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
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 293 →Maxi-multitasking.
That I don’t give myself enough credit.
Thinking that I’m right when I’m wrong. But not only that – being able to convince other people I’m right and then finding out I’m wrong.
Sharon Corr
Musical artist
Procrastination.
More from Billy Idol
View profile →Yeah, well, he died of too much of all the right things.
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’m the sexy sexagenarian. Then I’m gonna be the sexy septuagenarian, ha ha!
I have no real qualms with this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class, except, damn, Billy Idol should have made it.
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 was trying to put a sexy element into punk because that’s one thing that was missing from it.
More on identity & self
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Courtney Pine, Julie Andrews, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bobby Womack, Father John Misty, Chaka Khan
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