The dark story behind “Eyes Without A Face”, Billy Idol’s power ballad

Our aunts say it well: “Faces we see, hearts we do not know,” a phrase that, believe it or not, applies to various situations in life, even in the songs that beat us. Often we don’t know the context or it’s not so clear what the artists mean by the songs they compose. And that’s exactly what happens with “Eyes Without A Face” by Billy Idol.

Definitely, This is one of the classics and anthems in the British singer’s enormous career, a great song where he challenged himself by trying new sounds. However, There is a very deep message behind this sweet power ballad that makes our voices tear up They probably didn’t imagine thatbecause its inspiration is… a horror film?

Billy Idol’s beginnings as a solo artist

At the beginning of the 80s Billy Idol moved to New York to start his solo careerafter the breakup of the punk band Generation X. Once installed in the Big Apple, He signed a record deal with Chrysalis Records and began planning his debut solo album with their support.

In 1982 Billy Idol released his first self-titled album: which surprised everyone because he completely abandoned the punk rock sound to switch to hard rock and new wave and, strangely enough, became a figure of the glam movement. of the decade.

Thanks to songs like “White Wedding” and “Dancing With Myself” –which he had already recorded with his old group–, Billy catapulted himself into one of the most important artists of today. However, Billy would amaze everyone again with his next album.

The arrival of “Rebel Yell” and one of its most famous songs: “Eyes Without A Face”

“Billy Idol” premiered in 1984 Rebel Yelltheir second studio album, which was a success in every respect. To give you an idea, it managed to reach number six on the list billboard 200 albums, but he also managed to get four of his singles (the song of the same name, “Flesh for Fantasy”, “Catch My Fall” and “Eyes Without A Face”) included in the singles list of the same music magazine.

However, dOf all these songs, “Eyes Without A Face” undoubtedly stood out the most.. No wonder, because unlike the songs Billy had previously released, this one was very different. In it, heHe turned to great guitars and danceable rhythms to dedicate a “romantic” ballad. But did you know that this great song has a somewhat dark history?

In his autobiography Dancing with myself, Billy Idol explained that he had always been fascinated by horror film titles, particularly the French New Wave of the early 1960s. These films also included Les yeux sans visagedirected by Georges Franju and released in 1960, whose translated title into English is exactly “Eyes Without A Face” (see below). “Eyes without a face” in Spanish). And boy, the plot of it. The film is extremely scary.

The horror film that inspired Billy Idol

The film focuses on Dr. Génessier, a plastic surgeon who desperately tries to restore at any cost the face of his daughter Christiane, which was disfigured in a car accident he caused.. This almost morbid search for his Christiane’s face led him, along with his assistant, to murder several young girls in order to transfer the victims’ features to his daughter’s face and thus restore her beauty..

At the end of the volume, tAll that remained of Christien’s original face were his eyes.and thus become the “faceless eyes” of Dr. Génessier. Billy Idol said that found some similarity between Les yeux sans visage and the moral decline he experienced in New York in the 1980s. Mainly because despite the success He went through a very complicated phase after his actions broke up a romantic relationship..

“I started using ‘Eyes Without A Face’ as a possible title/lyrics/chorus for a song. I began to write words that spoke in some veiled way about my life in New York and a relationship that had gone wrong and was on the verge of collapsing into madness. Maybe I was thinking about my own infidelities during the tour. In some ways, this can leave you feeling soulless, especially if you are already in a relationship that you value but which degrades you by looking elsewhere for additional sexual pleasure.”

And the title of the film and the song have had a greater relationship and meaning ever since Both touch on deeper themes, including arrogance, vanity and ego.. But above all, we both show it How someone can become a monster in order to reconcile with the person they love, without knowing that they are actually dehumanizing and hurting the being they love so much.

“Eyes Without A Face” takes deeper concepts from the horror film

In the lyrics of “Eyes Without A Face,” Billy Idol uses imagery to address the concept of modern romance, even uses identical metaphors with Les yeux sans visage to show the absence of humanity and personality and how cold and insensitive people became in the 80s. In the end, the two protagonists are beasts who are blinded by the concept of beauty that society has imposed on us.

Billy’s song is about being in love with a person who continually disappoints you and how far they can go for something superficial., like a moment full of passion and warmth with someone else. But in addition to turning that person into a monster who only cares about himself, It also shows us the other side of the coin, who is the victim of these deceptions and how they lose hope in the being who supposedly loves them.

So, “Eyes Without A Face” not only tells the story of disappointment in love, but also shows us the darkness that can overtake us. and we can’t stop what exactly turns you into a pair of “faceless eyes.” He can’t look at the good things he has because he’s focused on other mundane things (in this case, cheating on his partner).. In the letter, Billy makes it clear how he feels guilty for breaking a perfect love and forever affecting an innocent person..

Billy Idol included the person he hurt in this song

All of this makes more sense when you consider the statements Billy Idol made about this song a few years ago when he said the following: “I always told people that ‘Eyes Without a Face’ was a song about a murder. “I wonder if he was aware that my pranks and gradual infidelity were destroying my romantic relationship with Perri Lister.”

And to add more salt to the wound, Billy asked his then-girlfriend, British dancer, singer and actress Perri Lister, to provide backing vocals and sing “Eyes Without A Face” in French. (again as a tribute to the film that completely inspired this great song). This gives the song a denser feel as the person who hurt Idol sings in it.

Naturally Billy Idol couldn’t release a ballad with as dark vibes as this one. That’s why the guitarist and co-author of the song, Steve Stevens came up with the idea of ​​placing a distorted guitar riff in the middle of the song, where the British artist improvised some rap verses because in his words “Rap was everywhere in New York at the time, in all the discos and clubs, so it made sense.” add that.

As mere gossip and curious fact, Billy Idol and Perri Lister continued their relationship and although they never married, they had a son named Willem Wolf Broad (member of the rock band FIM). Finally, After several years together, they finally separated in 1989. However, they left us this great song.

The video for “Eyes Without A Face” almost blinded Billy

There was also a music video for “Eyes Without A Face” directed by David Mallet (who has worked with artists such as the Rolling Stones, Queen, David Bowie, AC/DC, U2 and even Luis Miguel) It was a hit on MTV and probably still brings back painful memories for Billy (and we’re not saying that because of the song itself or the touching lyrics he composed based on his own experiences).

We say this because the contact lenses he used in the video clip dried out during filming and When he fell asleep on the flight to his next concert in Arizona, they were stuck to his eyeballs. Idol ended up in the hospital where his corneas were scratched and had to wear blindfolds for three days… ouch. Maybe karma just did its job, don’t you think?

With “Eyes Without A Face,” Billy Idol showed that he is capable of stepping out of his comfort zone and exploring other sounds, which led to him capturing more audiences outside of punk and rock. And definitely, Thanks to this song – which happened at a crucial point in his career – He became a true icon of the 80s.