In a new conversation with Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS, Steve Stevens reflected on Brian May’s impact on Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell.’
When asked about the intro to ‘Rebel Yell,’ the guitarist replied by saying:
“I was really fortunate that we had our producer Keith Forsey, who was also just making a name for himself. So it’s really The Stooges, me, Billy and Keith. They always afforded me the opportunity to try things that were maybe a little bit outside of the box. And I think with ‘Rebel Yell,’ in particular I was adamant that I wanted to take the place of the keyboards that was so predominant and prevalent at that time, the early ’80s.”
Stevens detailed how May inspired him for ‘Rebel Yell’:
“Everybody had all the latest keyboards, digital and all this kind of stuff. I was a fan of the early Queen records and I loved the fact that Brian May had printed on the album. No synthesizers and I approached it… To those guys, I said, ‘Give me the opportunity to take the place of where keyboards would be. If I don’t do it, then bring in the keyboard.’”
Steve’s Earlier Words On The Song’s Intro
The intro to ‘Rebel Yell’ has a fast guitar part by Stevens that sounds like a keyboard riff. Stevens was tired of hearing keyboards in rock and pop songs, so he played keyboard-like parts on his guitar. When asked about the inspiration, Stevens previously mentioned:
“John Fahey, Leo Kottke. I started on guitar, about seven-and-a-half. That was on a crappy little nylon string acoustic and I didn’t get an electric guitar till I was 13. So that whole time is when all this Greenwich Village folk scene was really happening. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell — all these kinds of stuff. And that’s primarily what I played.”
‘Rebel Yell’ was featured in Idol’s 1983 album of the same name. Released as a single in January 1984, it initially reached Number 62 in the UK and Number 46 in the US. A 1985 re-issue became a big hit, peaking at Number 6 in the UK.
You can watch the rest of Stevens’ interview below.