When it comes to drugs and alcohol, there is a fine line between humorous debauchery and hardcore substance abuse. It is a fine line that many come to discover far too late, and one individual who is a part of that category of people is the British punk icon, Billy Idol.
Videos by American Songwriter
Idol is no stranger to late nights turning into early mornings, and consequently, Idol became sober in 1990 after he nearly lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. However, before Idol admirably got clean, he had an experience that mimicked the second installment of The Hangover franchise.
Thanks to Billy Idol’s animated and rambunctious personality, it’s fair to believe all the wild stories that come out of his mouth. Although when it comes to his 1989 vacation to Bangkok, Thailand, things start to become a bit preposterous. But, according to Idol himself and urban legend, everything that happened on the holiday is (allegedly) true.
How Billy Idol Made It Out of Thailand Alive, But Not Conscious
Years after Billy Idol left Thailand and got sober, he sat down with Louder Sound and recalled the wild getaway that nearly took his life. Funny enough, Idol didn’t talk about the trip as a traumatic incident, as he added some charismatic humor to his personal anecdote.
“We went there to have a whale of a time,” Idol started his story. “A sex holiday, really. But it got out of hand. Bad things started to happen. We were just going to drink and not take any drugs. After about a week, drinking all the time was getting really heavy, so we asked this cab driver if he could get us some bl—.”
The cab driver delivered. Well, kind of, as he did not give Idol and his friends c—. Rather, he gave them h—. So, for the rest of their time in Thailand, Idol and his friends got hooked on h—.
“This stuff was so strong and severely addictive that we then had to get off it before we could fly back home,” Billy Idol recalled.
That being said, Idol bought and started to take downers to curb the withdrawal symptoms.
“The only trouble was that we’d got a lot of Valiums and heavy tranquillisers,” he continued. “I don’t do well on tranquillisers at all. It just made me change personalities completely. I would become violent and start smashing things; I’d been lifting weights, so I was massively powerful. I think we went through a few hotels like that before the Thai army escorted me out of the country on a gurney [laughs].”
Allegedly, the Thai army sedated Billy Idol by shooting him with a tranquilizer dart. However, that is where the story’s legitimacy starts to become a bit grey. Regardless, Billy Idol left Thailand with minimal criminal punishment and, more importantly, his life.
Photo by Ross Marino/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.