"Hot in the City" is a song by

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

, released as the lead single from his 1982 self-titled album. It charted at No. 23 in the US and No. 58 in the UK. A remix of the song was released in 1987 and reached No. 13 in the UK.

Track listings

*(1982) UK 7" vinyl single #"Hot in the City" #"Dead on Arrival" *(1982) UK 12" vinyl single #"Hot in the City" (Extended Version) #"Dead on Arrival"

1987 release

The Exterminator Mix of the song was released as a single in the UK on 29 December 1987. It charted higher in the UK this time round, peaking at No. 13 in early 1988. This version was first released in 1985 on the

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 2007 ...

Vital Idol ''Vital Idol'' is a remix album by English rock singer Billy Idol, released in June 1985 by Chrysalis Records. It contains remixed songs from his first two albums and the '' Don't Stop'' EP. The album was reissued in the United States with on ...

''.

Track listings

*(1987) UK 7" vinyl single #"Hot in the City (Exterminator Fix)" #"

Catch My Fall "Catch My Fall" is a song by Billy Idol from his 1983 studio album ''Rebel Yell''. It became the album's fourth and final single (released in 1984). It was written by Idol and produced by Keith Forsey. Critical reception ''Billboard'' said that ...

" (Remix Fix) *(1987) UK 12" vinyl single #"Hot in the City" (Exterminator Mix) #"

" (Remix Fix) #"

Soul Standing By "Soul Standing By" is a song by Billy Idol from his 1986 studio album ''Whiplash Smile ''Whiplash Smile'' is the third studio album by English rock singer Billy Idol, released on 20 October 1986 by Chrysalis Records. After his successful alb ...

Music video

There are two versions of the video. The first version (the 1982 version) starts off with a girl walking into a record store. She picks up a Billy Idol record and the song starts to play. The video features scenes from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, interspersed with stock footage of nuclear bomb tests. The second version (the 1987 version) depicted Idol's girlfriend

Perri Lister Perri Lister (born 10 April 1959) is an English former dancer, singer and actress. She was a dancer with the British dance troupe Hot Gossip which appeared regularly on ''The Kenny Everett Video Show'' in the late 1970s – early 1980s in the Unit ...

bound to a cross; it was banned by MTV.Billy Idol biography
The later version was included on the DVD edition of '' The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself''.

Other versions and covers

Although the released version of the song has Idol shouting "New York!", other versions of the song were recorded for various radio stations, including ones for such cities as "

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and th ...

", "

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

", "

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

", "

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

", "

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

", and "

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

", or none at all with a repeated synthesiser stab instead.

Appearances in other media

The song, with a remixed synthesizer intro, was used as the introduction for '' Booker'', the TV series spin-off of ''

21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural television series that aired on the Fox network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-loo ...

''. It is also featured in the 1988 hit film, ''

Big Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

'', starring Tom Hanks. The song was used by the NBA's Phoenix Suns during the introductions of the visiting team at home games during the team's run to the 1993 NBA Finals.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

*¹Re-released in 1987

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles 1987 singles Billy Idol songs Songs written by Billy Idol Song recordings produced by Keith Forsey Chrysalis Records singles