Billy Idol Unveils Iconic 'Serial Killer' Inspired Video

The most notable slower song Idol created is “Eyes Without a Face”, the second hit single from his second studio album. Rebel Yell. Released in 1984, the track represented a different thematic and tonal character than fans were used to from the singer, and once again showcased his artistic range. The song's title refers to the English title of the 1960 French horror film Les Yeux sans Visage subtly demonstrated Idol's position as a consumer of visual art alongside music.

Now to celebrate the 40th anniversary Rebel YellIdol shared The making of “Eyes Without A Face” (Vevo footnotes) on YouTube in an exclusive partnership with Vevo and revealed more details about the song and the iconic video. As is well known, the track was a huge success and his first top ten success in the USA, where he ultimately reached fourth place billboard Hot 100.

In the clip, Idol explains that he set out to write an anti-love song when the era was full of sugary hits. He also revealed that he took inspiration from various silent films and pointed out that they had the same similarities in making a huge impact with limited resources. While some key moments in the investigation included him remembering how he fell asleep with bleach in his hair the night before filming and Miley Cyrus telling him that she believes his videos are some of the “sexiest,” It was the silent films that he sought as inspiration, which gives the song a fascinating dimension of darkness.

Idol explained: “I liked a lot of silent films because you knew they were doing things with paint, wood and glue; You know, it's very cheap in a way, but with maximum impact. It was an old book I had that had a lot of old stills in it, you know, Boris Karloff movies like The black cat where he stands in front of an altar and has many crosses behind him. A lot of these things influenced me on the “White Wedding” and “Eyes Without A Face” videos. That’s exactly what I brought into my videos: the old influence of films from a hundred years ago.”

He then revealed that the character depicted in the song and video was intended to be a type of “serial killer” based on a 1920 German silent horror film. Idol said: “It was more like…” The cabinet of Dr. Caligari; a silent film where everything was painted, so there was a psychotic element because he was supposed to be some kind of serial killer.”

Idol also said of the track, “I think I deliberately tried not to write a love song because the '80s were full of love songs, all drippy, sloppy love songs. So I thought maybe I'd just write an anti-love song. It's almost a murder song; That’s what I was thinking, something like a serial killer.”

Watch the clip below.

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