Billy Idol: “Dying to Live” – Oscar Nomination & Doc Story
Billy Idol‘s heyday may have been the 1980s, but he has never gone away. The English punk-turned-rock singer/songwriter – a three-time Grammy nominee who was a key part of the MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” of America, with hits including “Dancing with Myself,” “White Wedding,” “Cradle of Love,” “Eyes Without a face,” “To be a Lover” and a chart-topping cover of ”Mony Mony” – is now 70, a grandfather and leading a much quieter life than he did during his hard-partying days. but his spiky blonde hair, trademark sneer and seductive voice are all still there. And the last five years have included as many wins for him as any such stretch.
Indeed, since the darkest days of the pandemic, when “Dancing with Myself” experienced a resurgence in popularity (for obvious reasons), he has released two EPs (2021’s The Roadside and 2022’s The Cage) and a studio album (his first in 11 years, 2025’s Dream into It); toured north America with old pal Joan Jett; and collaborated with ardent admirer Miley Cyrus on “Night Crawling,” a song on her 2020 album Plastic Hearts. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023 and nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025. And now, in the 50th year of his career, he is, for the first time, shortlisted for an Oscar – best original song – for “Dying to Live,” a reflective ballad that he co-wrote with Oscar-nominated songwriter J. Ralph to play over the closing montage of Jonas Akerulund‘s documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead.
During a conversation at Idol’s home high in the Hollywood hills, on a spacious property that he has owned since moving from New York to L.A. in 1988, he discussed the doc, the song and the feeling of being Oscar-shortlisted. Excerpts of the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and brevity, follow.
On why he decided to cooperate with the documentary starting in 2019…
“As you get into your 60s and 70s, you have a vantage point that you didn’t have before, and you can see the landscape of your life, really, and you’re in a position to look at it and quantify it and be able to talk ab