Billy Idol's Rebel Hell

How hard drugs nearly killed rock icon.. and how being a grandad helps him stay clean

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WHITE Wedding was an anthem for the MTV generation and with his peroxide hair and snarling attitude, Billy Idol epitomised the punk dream.

But the lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll had its downside - the hell-raising rocker almost dropped dead after snorting heroin just days before launching his solo career in the UK.

In a new documentary, he said: "I nearly died. I went to America in March 1981 and came back to the UK in triumph in 1984, after Rebel Yell.

"I was due on Top of the Pops. I nearly ruined it and nobody knew.

"On our return to London, we met some pals and they had some of the strongest heroin... Everybody did a line and they all nodded out except me and a mate, and we did a few more lines.

"I was basically dying. I was turning blue. So they put me in an ice bath and walked me around on the roof."

Billy, now clean and a grandad at the age of 70, relives the madness of his past in Billy Idol Should be Dead, which premieres on Sky Arts later this month.

Chronicling his anarchic beginnings in the London punk scene before finding superstardom in the MTV era, when White Wedding and Rebel Yell ruled the charts, the film reveals the near-deadly consequences of his battle with drugs.

Featuring his late mother Joan, longtime girlfriend Perri Lister and his three children, the film also tells how a freak DNA test led to Billy discovering his love child son, Brant.

He said: "There are elements of my life that I probably should not have survived.

"I am still here and I am still rocking and in love with what I do."