Billy Idol got candid about the story behind his new song "Bitter Taste."
During his exclusive and intimate iHeartRadio ICONS event, Idol explained that the song is inspired by a pivotal time in his life, following his motorcycle accident and reflecting on his drug abuse. He explained:
"So I thought maybe there's something else that I could write about. There was a time in my life, there was a bit of a watershed moment where I knew it was going to change where I was going in the future. I knew my life wasn't going to be exactly the same, and I had to make decisions about my life and things. Well, I thought back to the motorcycle accident I had because it was my fault I had this accident. I was riding high on a motorcycle, I was a bit of a drug addict. So when I was even lying in the hospital, I was thinking, 'Man, I've got to change what I'm doing. I cannot stay doing what I've been doing. It's ruining me, really.' And so it was a watershed time, it was a problem time, confusing time, many emotions and things. And I just thought, well, maybe if I write about this kind of time when I had to think into the future and correct my life, I had two children, Willem and Bonnie — they were three or four years old. And I was really thinking, 'What am I saying to them as well by being a drug addict?' So I just thought, well, maybe writing about that motorcycle accident and how it changed my life, and how I survived it one way or another."
