Rebel Yell (song)

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Rebel Yell is the first song on the Billy Idol album of the same name. Given the lyrics of the song, many speculate it is about a man who falls in love with a girl after having a passionate one-night stand with her.

According to Billy Idol at a televised performance of VH1 Storytellers, the idea of a song thus entitled came to him at an event he once attended, where Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones were taking swigs of a "Rebel Yell" bottle of bourbon whiskey, a brand unknown to him, the name of which he liked; Billy decided and stated that he would set off to write a "Rebel Yell" song.

The song was co-written by guitarist Steve Stevens. The instrumental introduction, which sounds like a combination of electric guitar and electronic keyboard, is performed by Stevens on guitar alone, who intended it to sound this way. Stevens states that he was inspired by acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke's style.^[1]

The song has been covered by Children of Bodom, dope, HIM, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Bullets & Octane and several other artists / bands. It was sung by contestants Lukas Rossi and Toby Rand in Rock Star: Supernova. In one of the most memorable moments of the competition, Rand invited several random females from the audience up onto the stage to sing and dance with him.

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