‘That Song Got You Your House and Hot Wife’: Steve Stevens Responds to Musicians Who Are ‘Tired’ of Playing Their Hits

Billy Idol’s partner said he “never understood” musicians who got bored of their own hits.

Steve Stevens suggested that successful musicians should be thankful for having hits to perform on their every show, and noted how his relationship with Billy Idol is still as exciting as it ever was.Hit tedium isn’t unheard of among stars big enough to have multi-generational hits, and some don’t hide that playing the same song every night gets a bit old after a while. Like Josh Homme, however, Steve Stevens believes that stars should play their hits and be happy they have hits to speak of, since it’s because of them most stars live such comfortable lives.

Stevens, who has a fair number of hits to his name and performs them often with Billy Idol, doesn’t suffer from the same issue. As he told Jeremy White during a recent interview, playing with Billy Idol never gets old due to the dynamic nature of their shows (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“I never understood artists that… Sometimes you’ll see [them talking] in an interview [about] their biggest hit, and how they are so tired of playing that song. That song bought you your house, got you your hot wife.”

“That’s a great thing about Billy Idol. No Show is ever the same. And we have enough improvisation built into our tunes. It’s always different. He’s always different on stage, and every gig is unique to that show.”

Even after over four decades, Stevens notes how the flames in his relationship with Billy Idol are still burning strong:

“The crazy thing is, Idol and I still really, really enjoy the partnership, and we look forward to making new music. I don’t know why, man, sometimes it’s just chemistry or whatever. It’s a lot of mutual respect.”

Although Stevens doesn’t seem to mind performing “Rebel Yell” every night he’s out on the stage, he previously noted there’s a certain irony in the fact that the solo on “Rebel Yell” he’s widely famous for has little to do with actual skill. Reflecting on how he came up with the idea for that particular effect, Stevens said in 2022:

“I used to collect these Made-in-China ray guns and toys and little robots and stuff. As luck would have it, I was watching TV when my little guitar practice happened. I’m playing with this ray gun, and I hear it through the amp – [and] one of those light bulbs go: ‘Aah! Might have something!'”

“Now it’s become like a tradition where we — Billy presents me with the Ray Gun… [laughs] It’s like, I’ve practiced 50 years, my whole life to become technically proficient — my career comes down to pulling the trigger on a toy ray gun [laughs].”