Broken Records is here again, bringing you our search for the very worst album ever released in music history. This week Steve and Remfry are looking into the weird, wild and rarely wonderful world of Cyberpunk, the 5th studio album by the plastic punk superstar Billy Idol, released on the 29th of June 1993.

Billy Idol was, of course, a huge star as the 90’s came into view. With a string of MTV heavy hit singles in the previous decade he had become one of the music world’s most instantly recognisable faces. But the 1990’s was the decade that killed many a rock star, and Billy knew that he was going to have to fight off grunge if he was going to stay relevant. After nearly losing a leg in a motorcycle accident in 1990 he became fascinated with the underground subculture of cyberpunk, consuming the works of JG Ballard, Phillip K Dick and, most notably, William Gibson and using it as inspiration for a new record that was recorded completely at his home on a computer. In 1993! Imagine that! Idol ingrained himself so deeply into the subculture that he even set up an online account to chat to other cyberpunk aficionados and ask their advice on how the record based on the culture should look and sound. Still, when it came to the release of the record he might have wanted to listen to their advice a little more intently, as Cyberpunk is a messy dance rock concept album that bizarrely leans in on dated electronic sounds, cringe-y critiques of the LA riots, some exhausting new age hippie nonsense and a truly abysmal cover of The Velvet Underground’s Heroin. The critics hated it, it sold poorly, but, perhaps most gallingly for Idol, the cyberpunk community were furious. Trolling him on his personal email account and accusing him of appropriating their culture for his own financial gain. Obviously it was a different time, and that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore… little bit of satire for you there.

Billy Idol - Shock To The System

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