"Speed" is a song by British singer-songwriter

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 ...

, originally included in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

of the eponymous film. It was written by himself and by guitarist

Steve Stevens Steve Stevens (born Steven Bruce Schneider; May 5, 1959) is an American guitarist. He is best known as Billy Idol's guitarist and songwriting collaborator, and for his lead guitar work on the theme to ''Top Gun'' – " Top Gun Anthem" – for ...

, and released in August 1994 as the film's main song through Arista Records worldwide and Chrysalis Records in the United States.

Background

In early 1994, producers of the film ''

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (ma ...

'' chose record producer

Ralph Sall Ralph Sall is an American record producer, music supervisor, composer, songwriter and screenwriter. He is the president of Bulletproof Entertainment, a company involved in several facets of the entertainment industry, including film, television ...

as music supervisor of the

. Sall was in charge of creating a concept album with a compilation of new and old songs in different genres and featuring diverse artists, with a theme similar to this

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

. The resulting soundtrack contains songs about speed, cars or travelling. Shortly after, Sall contacted Bily Idol and his close collaborator, guitarist

, to compose and record the film's main song with lyrics inspired by its plot. By that time, Idol's career was convulsed and in full decline after the critical and financial failure with his album ''

Cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

'' (1993). In addition, he was facing economic differences with his record label (

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

), and his personal problems with drug abuse were on the rise. Thus, this new song was an important opportunity to return to his audience. "Speed" was composed and recorded in a short time in Los Angeles with the support of an uncredited band, possibly completed with drummer

Mark Schulman Mark Schulman (born September 4, 1961 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and corporate speaker. He performed with Cher as her tour drummer on her D2K Tour. Schulman is also a session drummer as well as a music producer, audio en ...

and bassist Larry Seymour (live members by that time). The song is based on a similar drum

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

and guitar riff that was the basis for Idol's "

Rebel Yell The rebel yell was a battle cry used by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Confederate soldiers used the yell when charging to intimidate the enemy and boost their own morale, although the yell had many other uses. No audio ...

" hit (1983), following the same formula in terms of feeling.

Release and promotion

Arista Records released "Speed" on

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

, CD, and

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

in the United Kingdom on 30 August 1994. The single includes three different versions of "Speed" and a live acoustic version of "

" (until then unreleased) accompanying the lead song only on the UK CD single release. In 2008, "Speed" was included in the compilation album '' The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself''. The single was promoted with a music video that mixed some of the most vibrant scenes of the film along with a fictional live performance of Billy Idol, Steve Stevens and the rest of their rock band.

Reception

On the US '' Billboard'' Album Rock Tracks chart, "Speed" peaked number 38 on 23 July 1994. On the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, it reached number 47 on 9 October that year, becoming Idol's last charting single in the UK.

Track listing

# "Speed" (single version) – 4:22 # "Speed" (extended version) – 5:22 # "Speed" (instrumental) – 5:23 # "

(acoustic version) – 5:35 * Track 4 was recorded at the

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The st ...

Acoustic Christmas concert on 11 December 1993 at the '' Universal Amphitheatre'', Los Angeles. Recording by Westwood One Radio.

Personnel

* Design – Jigsaw ondonLtd. * Engineering – Clif Norrell * Engineering ecording– Biff Dawes (track four) * Production – Billy Idol, Ralph Sall, Steve Stevens * Writing – Billy Idol, Steve Stevens

Charts

References

External links

"Speed" at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed (Billy Idol Song) 1994 songs 1994 singles Arista Records singles Billy Idol songs Chrysalis Records singles Songs written by Billy Idol Songs written by Steve Stevens Songs written for films Speed (film series)