About Bitter Taste

Billy Idol previews The Roadside, his first new music in seven years, with the first single from the EP, “Bitter Taste.”

The track, recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic, finds Idol looking back at his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident, a crash that almost resulted in Idol losing a leg and left him unable to walk for nearly a year.

“I think everyone has been feeling more reflective (during the pandemic). So, it seemed quite logical and natural to write something about my motorcycle accident,” Idol said in a statement. “Certainly, the motorcycle accident was the catharsis, the wake-up moment. A little bit of me got left on that roadside. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in the end; it was a wake-up call. Maybe on that roadside I left behind the irreverent youthful Billy and opened the door for a more attentive father and a more sensitive musician.”