movement" ("100 Punks"), or the perils of individualism--or was it onanism? (an early version of Idol's later hit "Dancin' with Myself"). And if proceedings sometimes went spectacularly awry (their painful "punk" take on John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth"), Gen X often got by--as do many third-generation punks--on nothing more than loopy bubble-punk exuberance. --Jerry McCulley