89 Stereo FM delivers Idol to record crowds

Rip It Up, Issue 82, 1 May 1984, Page 9

89 Stereo FM delivers Idol to record crowds

Record crowds at Billy Idols recent public appearance in a major Auckland record store made the event the biggest ever in-store promotion in New Zealand history.

Promoted by stereo rock station. 89 Stereo KM. the April 19 event ; attracted an estimated 3.500 people who jammed the Record and Cassette Warehouse and Durham Street lor the punk star’s autograph.'or at least a glimpse of their Idol.

A national television filmcrew and some twenty police officers who also attended seemed to enjoy the proceedings as much as. the lans.

Even the managing director of the Record and Cassette Warehouse. Mike Dow. was suitably impressed. “We get a large volume of store traffic, particularly during sales and promotions", he reported, “but never quite like this!”

89 KM programme director. Kred Botica, stated that “the promotion shows how a radio station can link successfully ith other areas of the record industry literally at street level!" Promotional visit Idol was in New Zealand to promote his albums

‘Billy Idol' and current charttopper ‘Rebel Yell'. To date, around 50,000 copies have been sold in this country

over 5.000 by the Record and Cassette Warehouse alone - a staggering achievement. for a performer who until two years ago was known only to hardcore punk followers here. During his two-day stay he managed, in true rock star style, to attract the almost constant attention of the news media, which attached the same importance to his disbarment from a well-known Auckland nightclub as a national disaster and made it the talk of the town.

A single rose among the thorns. Wcndyl Nissen's article in the Auckland Star brought out the human side of the man. a side that was very much in evidence during his appearance at the Record and Cassette Warehouse with his American song-writing collaborator and guitarist, Steve Stevens. Idol spent most of his I'/: hours in the store talking to fans and signing autographs, most amusingly on a pair of

underpants presented by a young female admirer. He stood out in black leather pants, the tattered remains of a ‘Rebel Yell’ t-shirt and swathes of chains, studs and scraps of leather. During the promotion, the Record and Cassette Warehouse sold over 400 copies of ‘Rebel Yell’. Idol history

Idol first made his mark on modern music in the mid70s as singer with the punk band Generation X. After the demise of that group, he headed for New' Yoik to pursue a solo career, and met guitarist Steve Stevens.

Since then, it seems, he has never looked back, enjoying commercial success he had never achieved w hile in Britain. Now his records sell by the truckload in most parts of the world, and there are rumours afoot of plans for a possible world tour, but whether he will perform in New Zealand in the near future is a matter for conjecture onlv.