# Can you still be a brash, sneering punk at age 50? Billy Idol explores the envelope

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-a-brash-sneering-punk-at-age-50-billy-idol-explores-the-envelope/293213>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 6, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-a-brash-sneering-punk-at-age-50-billy-idol-explores-the-envelope/293213 "2005-03-06T16:04:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-a-brash-sneering-punk-at-age-50-billy-idol-explores-the-envelope/293213/1 "2005-03-06T16:04:54Z")

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[Ex-punk Billy Idol’s back - curled lip intact](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/287365p-245555c.html)

[God we were all so young then!](http://www.lukeman.com/images/jacket--images/idol.jpg)

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**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-a-brash-sneering-punk-at-age-50-billy-idol-explores-the-envelope/293213/2 "2005-03-06T17:35:52Z")

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Well, he doesn’t have another gig, does he! Gotta eat, and all that.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-a-brash-sneering-punk-at-age-50-billy-idol-explores-the-envelope/293213/3 "2005-03-06T18:00:20Z")

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Looking back at that Billy Idol cover and [numerous](http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/image/_/image/2/imageSize/medium/start/0/range/12/id/5392861/blindmelon?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregion=triple4) [others](http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/image/_/image/4/imageSize/medium/id/5392204/start/12/range/12?pageid=rs.PhotosGallery&pageregion=mainRegion) on _Rolling Stone_, I have to wonder, what took us so long to figure out that publisher Jann Wenner was gay?

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**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-a-brash-sneering-punk-at-age-50-billy-idol-explores-the-envelope/293213/4 "2005-03-07T01:05:25Z")

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I dunno. I’m thinking _wry and puckish_ works better than _brash and sneering_ after you pass 35 or so. (Just a question of toning it down a bit, really.)