Club Random with Bill Maher

Billy Idol | Club Random with Bill Maher

80 min
Mar 2, 2026about 2 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Bill Maher interviews rock icon Billy Idol about his legendary career, near-death experiences with drugs, and reflections on aging as a performer. They discuss music history, the Beatles, songwriting craft, and how surviving a wild lifestyle has shaped his perspective on life at 70.

Insights
  • Musicians operate in a different information bubble than normal people, insulated by their success and access to premium resources that enable destructive behaviors
  • The combination and synergy of multiple drugs creates an appeal that single substances cannot match, explaining why high-achieving rock stars with everything still self-destruct
  • Surviving drug addiction in youth provides wisdom in old age—the ability to recognize and sidestep destructive patterns learned from past experience
  • Great songs transcend their era through sound design and emotional resonance rather than lyrical profundity; many hit records have forgettable lyrics but unforgettable melodies
  • The Beatles' strategy of staying ahead of their audience rather than following it created lasting cultural impact and allowed them to evolve without losing fans
Trends
Aging rock stars maintaining relevance and physical appearance through disciplined health practices rather than nostalgia touringShift from streaming algorithm-based music discovery to curated personal playlists that blend decades for thematic coherenceDocumentary format evolution toward multi-perspective storytelling (subject + collaborators + archival) rather than single-narrator autobiographyCannabis edibles replacing vaping as preferred consumption method among older performers seeking health optimizationReappraisal of 1980s pop music production as timeless rather than era-specific, with modern artists still mimicking that sound designCultural gap between American youth culture (which dismisses elders) versus global cultures that venerate accumulated wisdomMotorcycle accidents as pivotal life moments that trigger drug addiction recovery through forced sobriety and pain management awareness
Topics
Drug addiction recovery and long-term sobriety strategiesSongwriting craft and creative process in rock musicBeatles history and British Invasion impact on American cultureAging in entertainment and maintaining physical/mental vitalityMusic production and sound design as primary driver of hit recordsHeroin addiction and withdrawal symptomsMotorcycle accidents and pain managementRock star lifestyle and access to premium drugsStreaming vs. curated music discoveryDocumentary filmmaking and biographical storytellingBritish vs. American cultural attitudes toward agingCocaine and crack cocaine as addiction substitutesJohn Lennon's solo career and artistic evolutionPaul McCartney's prolific output vs. John Lennon's outputTommy James and 1960s pop music legacy
Companies
EMI
Discussed as the parent company of Capitol Records, which signed the Beatles and promoted 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' ...
Capitol Records
The record label that backed the Beatles' American breakthrough after acquiring rights to 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'
Spotify
Mentioned as a streaming service with algorithm-based playlist suggestions that cannot curate across decades like per...
Pandora
Referenced as another streaming service with algorithmic limitations compared to human-curated music selection across...
People
Billy Idol
Rock musician and guest discussing his 50+ year career, drug addiction recovery, and documentary 'Billy Idol Should B...
Bill Maher
Host of Club Random podcast conducting the interview and sharing personal music history and drug experiences
The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr)
Extensively discussed regarding their musical evolution, songwriting rivalry, and cultural impact on rock music
Frank Sinatra
Discussed as a performer Bill Maher saw in 1995 at Radio City Music Hall; noted for his arrogance and treatment of hi...
Sam Kinison
Comedian and rock star wannabe who punched Billy Idol's guitarist during a Vegas performance collaboration
Tony James
Billy Idol's Generation X bandmate who appears in his documentary discussing the punk years
Tommy James
Pop star discussed as underrated for hits like 'I Think We're Alone Now' and 'Crimson and Clover'
Joan Jett
Musician who covered Tommy James' 'Crimson and Clover' in the 1980s, making it a massive hit
Stanley Kubrick
Film director discussed for his unrealized Napoleon project and films like 'A Clockwork Orange'
Marlon Brando
Actor discussed for refusing to act opposite Rod Steiger in 'On the Waterfront' cab scene
Rod Steiger
Actor who performed his scenes in 'On the Waterfront' without Brando present; also in Napoleon film
George Harrison
Beatles member discussed for allegedly playing ukulele during oral sex according to a rock star tell-all book
John Lennon
Beatles member discussed extensively for solo work, heroin addiction, and cold turkey withdrawal in a limousine
Charlie Parker
Jazz musician quoted on heroin addiction: 'They can take it out of your body, they can't take it out of your mind'
Youngblood
Modern rock artist who Billy Idol performed 'White Wedding' with at his Blood Fest festival
Steve Stevens
Billy Idol's guitarist mentioned regarding teleprompter use for lyrics during performances
Bob Dylan
Musician discussed for writing gobbledygook lyrics that influenced John Lennon's 'I Am the Walrus'
Albert Goldman
John Lennon biographer whose observation about Beatles staying ahead of their audience is cited
Quotes
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain."
John Lennon (quoted by Bill Maher)
"They can take it out of your body, they can't take it out of your mind."
Charlie Parker (quoted by Billy Idol)
"You need energy to be a drug addict, and I don't have that kind of energy."
Billy Idol
"The Beatles always kept ahead of their audience."
Albert Goldman (quoted by Bill Maher)
"It's like a skeleton is trying to get out of your body."
George (quoted by Bill Maher, describing heroin withdrawal)
Full Transcript
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I hear you know. I wouldn't start now. Oh, I wouldn't. Club random. Billy. Hi. Rock royalty in the house. Rock and roll royalty. You look the same. You look like a... Just about. East London badass. You look like you're ready to kick some ass. You do. And I'm sure you could. Yeah? You and your droogies. Yeah. Remember that? Yeah, of course. That movie? That must have affected you. It looked orange, yeah. Because it was like something you could relate to, no? Yeah, it was kind of fantastic. Yeah. What year was that? 69, I think. No, I think early 70s. Oh. I think more like 72. Oh, yeah. I mean, are you a fan of all Kubrick's movies? A lot of them, yes, yeah. You know. I wish he'd done that Napoleon movie. I've got the script. He was supposed to? Yeah. He was going to do that, I think, after 2001. and then they did this film Waterloo and it did terrible business. It was great though. Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher. I saw it. Yeah, it's a great movie, but it did terrible business. That was a TV movie. It was Russian. It was what they used to call a miniseries. Oh, was it? Yeah, and I forget who the... Sergei Bondachuk was the director. Oh, I don't know that, But the other star was not Maximilian Schell. Some, I forget, he was kind of a big actor at the time, I think British. And he went over time, you know, like the movie went over. And they had, they didn't have him. And they had to shoot like parts of it. You could see it if you watch it, like long shots. It's just his voice. He's not on camera. You shoot a long shot, him in the shadows It's amazing, they can actually Not the whole movie, but enough of it Where the guy isn't even in the scene Actors have done it when they hate the other actor they're working with I can't stand to be in the same room with this guy So just act without anybody Be like Brando and Rod Steiger in the back of the cab where Brando left before Rod Steiger did his. Is that right? Yeah, he went to a psychiatrist or something, so Rod Steiger had to act his bits without Brando being there. On the waterfront? Yeah, Charlie was you, Charlie. But you see them together in a two-shot, don't you? Yeah, but, you know, when he did his lines, Rod Steiger did his lines, Brando wasn't there. Oh, I see. His close-up is just talking to a piece of cardboard. Well, Brando famously used to, you know, write the lines, his lines, on the other actor's head. Yeah. I mean, can you imagine? I should do that with Steve Stevens if I don't know the lyrics. Steve, can I just put them on your forehead? I never understand. I've got a teleprompter. You know, you have to. But, like, you didn't always. No, no, only recently. But, I mean, I never understand how you musicians could remember so many. I mean, if you're doing a show that has 25 songs in it, how do you remember all those lyrics? Yeah, it's just from doing them a lot, really. And then it's really handy having the teleprompter if we want to do a song we haven't done for ages. it means I can read the lyrics if I don't know it so well anymore. But the majority of things, I can remember them. I remember seeing Sinatra at the end. Yeah, I was lucky. I saw him in the 80s, yeah. That was near the end. Yeah. I was friends with Sam Kinison. Whoa. And we went to do a show with him where, you know, because he always did Wild Thing. You know, his head is rock band. Oh, he fancied himself a rock star. Yeah, but he played louder than anybody else's guitar. He was one of the few comedians who did sort of get into that rock star vibe. I mean, Eddie Murphy did it for a minute, Andrew Dice Clay. There have been a few who, like, almost like a rock star. You know, like there's the kind of excitement that music... Yeah, we kind of came to do this show with him, and then he had these two twins. He ended up marrying one of them. He was doing Wild Thing, and I got in between these two girls that he always had dressed up as Las Vegas showgirls. I was just kind of playing around because it's not my song, you know. But he got upset, and he punched my guitarist. My guitarist was on the stage and he punched. So we said, that's it. We're not going for the second. This was the early show. We were going to do the second one. So we said, we're not. Fuck it. We even tried to leave Vegas and then we couldn't leave because it wasn't a plane. So on the way back, we were staying at the Sands, you know. So on the way back, I thought, whoa, Frank Sinatra's playing. Oh, we've got to. So we saw Frank Sinatra instead, instead of doing the show with Sam. but it was fantastic because I wouldn't have seen Frank Sinatra otherwise. And he was fantastic. I mean, you didn't notice his voice was a bit ragged or anything when he was, you know. It was kind of fantastic. His son was, you know, directing the orchestra. That's what I saw. The son was the director of the orchestra and Frank would humiliate him. At one point he was getting sweaty and he went to take his own handkerchief out of his pocket and then thought better off and took his sons and mopped his brow and put it back. He was always doing... It was like... Stuff like that all the way through. It was fantastic. It was really funny. It was great. Okay, I saw him in 1995 at Radio City Music Hall. I took my mother. My parents were from New Jersey and saw Frank Sontra perform when he was starting out. Wow. Yeah, like in a little... Late 30s. Wow. Like 1939, in a place called the Rustic Cabin is the first place he sang at. So it was very sentimental for my mother. And my father had just died. So it was just like, you know, there was a lot of emotion in that room. And Frank took it all away. No, I'm kidding. I mean, well, I mean, he just was such a dick. He was a dick to his son. He was drunk. He had seven large Prince telepropters all around him. I mean, you couldn't miss it. I mean, I could have sang those songs. And yet when he was singing a song that he hadn't sung for 50 fucking years, he still couldn't get through it. He tried to do Mack the Knife. You know Mack the Knife? Okay, which is Bobby Darin's song. Yeah, a ton of lyrics. And he had done it on one of his later albums. I have it. I liked it. I'm a huge Frank Sinatra fan, you know, for the music. Not the early music, but not the early crooner shit. But like when he got 50s, it's got to be swing that whole, you know, fly me to the moon. That that record is great because he was Frank was either like super depressed. He was polar. I know maybe not officially, but like he was in the super depressed. Caught it a three. Yeah, true. Now in the place, save a gardener left me. I'm going to kill myself right now because without love, who gives a shit? And what are you looking at, you fucking punk? Or fly me to the moon. Everything's groovy up here in space. Everything's cool in 1958 if you're white. You know, that was, there was no middle ground, but it's all great. But he did, I mean, I just could not forget how he was mean to his kid. So all the artistry, you know, and, like, I forgive him for he couldn't get through Mack the Knife. It wasn't his song. He, like, started it three times, you know. Oh, the shark bites. And then he would blame the kid for this fucking kid. He must. It's not the kid, Frank. You know, you're drunk and 80. So, you know, you musicians, you just live in a completely different universe than normal people. You do. Even among show business. There's an excitement that music gets to in people. That's true. That just is, nothing else is quite like it in the arts and its effect on people, which allows the musicians themselves to live in a bubble, very often an information bubble. They very often don't know what's going on and don't need to. They have all sorts of people. I mean, you must have lived a life that is, I mean, you obviously survived it, but, you know. Somehow, yes. You know, come on. When you were at King Shit on the charts, I mean, you must have, you know, had that certainly thrown at you. Yeah, it was pretty wild. I mean, I was sort of watching Youngblood. You know, it reminds me of me. He was here. Yeah, I know. Loved him. When he was breaking through, I remember what that was like. Yes. You know, it was pretty incredible. You could have been named Youngblood. He could have been Billy Idol. No, really. I remember that was like it was really incredible it was an incredible time and so watching him a little bit I remember do you know him? have you talked to him? I sang with him we did White Wedding with him on his in his Young Blood he's got that festival he puts on the Young Blood Festival Blood Fest so I sang with him we did White Wedding together 8 minutes right? the song? well my version is yeah the dance version and it's still too short. Great. It's such a great record. Great. Oh, so many of yours are. I always wanted to ask you, you did Moni Moni, which was like even a little before my time. Like I started listening to music in 1968. I was 12. I think Moni Moni was 66 or something. Yeah, it's kind of... So it was like a song I would occasionally hear because they would, you know, on the radio I listened to in the late 60s, it was the top 20. They kept playing. They played the number one song every hour on the hour. Like once an hour you heard if you were number one, which is pretty amazing. And then the rest of it was the other songs in the top 20. But every once in a while they'd be like, here's a golden oldie. And it would be like from last year. You know, to kids. That's like a thousand years ago. Way back. And that was one of the songs. Here she come down to Moni, Moni. And you killed it. I mean, the original was good, but it was, I mean, Tommy James has done better. But it was a good pop record. But it was a little bubblegum. And your version was... I amped it up a bit, yeah. Yeah. And what do we imagine the song means, Moni, Moni, Billy Idol? What does Moni, Moni mean to you? Well, I know how the song was written, so I know it's that building in New York that has M-O-N-Y on. They were looking at that. What building? There's a building in New York, the Moni building. It has M-O-N-Y, money building, or Moni. They were looking at that when they were writing the song, so they were looking for a title. They were trying to think sort of the girl's name, and then they kind of... and looked at that, the top of the building, and said, what about Moni Moni? And then that's. Yeah, I mean, I interviewed, not like this is an interview, but I got high, as I'm doing with you, with Billy Joel in Boca last year, and we were complimenting on his great lyrics and stuff, But also mentioning that lyrics in pop music, they don't have to be good. It's better if they are. But you can get away with Moaning Moaning. You can just do it. And if it doesn't make sense to people, well, are you dancing? Then shut the fuck up. Yeah, that's what that song is really all about. It's about that. It's actually a drum loop. the original song was a drum loop because i was i was always thinking how why is it so why is it so what is it about it that makes you you know want to move or something and then she's coming down when we did uh here she come down money money yeah we did our version now shotgun turnaround yeah i mean that doesn't say at all yeah but yeah it's a drum loop so We did it with a real drummer, though. We didn't, because they just took a four-bar loop. That's why it doesn't stop. The original record doesn't stop. But Tommy James is, to me, a very unheralded pop star. Yeah, really. He's got massive hits. Massive hits and good ones. Yeah, really good. Some of them that are not as well-known to the public. I mean, people know I Think We're Alone Now, which is a great record, just a great pop record. and redone in the 80s a massive hit for debbie gibson somebody yeah yeah it was what's her name somebody what's her name what's her name was good so that she did all those she was kind of did all those malls she opened up all those malls i don't know well that's how she i'm not sure that's what you want to be remembered as you know i think she had a number one with uh yeah one of one of Tommy James songs but then same time um Joan Jett did Crimson and Clover and I did Moany Moany so there's this kind of Tommy James. Crimson and Clover. It's fantastic. But again what does it mean? What does have you ever thought about it Crimson and Clover? Really I think it's a psychedelic A bit of a psychedelic kind of rolling in clover, I suppose. To this day, I would say, I mean, I have some sexy music in my iPod. I use the old iPod. I feel like it's suited to my needs. I have some sexy time music. But if you really want to get panties wet, and I know you do, just the opening note of Crimson and Clover. Just put the ah. That's true. That would do it. Just, I mean, it's the sexiest thing on record, I think. I mean. The ah. that, oh, and then, oh, you come walking over. But again, I'm waiting to show her Crimson and Clover. You know, you're anticipating it. What are you going to show her? This is awesome. We're going to get to really know you. Crimson and Clover. But, you know, it's just a sound collage. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds good. That's a big factor in writing lyrics. They sing good. Also one of the first records to put that shaky reverb. That's right, yeah. Right? Yeah. I mean, and then the end which just goes in. He was great with just an electric guitar. He's one of the few guys who, like, he just sounded like a kid in the neighborhood who you could hear from your bedroom window who got a little amp and a little fucking electric guitar and was just doing it and no frills. And he just had a way. That song, all of his songs, just, he understood sound. You know, it's just, it's a sound medium. I mean, some of the Beatles songs are, to me, just same thing, like very forgettable lyrics. But it just sounds great. Yeah. you know i mean paperback writer just sounds great it's like a good like a bass lead almost yeah yeah i mean hello goodbye it's just sounds john lennon always said it's day tripper again or something or ticket to ride he said you know he's always he said that paul's just ripped me off again you know he said what well because the bottle loading running the the riff in paperback writer it's very similar to to something like ticket to ride you know he said his balls just taking my ticket to ride and and that's what i gotta listen i never heard that story he doesn't mean it like he's he just means uh we were he's replying to my song with a similar thing because they're always replying to each other's songs you think john lennon does money on one album and then And then next minute, Paul McCartney does Can't Buy Me Love. So he's kind of answering. They're always answering each other. Of course, Money was a cover. Yeah but still he sang Money What I Want and then Paul McCartney does but it can buy me love sort of thing Yeah that a really interesting thesis I never heard that So we track everything now right Steps, sleep, calories, water, but mental health? Nah, we're like, no, nah, I'll just take a nap and hope for the best. Yeah, great strategy. What could go wrong with that? Well, maybe it's time to work on a solution and that solution may be Rula. Turns out, talking to someone who knows what they're doing is slightly more effective than arguing with yourself in the shower. The annoying part was always getting in. Endless wait lists, insurance mysteries. Well, that ends with Rula. They take most major insurance. Sessions average around $15, which is basically the cost of a sad lunch. And they match you with a licensed therapist who actually fits you. You answer a few questions, pick a time, and you could be talking to someone the next day. Simple, like it should have been 20 years ago. 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One of my all-time favorite just single records is Starting Over. Yeah, it's great. The one that was on the charts when he was killed. Yeah. The lead single off that album that he made. Hadn't made an album in five years. I mean, it's got the Phil Spector, full Phil Spector genius on it. I mean, okay, you shouldn't shoot your dates in the head. We know that, okay? We're not forgiving that. But that doesn't take away from the sound of that record. That record never shot anybody, okay? That record is just a great record. Our life together is so special. The way it just builds, you know, and the backing vocals. It's almost like a 50s. But it's like Elvis, a bit of an Elvis touch to it. But it showed that John Lennon still could do it on his own. I mean, he certainly did not do it as much as McCartney by far. First of all, he died. He only had 10 years. But even that 10 years, from 70 to 80, when they were their first decade, when the group was split up, right? I mean, McCartney probably had 10 hits on the charts or more. You know, my love, does it good memory? You know, like not always like genius, but like reliable pop hits. Listen to what the man said. Silly love songs, never one of my favorites, but giant hit. You know what I'm saying? I mean, he just did a lot of stuff. Yeah. And kept doing it in the 80s and the 90s. I mean, he's Band on the Run. I mean, that was the same. Just that one album. Just that one album. Yeah, that's what brought everybody's faith in Paul McCartney back again when he did Band on the Run. Oh, you think? Yeah, a lot of people were slagging him off and everything with Ram or the first McCartney. I like that a lot. First McCartney had Maybe I'm Amazed on it. It's fantastic. I mean, even if it was just that song. Yeah, it's huge. Yeah, I mean, was there other stuff? You know, it's funny. There's a song on that first one, Every Night. Yeah, I like that. I like Every Night. Every night I just want to wake up. And then, but sort of the chorus, do-do-do-do-do-do, every time I hear it, I think, wow, you never give me your money. Yeah, you never give me your money. It does sound very, that one part of it is almost a direct, because my ear goes right to do-do-do-do-do, your money. Okay, so we busted him on that. Other than that, he's the Mozart of our day, but you know, other than that. But yeah, but John Lennon, he was obviously doing other things and taking care of issues bigger than music. But it was nice to see that right before he went, he still had the capacity on his own without Paul McCartney, because I think that was an issue that did hang over his head. Can I do it without the guy who we all kind of know is just even more gifted as far as this, like, being prolific and being, he's just a musical prodigy on a level that I think even John Lennon is not on. But John Lennon could still, I mean, he certainly was the spirit of the Beatles when they started. And he still, on his own, wrote so many great records. But I do think he worried when they split up. Like, oh, wow, if I don't have this guy, because this guy, I can go in there with like, because he wasn't, you know, even by his own admission, and he could be quite lazy. So he could go in there with something that was good but not great. It's like this guy I picked up when I was 15, he is some sort of fuckin' player. And he's gonna bring this one up to band standards. You know what I mean? And I think he did worry. And by the way, sometimes the stuff John Lennon did put out in the 70s, Mind Game, not a great album. Not really up to band standards, and I'm wondering if, I'm sure the collaboration would always have been better on both ends, but it was just great to see that at that final moment, he could make a record like Starting Over, which is as much as a favorite of mine as any Beatles record. It's just a great record. Yeah. So. Yeah, and Woman and stuff. Woman, yes, another classic. It's a great, great song. But I wouldn't have wanted to see him singing in Vegas when he was, you know. I mean, there's some good things about dying young and leaving a pretty corpse, you know. You sort of have the best of both worlds. Like, you're a guy who should have died. Isn't that the name of your documentary? Yes, should be dead, yes. What is it called? Billy Idol Should Be Dead. Billy Idol Should Be Dead. So when you were bouncing titles around, was there ever a moment where, Phil, you had an idea, something about Billy Idol, Big Star. No, we're going to go with the dead. Okay. Tom, run that by me again, that thing you thought of a couple of days ago. Now, so what is the closest that you ever came to being dead? Look at me, acting like a real host. A few times, yeah. Like what? Well, I went back to England in triumph with the album Rebel Yell. I'd done that album. Rebel Yell. The biggest. I would think that was the biggest of that year. I was going to do it on top of the pops in England, kind of returning to England. I've had this big record in America. Conquering hero. Kind of coming back to it. Yes. So a load of friends of us met us at the airport, and they had a bunch of heroin on them. So, of course, somehow everybody else in the room passed out, except for me and the other guy who was chopping the lines out. So we kept doing lines and then... Oh, doing lines of heroin, snorting at you. Yeah. I don't know how. Everyone else had passed out, but me and him didn't. So you were not shooting it? No, we just snorted. You never shot it? A few times, but I just didn't like that idea of it. My mother was a nurse. I think something about that. Oh, so there we learned something. You did not shoot heroin. You snorted it. Yeah. Pussy, go ahead. Yeah, no. I'm glad I did that because, yeah. But, yeah, anyway, I kind of eventually we did pass out. And then when people, other people in the room came too, I was going blue, you know. So. I don't know. They put me in a bath. Blue, you said. They walked me about on the. Wait, go back to blue. Why do you go? We go blue on heroin? Well, if you're dying, yeah, you go. Oh, if you're dying. You're going to start turning blue. But why would it kill you? Oh, I guess I shouldn't ask that question. I know it does. I just don't know how. Yeah, no, nor do I. I suppose it just overwhelms your system. Right. And I suppose it stops you breathing or something. Yeah. You know, look, I'm not an advocate for heroin by any means. I survived. It is important to note that there are very rare, very rare, but there are people who actually did it in a managed way. William S. Burroughs, I believe, was doing it at 80. Wow. Some people just have a... I mean, I wouldn't recommend it. Don't try it at home, kids. Because I've also heard that somebody once described doing heroin the first time as the best orgasm you ever had times 1,000. Well, it is really great. It's just the worst thing is getting off it. We'll be right back. It's just getting off it. It's terrible. And that's what stops me going back to doing it, is the thought of getting off it. It's so terrible. Help a pot smoker who has done every drug but heroin. Like when I was in college, I was a dealer. I mean, there's no other word for it. Like I sold drugs to other people. Right. You know, and we were at the lowest level, me and my partner. I did have, we have a partner. We're like Abbott and Costello. Except Abbott and Costello had no specific business, and yet they described each other as my partner. Whatever. In my case, I had a partner. And we would sell on the lowest level, like, you know, the ounce of pot, whatever our dealer had. Like the guy above us. Like the guy who bought like five pounds of pot. And then he would sell it to his low-level dealer's, you know, one pound, and we would sell ounces. So whatever he had, speed was very big at the time and very good. Cocaine, opium, LSD, or whatever, it probably wasn't really LSD, but whatever he had, we would sell to other college kids. Allegedly. Heroin, I never did it. So every drug I ever have done or would talk about, I relate to as good or bad pot. That's like my benchmark. Like ask me about any drug and I say, oh yeah, I did that drug and it was just like, it was like pot but I was more low key. Or it was like pot but much sloppier. Or it was like pot but whatever, hornier, whatever. Heroin, I don't know. It's not like pot. It's not. It's not like pot at all. No? So what is it then? Why is it so good? And where can I get some? No, why is it so good? I don't get it. What kind of feeling? Well, in my case, it knocks me out. I kind of like that because I'm quite sort of active. or I'm quite sort of, so I quite like something putting me to sleep, you know. Well, that's a really expensive, dangerous sleeping pill. I mean, if that's all it does, it must do something more than that. Well, yeah, I mean, but... But people do nod out, right? No, yeah, yeah. Why? What is that? That's because you're so relaxed or you're just... you want to be, when you're not, not it out, are you like still in your head having a good time? Yeah, you're having some sort of like, some sort of like almost like a dream, dreams, but you know, I actually dream, I don't know if you feel like you're dreaming something. I remember buying something, I think it was here in LA, but it might not have been, I've been on the road a lot my whole life, so it could have been somewhere, And it was like a thrift store, I feel like, some sort of like, it was definitely not Macy's. And I was at the cash register making this transaction, and the person behind the cash register just, you know, it was just like power off and just right there in the middle of a cash transaction. Yeah, people usually nodded out. They'd be about to scratch themselves, and then their hand would be in the air because they'd have passed out. Are you fucking with me? No, no. They'd be like that because they're going to itch themselves. Because it makes you itch? Yeah, it makes you itchy, you know. That's really funny. It makes you itch, but then you're too fucked up to scratch. So you scratch. You're going to scratch, and then you're passed out. There's your gun. That shouldn't be bad. But it's awful getting off it. And our boy George actually said... He was here. I love him. He's so funny. He said, it's like a skeleton is trying to get out of your body. That's how he described coming off heroin. I've got to say, that's what it feels like. A skeleton. Like your skeleton's trying to get out of your body. Wow. So, you know, that's how uncomfortable it is. It's horrible. Right. And John Lennon, speaking of him, cold turkey. Yeah. Remember the record? I bought that record, yeah. What? I bought cold turkey. You bought it. You can remember that. Oh, yeah. Yes, Gorsal Ball, the Plastic Owner Band Records. What did you think of the song? Oh, I liked it. I thought it was great. I thought it was great. I didn't. He was going in that direction. I thought it was interesting. That's not a good song. Oh. It's just not a good song. I kind of liked the moaning. I just liked, you know, I suppose I liked the fact he was branching out a bit. I liked his first solo album. I thought it was incredible. Plastic Owner Band, yeah. Yeah. Oh, with God. It was kind of incredible. God is a concept by which we measure our pain. Yeah, let's try to understand that. Well, that's a pretty awesome deep pop lyric. Yeah. Right? God is a concept by which we measure our pain. I wish he wrote more like that. Yeah. He was kind of lazy. Because, like, you know the song? I'm sure you do, of course, Across the Universe. Yeah, of course. I mean, the poetry in that song is sublime. Yeah. You know, shining on me like a million suns they shine across the... Whatever it is, I'm not remembering it right now, but all the way through, it's so poetic. The wind inside a letterbox. Yeah, right. And he just didn't write like that enough. I mean, there's stuff that's not certainly typical, like I am the walrus, but he's just gobbledygook. What the fuck? Well, he deliberately wrote that as gobbledygook. I know, but it's... He said Bob Dylan was getting away with doing that and people were taking him. So he said, I'm going to do it. I want to confuse the critics as well. I want to confuse the fans to make them, make them, what do you make of this? Right. That's kind of what he was... So he said to his mate Pete Shotton or something, let's write the most ridiculous song. And then he remembered that nursery rhyme that they learnt at school, the dead dog's eye nursery rhyme. I didn't know, but is that where yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye? But then also the ambulance, the ambulance or the police in those days, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, I am he as you are he. Because I think he heard an ambulance and he got the idea for the beginning. Yeah, it does sound like an ambulance. Na-na-na, yeah. I mean, okay, bad example, because that's one of his awesomest songs. I mean, it's just amazing. And you're right. And that does come through that he is having you on, especially when he says, the walrus was Paul. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we get it. You know, that you're, here's another clue. Oh, no, that's a glass onion. Okay. So he's referring to walrus on another song. I mean, it's the same idea, very cheeky. But, yes, he's deliberately doing that. But I wish he had written more songs like Across the Universe that were like, because he had that gift. He could do it. And he settled for a lot of pop lyrics and, you know, sort of easy stuff, I thought. I mean, Instant Karma. I liked it, but, you know, somebody accused him once of writing Three Blind Mice over and over again. Three Blind Mice. All you need is love, the same call. He thinks the same chords as... And we all shine on. But, like, again, you musicians, you songwriters, how can you... There can't be anything new. There's been a zillion, gazillion songs. There's only so many notes, so many chords. It's amazing. People have got all these... You can get more songs out of... As you say, there's only a few notes. You add some sharps and flats, but really there's only a few notes. It's the inflection you put on the notes that makes the tune or the song. So it's your personality. Working the note makes the What is your process Are you a craftsman or are you a let the muse strike me Yeah I suppose so Yes I suppose I do sort of let the muse strike a little bit I look for song titles. That helps a lot. To have a really good title helps. And then sometimes you just sit with the guitar and over, just by playing, you know, playing around. and eventually something makes you get an ooh feeling. As you're trying something, you get a kind of... I saw the guitar. You get a kind of a... And you kind of know, oh, this is a good idea. Or this is making me react in a good way to my own ideas. You ever notice how the older you get, the less patience you have for pretty much anything? Lines, traffic, people who say, circle back. I just want simple. If you feel the same, then you may like Lucy. It's 100% pure nicotine, always tobacco-free. No drama, no mess, just a pouch. And the breakers are kind of genius. There's the little capsule inside. 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Did you ever write a song or just even be playing an instrument while getting blown? I don't think so. I bet you you did. So that'd be a new, I should have done that. I'm very disappointed you haven't. I mean. No, I don't think I've done that. Wow, I can still do that though. I only bring it up because there was this book by this lady, I forget the name. It was like 25 years ago, 20, I don't know, something like that. And, you know, it was one of those tell-all books about rock stars and stuff and movie stars and famous people she'd fucked. You know, needless to say, a bestseller. The title escapes me. But among the rock stars she talks about was George Harrison. Now, maybe this is not true. This is her version. I'm not endorsing it. I'm just saying her version. was he played the ukulele while she was blowing him. He probably did do that. He did play the ukulele. I hope he did. That's bad enough you haven't. Don't take that away from me, too. Still got things to achieve. I mean, it could yield creativity. It could. It could. I think it needs exploring. Let's explore it. Let's put our best man on it. Going to be writing more songs. No, so you've never been married, right? No, I've avoided it. Me too. Somehow. Somehow. And just as well because I'd only be divorced a million times. We are in a very exclusive club. Wow. Right? People, guys who have not gotten married, and, I mean, I'm 70. I'm guessing you're... Yeah, I'm 70. Oh, really? Yes. You're 56? 1956? Yeah, 55, November. No, I'm January 56. Wow. Oh, John Lydon, John Rotten, same. Oh, really? He's January 56. Our mothers were pregnant at the same time. Yes, yes. What if we had gotten switched at birth? What if I sang White Wedding and you were like doing this and talking to the governor? It wouldn't be terrible. You'd be terrible at my job, I'd be terrible at yours. Yeah, no, yes, I think I'm better. I'm so glad our mothers... My mother was in England during the war. She was a nurse in World War II. Yeah, my mum was a nurse. That's why she came to England. She was Irish, and she came to England to become a nurse. You feel like that Irish heritage helps you with your poetic side because I'm Irish also? I would think so, yeah. You know, my grandmother could play 14 instruments, Not that I can. I'm not that musical. 14 instruments? She could write music and she could play, yeah. I mean, a lot of it was the piano, the accordion, the viola. You know, she'd play a number of instruments. She could write music, I think. Although she wasn't doing much of that when I... Were you poor when you grew up? We were okay. I mean, Dad worked really hard, so... What did he do? He was a salesman, really. He sold different... He started off selling typewriters, then he sold medical equipment. In what town is this? Well, we actually came to America. I lived in America when I was a... On Long Island when I was a child. We came to America, you know, I was about two and a half, and we stayed for about three years. But you kept the accent. Well, my first accent was American. Because you were around the father who talked like that, the parents. Well, my first accent was American. My first memories are of Long Island and of having an American accent. And, you know, it was sneakers, not plimsolls. and it was... You don't sound American. No, no, we went back to England. Ice! No, you have a great accent because it's like a Cary Grant accent. It's not quite a British accent, but it has hints of it, and so it just strikes us all. It's just charming and... I've tried to hold on to it because I do think... Oh, you should. I do think it has a certain effect. Oh, I bet you it's great with the ladies. Chicks love an accent. Yeah. That's how dumb they are, am I right? No, cut that out. Yeah, it's worth holding on to. I've deliberately held on to, tried to hold on to an element of my British accent. It's also good for the music. I mean, we here in America, of a certain age like me, really, I came of age right with the British invasion. Right. A little, I mean, some of it happened before I was interested. I mean, in 1964 when the Beatles came here, that's really the beginning of it. I mean, I was eight. I was not interested in music. I was interested in baseball. But they were still together. I mean, the first album I really listened to was Sgt. Pepper. Even though it had been out a year. But it was still current and we had it in the house. And I mean, so, but you know, oh fuck, I forgot what I was gonna say. Well, I fell in love with the bill. I went back to around, you know, 60, late 62, I went back to England, you see, so I was right there when the Beatles kicked off. And so I wanted to buy- Oh right, the British invasion. I wanted to buy from me to you, but it was going down the charts and I didn't have quite enough pocket money. So I've already believed in John and Paul already. I really believed in them already. I don't know why. I just believed in them. I just knew the next record would be great. It was She Loves You. I bought that six shillings and Thruppens Apeney. That's what it cost. Wait, so you were in England? We went back in like late 62, you know. You went back? Yeah, we went back. My dad wanted to go back to England. And then how long were you in England for? About 25 years, I suppose. Oh, 25 years. That may explain the accent. Yes, of course. Oh, okay, I see. I was an American kid. Oh, I see. Because I was going to say, for me to you... Give the ball to the American kid so we can cut him down. That's what they were shouting. Give the soccer ball to that American kid. For me to you is the third single. Yeah, it was. The first single was Love Me Do. Love Me Do. Which I've never liked. Didn't like it then. Didn't like it now. It has the unmistakable, I mean, joy of the Beatles and how much joy they took in making that music. I think the harmonica thing is great. I've never been a big fan of the harmonica. Ah, there's just... I've never... That harmonica thing is... Well... Da, da, da, da, da. It's great. It's called a mouth organ, Bill. Mouth organ. Anyway, yeah, I just... It always makes me want to put an organ in my mouth. No, it's just... I've just never been a fan of that particular instrument. And also, they wrote it when they were like 15. Talk about childish lyrics. You know, love, love me do, I know I love you, please be true. And that's okay as a historical artifact. I like it as that. Do I want to hear it? No. Okay, the next single was Please Please Me, which is still a great record. It's fantastic. So even between the first and the second, they made a record that I want to hear forever. Okay, so they were moving quickly. Third single is From Me to You, I think. Yes. Fourth single is She Loves You. Fifth one that broke America was I Want to Hold Your Hand. So we're talking about From Me to You, which is like, you know, again, a very respectable record of the early period. Not, again, a profound lyric. But, you know, we're talking about teenagers playing for teenagers. Yeah. You know, on that level. And it's still got their unmistakable joie de vivre. Yeah. You know, but, yeah, I mean, if you had the choice of playing either From Me to You or A Day in the Life... Yeah, of course. I mean, that's what's so fantastic about it. Wouldn't you play A Day in the Life three times in a row? How they were able to morph into such, you know, change their music up so drastically and still take the audience with them, unlike the Beach Boys, who kind of lost their audience. Well, Albert Goldman, who wrote the John Lennon biography, took a lot of shit for it, but I happen to think he's an amazing writer. But he made the point that the Beatles always kept ahead of their audience. Yeah, they did. Which is kind of what you're getting at. And the example he gave was the lead song on Revolver was Taxman. and he said, can you imagine a subject less interesting to teenagers than taxes? Which is such an awesome observation. Yeah, I didn't think of that. You know what, kids? We're talking about taxes now. Me to you, that was two years ago. Yeah. We're just different. And you know what? You want to enjoy us? Get on. You catch up. Yeah. And we did. And we did. Yeah. That's what was great. They kept, you just believed, I believed in them. And they kept on sort of proving you right. That's what was fantastic. So you were in what city in 1963? No, 1963, when From Me to You came out? Well, I was living in southern England, you know, dorking, I suppose, for a year. We lived in, then we lived in. Okay, so you were very, you know, you were in the country where it was happening. Yeah. I mean, obviously they were in the north, because that's Liverpool. Yeah, but they'd come down to London. They'd play everywhere. They were living in London. You look at that, I mean, they've, you know... The London scene was taken off because the Stones were in London, there was Dave Clark V, and then there was all those bands in the pool. Well, 1963 is the year the Beatles went crazy big, but only in England. In England, yeah. We didn't know who the fuck they were. No. I mean, they said Ed Sullivan, like, saw them... Yeah, they were coming back from Sweden or something. or something. Yes, he saw the crowd at the airport. And so who's this for? And they said, it's for this group, the Beatles, yeah. Right. And then he said, well, they're this popular. Why don't we have them on my program? Well, I always wondered, how the hell did, you know, the other three songs do nothing? You know, Me To You did nothing. In America. Yeah. She Loves You did that. Correct. And then suddenly, I Want to Hold Your Hand goes to number one. Well, she loves you. So suddenly Capitol got behind us. They didn't have a record label. That's part of the reason. She Loves You was issued on... VJ or something. Swan. A Swan, that's right, yeah. Swan Records, which was, you know, like a guy with a fax machine in his mother's basement. It was, you know, nothing. Yeah. So, you know, there was no press behind it. No. Now, very often what happened in America was a disc jockey would love a song and start playing it, and then the crowd would, you know, the people in the audience would write in, and say, oh, we love that. I mean, many singles like that have been broken that way. Maybe it was Murray the K then. Murray the K in New York's side playing I Want to Hold Your Hand, I suppose. I don't know if that's how it happened or it was just the noise from overseas was getting deafening. I suppose they put money behind him. Right. And Capital Records, which EMI owned, you know, at that point they were with EMI. They must have told them you've got to do it. The yeah, you owned capital must have told them You've got to put money into this band and they always said they didn't want to go to America until they had a number one Yeah, that's right. And then they did yeah, you know It's funny. They were in I think Paris when they heard Yeah, like Jack they came here. Oh, this is February. So they came here Yeah, they're playing the Olympia or something in Paris and not enjoying it The only place in the world, it's so indicative of the French, the only place in the world that stuck their nose up at Beatlemania was France. Like they were like, we don't know what this phenomenon is all about. They are talented, I suppose, but are they Charles Aznavour? I do not think so. I mean, they had like a long engagement there. And it was not it was like a disaster and I'm sure they got laid it was France and there were the Beatles But I mean for fuck's sake like they were just not like the crowds everywhere else in the world that went nuts They just did not do and but I think that's where they got the telegram which we Barely remember as a child That you know you have a number one in America they were like oh well this is very handy since we're going to do Ed Sullivan and it must have been so much, it must be so much fun like that upward climb when you're, you know, when your rocket gets shot to the moon. Yeah, and it was just, it was really exciting for us in England seeing that happening because it really meant, oh man. No, I mean for you. If you can get into a band and it'll take you around the world. But you had that experience, you know, when the world is at your feet. Yeah, I did. I did. And once you get that high, you're good, you're stamped for life. I mean, there'll always be people who want to keep up with you, you know, because you meant a lot to that, especially it's usually that formative part of your life that you remember so fondly. I mean, you know, everybody remembers the song they first got laid to. Yes. And for most people, it is White Wedding. That's the interesting statistical part of that. It's just good. It says wedding in it. Chicks are going to get, they're going to cream about that. Just hearing the word wedding is, you know. But so what do you think about like the next decade? How old are you now? I'm 70. 70, right. So we're 70. Okay. We, you know, we hung on. I'm going to make the most of the next ten years. We hung on pretty good. I think we both did. Yeah. I mean, you are... Some people are, like, almost unrecognizable. Like, really, you know what I mean? I know. It's shocking. You're eminently recognizable. It's a little scary when you see... You look exactly like Billy Idol. There's no... The hair, the... Just everything. Is it like, it's like instantly easy to able to say, oh, that's Billy Idol. Oh, is he a little older? Oh, hey, looks great. That's it. Me, I feel like I basically look like who I did. I mean, yeah, I mean, probably a little worse, but we're all worse for the wear. But 70 to 80, you know, All I'm saying is AI, get on it. Yeah, it's a little while getting to this stage in life, isn't it? Because, yeah, you really, it's getting, we're getting near, I don't know. Especially when you do fun, childish things like we do. Yeah, still doft. It just becomes kind of weird then to not be young. You know what I mean? It's like, wait, we're the people that didn't grow up anyway. You can't ride a motorcycle. Yeah, it's not like we worked in an office all our lives. We did weird, you know, fun, you know, not job-like things. And so we're supposed to be young, always. you know and then you're like no but you're not yeah it's that's a you know how long can you like act young I guess forever I guess I guess it's in your mind right well I hope so yeah I hope that I mean I'm sort of lucky I'm I'm doing something I really like so that yeah keeps you young because you know So, yeah, I'm doing something that I enjoy. And your penis, is that healthy? It seems to be all right, yeah. I hope that wasn't too personal a question. It does seem to be all right. Well, only because Sigmund Freud said, you know, there's only two things in life that determine whether you're happy or not, your career and your love life. I see. What? You never heard that? No. That or Freud? No, no, no. Well, you know what? I think he... Don't sue me if he didn't say that. You know, I don't know. Maybe it was Rocky who said that. But I think it was Freud who said that. Even if he didn I think it true Like aren they the two things that I mean it either your career or your love life that determine whether you happy There's not, I mean, do I feel better when I have something great to watch at night? Like, you know, like on TV? Yeah, but that's not what like actually determines my happiness. My happiness is determined by my career and my love life. I'm pretty sure Freud did say that. Yeah. So, anyway, that's why I ask about your penis. Well, it seems to be in good nick. Well, that's awesome. So I've always been rather proud of it. And it seems to have gone through whatever I put it through and come out the other side. Right. How does heroin affect your dick? Yeah, it doesn't really make it work. Although you can fuck forever. If it is work, you can fuck forever. That's the thing. What is it? If it is working, you can fuck forever on it. That's the thing. Is that right? Heroin, you say. And what brand would you recommend? No. Well, I mean, I don't know. I can't look away because, you know, the next landmark is 80, and 80 just seems like a crazy number. Yeah. But I thought 60 was crazy. Yeah, exactly. I thought 70 would be, but it seems somehow sliding through. Yeah, but I don't know. I just wonder. At some point, it's going to get us. At some point, it's going to get us. I just don't like that idea, though. Exactly. Let's put it this way. I think I hear the footsteps. I don't feel the breath on my neck yet. Right, okay. But I know that's next. I know that's next because you don't really avoid any, you know, in life, life is a series of phases and, you know, passages. You don't avoid any of them. I suppose not, no. It's going to happen, but yeah, I just got to try and put that day off. Exactly. You just try to put that day off. So I assume you must, I can tell by looking at you, you must live healthy. Yeah, I do. You're going to see in people's faces. Yeah, you can. You can see what they're eating. Absolutely. I can see. At our age, you're on a very short leash of what you can get away with that fucks with your health. Sleep, drugs, liquor, whatever it is. You don't drink? Not anymore, not really. I mean, I used to just have a glass of wine. If I was at a restaurant, I would have a couple of glass of wine, but they kind of stopped me doing that, you know, a couple of years ago. Who was they? The doctor, you know. Oh, the doctor. Sort of said, can you not do that even? so I'm all blinding, you know, and I come off it sort of thing. But I still, you know, I take, you know, pot pills and stuff like that. So I'm not so... You pop pills? Yeah, pot. Oh, pot? Yeah, pot pills. Oh. Instead of vaping, I stopped vaping a couple of years ago. So I used to vape all the time. And then I sort of realized I don't know why I'm vaping all the time. I could just take these, well, a little bit, yeah, But it was more I realized I could take the pills. And I didn't. Once I was taking the pills, I sort of noticed that I didn't feel like vaping. So I carried on doing that. And so yeah, it was a couple of years now. I haven't really vaped. So I just take some at night and stuff like that. I took one today. Yeah, or in the daytime, yes. And yet I still smoke. You know? It's just. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to be the skunk at the garden party, but I think I need to go up to heroin. Do you know a guy? I hear you, no. I wouldn't start now. Oh, I wouldn't. No, we've done, you're doing really well, don't ruin it. Can you imagine? Well, actually, you know, heroin can all... That's the most scary thing, I think, when people start taking drugs and they're old. You know, that's really, I don't know, I think that's really like, whoa, man. So I'm glad I did it when I was in my 20s or when I was a teenager in my 20s, I'm glad I did it back then, not now. You need energy to be a drug addict, and I don't have that kind of energy. That's a great, you ought to write a song around that. No, really, that's a great idea, and it's so true, because it's such a truism. Yeah, to be a junkie, you need energy. You need energy to be a drug addict. You really do. To stand on a corner and possibly get beat. Well, sometimes to score, yes, to get the drugs, to keep doing the drugs. You know, it's amazing what a great product drugs are because they have this diminishing set of returns. And mostly what they do is make you want to do more of the product, even though it's working less. Yeah. I mean, the classic one of this is cocaine. Oh, yeah. He said knowingly. Why, you had a brief cocaine period? Oh, yeah. Well, once you're trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else that I started smoking crack to get off heroin, you know. Did you really? It worked. It worked. There you have it, kids. And I did. Want to get off heroin? It's probably the worst advert for... Step up to crack. But it worked. I got off heroin. I got off heroin. You don't have to spell it out for you little pricks. It worked. It was years ago, but... Don't do drugs, kids. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. I'm glad I got away. That's actually the worst drug there is. The liquor. In a way, yeah, because it's kind of nasty. The legal one. But it does make things so much fun. It was a lot. I liked taking drugs back then. It took me a long time to put them in the rearview mirror, but at some point I realized you had to do that. I feel what people who are not rock stars like us don't quite understand is that it's the combination of the drugs. Well, that's what I liked. I liked the... Yeah, the synergy. Yeah, the combination of a number of things. You can't get that with one thing on its own. It was really the combination. No, you've got to be a rock star. The cocktail. That's the point. You've got to be a rock star. That's what I liked. You've got to be a cocktail. This is... Rock stars get this. And you're just tippling. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I used to always wonder, you know, like, why, you know, to so many rock stars who, you know, you think they have everything, and they do. You know, like all the women want them and the money and the adulation and the creativity and the outlet and blah, blah, blah. Why are they destroying themselves on drugs? Because the drugs they get access to are so good. That's what it is. When you're a rock star, everyone wants to court favor with you. Yeah. It was like that. I still like that. I love your, yeah. I'm going to put together a reel. Just if you're going, yeah. To show how right I am about shit, OK? Billy Idol, he goes, yeah. Every time. But that's what it is. It's like, yes, this will fuck up your life and your career and your erection and everything else. But these drugs are just so good. You just, you know, you just gave me the, you know, the creme de la creme. Because illicit drugs are just what, it's a, you know, it's a crapshoot. You know, there's no standards. whoever your dealer is when I was a pot dealer did anybody ever get a full ounce no I would get a pound which is 16 ounces and then split it evenly 17 ways you know there's no control here so we don't know what's in the drugs no they're gonna cut it with fuck whatever they want to make more you know if you're given a I don't know an ounce of coke okay now you're gonna sell it to hundreds of people, right? So you're going to split it into grams. It was sold by the grams, right? Yes, yes. Okay. So, you know, are you going to give them a pure gram if there's nobody to say, hey, what are you doing? No, you're going to cut it with baby laxative and whatever the fuck else anybody put in it. How I managed to survive my brief two-year cocaine period, I don't know. It's such a bad drug. How long were you on it? I don't know. A few years in a way. because, you know, on and off. You know, like I was trying to get off drugs and then I would have a sort of a, you know... A memory of how good they are? Yes, and then, you know... But I never went back to heroin after a certain point. Good for you. I sort of definitely... I had a motorcycle accident. I was in hospital where I had one of those pain boxes, you know, and it was like a 12-minute lockout because otherwise I would have... So I thought about that. I thought, when will you ever be on something? I was as high as a kite in that, you know, with my leg all fucked up, but I was as high as a kite in that hospital room, you know, and I just thought, well, when are you ever really going to have stuff like that? It's never as pure as that again, you know. So I really said to myself, that's it, man. You know, you've also looked, you'd fucked your leg up, you know. Well. This is time to start. So I did start sort of trying to ease off. It took me a long time, though, to really get control of myself. And, of course, the AA people say there's no control, and there probably isn't. But I think you have to sort of tell yourself. Well, how long would you say you've been really sober? Well, not really. I mean, I'm California sober, aren't I? Yeah. Well, that's good enough. Because I did used to drink a little bit. And I do take pot and stuff, pot pills and stuff. So what how long that? Well Well, I don't know when did I It's probably 20 years ago or something I lost Did line of so what period are we talking about what years are we talking about that the documentary refers to when you should be dead Well, they 70s 80s 90s all those decades Oh my, that is a lot of dying. Well, I'll say this. Dying to live, yeah. Not that we need to give anybody any more reason not to do drugs. You just should not do drugs, kids. Take it from me. But one reason, a good reason not to do drugs is people who do a lot of drugs, when they then need a lot of drugs, like when they're in the hospital in pain from an accident. Yes. You can't pump up the volume enough because they have built such a tolerance having fun with the drugs. Well, that's what the doctor said to me. He said, Mr. Broad, I've got to ask you something. I mean, the pain medication, you're drinking it in. That's what he said. I said, it's okay. I was a heroin addict. We're just worried that you won't get off it when we need you to go. And I said, I will, and I did. Oh, you did? Well, that's the perfect place to come off it, is in the hospital, because there's a nurse changing his sheets every hour. So if you're going to do it, that's the place to get off it. John Lennon quit cold turkey in the back of a limousine. You know that story? No, I didn't know that. No, they, yeah. Yeah, they got a limousine, and I think they drove across the country. Oh, I've read about that, but I didn't know that's what they were doing. Where he was getting off heroin. Oh, so that's what they were doing when they did that 3,000-mile journey. They ended up here. It was like, where can we do this where no one will know we're doing it, except the limo driver, because I'm assuming there was a lot of pull over, I have to throw up, right? You just feel terrible. But don't you throw up a lot when you're getting off heroin? Well, I don't know about that. It's more like you're just, you know, whatever, you can't get comfortable because you're just sweating. It's more that. You're sweating and you just feel. It's like nausea. Your bones are hurt. You know, your whole body, everything's hurting. Like the flu. But like a terrible version of it. And it goes on forever. Like COVID. Yeah. It goes on forever. It goes on forever. I get it. Yeah, it doesn't end, you know. Even when it ends, it doesn't end. It's like, you know, you're still feeling, you're still jonesing somewhere. Somewhere you're jonesing for it, you know, even right now, somewhere jonesing. You know what Charlie Parker said about it? He said, they can take it out of your body, they can't take it out of your mind. Right, that's the point, yeah. It doesn't make me want to do it, though. Then the next thing I think about is getting off it. That's so terrible, though. It keeps me from doing it. As much as we lament, and we certainly should and have every right to lament being 70, there is also the great part of it, which is you're just smarter, so you don't do these stupid things you did when you were younger. And there's almost nothing as good as that. Yeah, just doing all that stupid stuff was fun, yeah. It was fun. But like when you think about the pain it put you through. Well, exactly, yeah. And then you're like, now, I mean, I don't, you know, we have so little respect for the elderly in this country, it's just not our culture when it's like the culture of most of the rest of the world. Venerate the elders for obvious reasons. They've been here longer, they learned more. Like shut the fuck up for a second and learn somebody, learn something from somebody who has been down the path before you. That eludes the geniuses that are Americans. But okay, in my personal life, it's just always a joy. It's just always a joy to come upon something where I go, oh, you know what? I've seen that before, and I saw how it fucked me before, and I'm just gonna sidestep it like Dick Van Dyke, the year he didn't trip over the ottoman, you know? Yes. I'm just gonna miss that one. And it's not as good as being 35, perhaps, but in some ways it's better. Yeah, I've got to say, I mean, well, I'm obviously in the same boat. Would you go back to 35 if you could? Well, part of me would like to, of course. Big part of me would like to. Who's fucking who? But there again, yeah, you know, I'm glad I've got here and I'm in a fairly good state. I'm enjoying what I do. Yeah. You know, all that kind of stuff. I like the records I'm making and enjoy the band I'm playing with. It's fantastically good fun still. The songs don't get old. I don't know what it is. I would have thought by now, but they don't. No. They don't seem to get old. I don't get it. I mentioned before I used the iPod. One reason I used the iPod as opposed to, like, I mean, I have, you know, the Spotify and the, It's like their philosophy is sort of, here's music you like, here's some other stuff you might like, and it's like, okay, I wanna be suggested to things, but basically, I've been listening since 1968. I have thousands of songs already. I know what I like. And what I like, the songs I like are songs that would have been a hit in any decade. You know? I mean, there's stuff by The Weeknd that's only a couple of years old that definitely would have been a hit in the 80s, the 70s. I mean, it sounds just like Michael Jackson, the 90s, whatever. Yes, it's been like this. It's not Michael Jackson. I mean, your stuff, like, it stands the test of time. It's not an 80s song, it's just a good song. Yeah, that's what we were trying to do. We weren't trying to do something for that decade. We were thinking, obviously we were thinking of the moment, but we were hoping that what we were doing was gonna resonate into the future, especially so you have a long career or something. See, what Spotify can't do, or what's the other one? Yeah, I'm 70 as well. I know you know this. It's so embarrassing to get stoned and not remember basic words. It's like forgetting the word for a hospital. You know that place you go when you're sick? But you can suggest a playlist to them, and all they can do is put it together by picking songs that kind of sound alike to the algorithm that are kind of from the same period. Whereas I can put a song from the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, and today, put them all in a row on a playlist, and they're from totally different decades, but you understand why they all fit together. It's a certain sound. Right. Spotify can't do that. No, I suppose not. Pandora. That's who I was thinking. Pandora can't do it either. And that's why I'm firing them tomorrow. Well, I'm glad you're still at it and your fans are. Do we have anything to plug before I set you back into the wild? Well, apart from... Yeah, we're going to plug. We're in show business. So I do have a documentary coming out. Well, I have a list. I keep a list of things I want to see. This I want to see. You participated in it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you were happy to do that? Yes, yeah. You were like, let me tell my own story as opposed to somebody else, right? Well, yeah, although it was kind of good. We got different people like Tony James, my sort of Generation X partner kind of thing. He did a lot of the punk kind of years. And then, you know, it wasn't just me telling my story, which was kind of quite good in a way. You sort of got other people's... That's how they all are. Well, yeah, exactly. It's difficult for me to tell my own story exactly. Well, you need both. But it really helps. Didn't you see the Beatles anthology? Yeah, exactly. It's not just them. Okay, it's them. John was not alive for it, but, you know, they use archival tapes and stuff. But it's them on camera. But then it's also, you know, Neil and Mal and the people around them and the publicist and the record company. You need that sort of out-of-view point in. That's what's kind of good about it, I think, is that you do get that. And at the same time, it's my crazy story. It's something they only do for icons, and you are. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers, Bill. You're sitting in the wrong thing and sort of signaling the wrong thing. Are you kidding? You're in a paradigm.