Songoftheday 4/23/15 - A human heart goes out tonight, yes a red hot love on a red stop light....

"Don't Need A Gun" - Billy Idol
from the album Whiplash Smile (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2

Today's Song of the Day comes from British pop-punk icon Billy Idol, whose stripped-down and ultra-cool Whiplash Smile delivered him another American top-10 pop hit with his cover of the soul nugget "To Be A Lover". For his follow-up he went back to an original, with "Don't Need A Gun", also had a touch of retro flair in the music to highlight Steve Stevens' guitar, a keyboard riff torn from equal parts Berlin and ZZ Top, and his own attitude...

"Don't Need A Gun" became the second top-40 pop hit from Whiplash Smile in March of 1987, while climbing all the way to #10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart (his sixth to make that level). The 12" version even popped on to the dance club play list at #33. Internationally, the single was a top-40 hit in Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Switzerland, while stopping at #26 in Idol's native UK.

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...and here's Billy on his Storytellers show on VH1 in 2001..

Up tomorrow: Midwest rockers refuse the romance declaration.