Avril Lavigne has teamed up with ’80s rock legend Billy Idol for a new song celebrating rock ‘n’ roll rebellion through the decades.
The song is called “77,” as 1977 was considered to be ground zero for the British punk rock movement, of which Idol was a part. The song’s lyrics heavily reference that period of time, mentioning King’s Road, a main London shopping spot for British punks, and “Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die.” That’s a slogan also associated with James Dean, but it was adopted as the name of a London clothing boutique whose designs helped create the punk rock visual style of The Sex Pistols and other bands.
Avril and Billy sing, “I’m not the same as them, I never was/ Never gonna let us in to their club/ Know you gotta give it back as good as you get/ ‘Cause this is our time and this is our shot.”
The chorus goes, “She said she don’t wanna run anymore/ Don’t care about goin’ to Heaven/ She said do it like we did it before/ Fight back like ’77.”
“77” appears on Billy’s new album, Dream Into It, which is out on Friday and includes guest appearances by Joan Jett and Alison Mosshart of The Kills. Billy and Joan are touring together starting April 30. Billy is also nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; we’ll find out if he gets in Sunday night, when the inductees are announced live on American Idol on ABC.
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