Billy Idol recently released his take on the Rose Royce classic “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore,” which will be featured on the upcoming 40th anniversary deluxe edition of Rebel Yell.
Idol and his guitarist Steve Stevens recorded the cover while making the rest of the album. They discuss the decision to record the track in an animated video for the UDiscover’s Beyond the Bus series.
Idol says the idea came to him while they were making the album at Electric Lady studios in New York.
“I always look for a song I could cover that people aren’t expecting,” he says, noting “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” “was one of those songs, I don’t know why, I thought I could take it and do something with it dramatically different and make it my own.”
It never made the album, though, because while they were working on the song, someone from Idol’s record company informed them Madonna had just recorded her own cover of the tune.
“Nothing sobers you up like having Madonna steal one of your babies,” Stevens says, with Idol adding, “so yeah, we decided to put it on the shelf, unfortunately.”
When they started putting together the 40th anniversary edition of Rebel Yell, they decided to revisit the cover, and Stevens added a bit of guitar to what was already recorded.
Idol shares that while Madonna’s cover is pretty faithful to the original, “I took it and made it into a rock song and I started to really scream the chorus.” He adds, “It came out fantastic.”
The Rebel Yell deluxe expanded edition will be released April 26. It is available for preorder now.
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
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