In the latest episode of uDiscoverMusic’s “Beyond the Bus,” legendary rocker Billy Idol tells the story behind his cover of Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.” The previously-unreleased track is featured on the new 40th anniversary edition of Rebel Yell, out April 26 via Capitol Records/UMe.
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He began: “We’re in New York in Electric Lady Studios. We’d done a lot of the songs that are on the Rebel Yell album. Steve Stevens was in the control room. He’s usually standing there in his New York Empire State stack heels with his Ozone torturing bouffant. There I was, standing next to him with my bog brush hair do.”
Stevens added: “I’m a little fella. I’ll take advantage of some heels, plus it makes your a__ look nice.”
Idol then got into the making of the song, saying: “I always look for a song I can cover that people aren’t expecting. I remember this song called ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ by Rose Royce. It’s one of those songs, I don’t know why, but I just thought, I could take it, and do something with it dramatically different, and make it my own.”
After they tackled some ideas, they received some bad news. Idol continued, “A chap from the record company walked into the studio and said, ‘Hey guys, guess what? Madonna is doing a version of ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.’”
Idol responded with: “What, really?”
Stevens added: “Nothing sobers you up like having Madonna steal one of your babies.”
Idol concluded: “So, yeah, we decided to put it on the shelf, unfortunately, and it was when we came to do the Rebel Yell re-release, I said to Steve, ‘Do you think we did more than one take?’”
Stevens didn’t know either, but they eventually discovered that they recorded basically the entire song. Stevens just added a bit of guitar to the end of their version once they found the sessions.
Idol then compared his version to Madonna’s, noting that she stayed faithful to the original while he turned his into a rock song.
“I started to really scream the chorus. I’m pissed and upset. It came out fantastic!”
The track is included on the Expanded Edition celebrating 40 years of Rebel Yell, alongside s a selection of previously unreleased songs and demos, the Poolside remix of Idol’s smash hit “Eyes Without A Face,” and the never-before-heard Billy Idol/Steve Stevens original “Best Way Out of Here” from the original sessions.
Pre-order Rebel Yell (40th Anniversary Expanded Edition).