I was trying to put a sexy element into punk because that’s one thing that was missing from it.
Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 21 April 2026 source ↗
The question
What does love feel like?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this exact standing prompt.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
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Michael Stipe
American singer
Heady, dizzying, magical. Time stops.
Like a very full heart and a flip in my stomach when I see him.
Jimmy Akingbola
British-Nigerian TV, theatre and film actor
I am not sure I’ve really been in love.
Maggie O'Farrell
Irish-British novelist
Effervescence in the soul.
More from Billy Idol
View profile →Yeah, well, he died of too much of all the right things.
I nearly lost my leg and things like that, my life and my leg, you know? So (laughter) yeah, so gradually through the '90s, early 2000s, I was gradually trying to get off drugs, really. That's what I was doing, you know? I'm glad I'm like this today because I wouldn't be here talking to you. I would be probably either dead, in prison or gone crazy.
I’m the sexy sexagenarian. Then I’m gonna be the sexy septuagenarian, ha ha!
Ever since I saw The Beatles in 1962-63 I started to dream about being in a group. Being on stage, in a group, writing your own songs, it just seemed like they were having a ton amount of fun and there was this huge music explosion.
I was trying to put a sexy element into punk because that’s one thing that was missing from it.
I have no real qualms with this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class, except, damn, Billy Idol should have made it.
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Roger Taylor, Mandy Patinkin, Jo Nesbø, Shirley Manson, Robbie Williams, Julie Andrews
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