Song · Billy Idol
“To Be a Lover” by Billy Idol
From the album Whiplash Smile (1986)
“To Be a Lover” by Billy Idol appears on 7 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1986 and 2003. It was first released in 1986 on the album Whiplash Smile. Its best result is #15 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #16 alternative song of 1986, #3,466 alternative song of all time and #252 of the '80s.
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Billy Idol dug into the Stax catalog for "To Be a Lover", the lead single from Whiplash Smile, his third album, in 1986. The song began life in 1968 as "I Forgot to Be Your Lover", a slow southern soul plea written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones, and Idol flips it into something else entirely: a revved-up, strutting rocker with a sneer where the tears used to be.
Keith Forsey produced and added synthesizer, Steve Stevens covered guitar, bass and keyboards with Idol pitching in, Richard Tee hit the piano, and Jocelyn Brown, Connie Harvey and Janet Wright bring gospel-sized backing vocals that keep the soul roots showing through the neon. It went to number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, his second American top ten.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 15 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986 | 107 |
| 1986 | 16 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1986 | 90 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 353 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) | 496 |
| 1989 | 452 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1998 | 471 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) | 488 |
| 2002 | 910 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 856 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
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