Songoftheday 7/16/12 - 'Cause when a long-legged lovely walks by, Yeah you can see the look in her eye...

Billy Idol - "Hot In The City"

from the album Billy Idol (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23 (four weeks)

Weeks in the top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by British pop-punker Billy Idol, with his first foray into the American top-40. Idol started out in the band Generation X, who combined punk attitude with pop music sensibility, and scored three top-40 hits in Britain in the late 70s, including "King Rocker" which made it just outside the top-10 (#11). The group dissolved in 1980, after recording a song that Idol would re-do on his debut EP, Don't Stop, called "Dancing With Myself". That song wouldn't make the US Hot 100, but would be popular enough to cull interest in Idol (it was played incessantly here in New Jersey).

When Idol's debut solo and self-titled album was released in 1982, the decidedly pop/new-wave "Hot In The City" was chosen as the first single, and pop radio responded with a top-40 hit...

I still remember when WPST (our local radio station) played the song, Billy would be yelling "Trenton" instead of "New York"..

"Hot In The City" also made the top-40 on the rock radio chart, though missing the British top-40 altoigether. After following this up with two even bigger-selling albums, Rebel Yell and Whiplash Smile, Idol would re-release "Hot In The City" with a punchier "Exterminator" remix from his Vital Idol compilation, and the song would return to the chart, reaching the top half at #48, and finally making the UK top-20...

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Norweigan pop duo Bobbysocks did a cheesy remake of the song in 1994...

Up tomorrow: A British supergroup makes the heat go on...