Despite seeming the television- friendly caricature of the English punk with his trademark sneer and bleached spiky hair, Billy Idol lived as hard and fast as any rock star.

At the apex of his career, when he wasn't overdosing outside LA nightclubs or crashing his Harley Davidson, the man born William Broad in Middlesex conducted himself in a manner that would cause Caligula to blush.

Idol infamously did $140,000 damage to the penthouse suite of a Bangkok hotel during a three-week sex-and- drug bender in the early 90s. Eventually Thai soldiers carried him out strapped on a stretcher and sent him packing.

"I was very lucky," Idol guffawed during an episode of Behind the Music a few years ago. "I expect they could've put me in prison."

The former member of London punks Generation X and singer of 80s hits White Wedding, Hot in the City and Rebel Yell ("more, more, more") has never hidden his proclivities, making him perfect fodder for Behind the Music - or a warts'n'all memoir.

Funnily enough, Idol has just released his autobiography, Dancing With Myself. With chapters called "The Roar of a Lion and a Non-stop Global Orgy", "Drunken, Stupid and Naked" and, subtly, "Have a F… on Me", the pages are dripping with sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

"There was a lot going on those days . . . I'm sure there's a lot going on somewhere now," the 58-year-old chuckles down the phone from New York where he is spruiking the tome on "talk shows, book shows, news shows even, which I'm not usually on unless I've OD'd or something".

Idol knows he is lucky to be alive. "At least very lucky not to be brain-dead or in prison somewhere." Not long after the debauchery of Bangkok, the Cradle of Love singer seriously cut back his drug-taking so he would be around to see his children grow up.

"It takes a long time for drug addicts to see," Idol offers. "There's a honeymoon period and then it wears off. It takes you forever, 10 to 15 years really to see the honeymoon was over a long time ago."

Son Willem and daughter Bonnie Blue are now both in their mid-20s. Is he nervous about them picking up a copy of Dancing With Myself?

"They know their old man," Idol says. "They know the back story without knowing all the fine detail. There's that in the book if they need to know.

"It's just the way it was and I think they're kind of aware of it. I don't think they think very romantically about drugs. They've been too close to it all."

Idol spent six years writing the book, often working and reworking sentences so they not only made sense but looked good on the page.

"I'm a first-time writer," he says. "I really had to make sure what I was doing was good, not crap or half-arsed or something. It was a bit of a stretch for me so I really had to work at it to make sure it was what I wanted."

Towards the end of the writing process, Idol began work on his eighth studio album and first since 2006. Kings and Queens of the Underground was created with production giants Trevor Horn and Greg Kurstin, who co-wrote two tracks including lead single Can't Break Me Down.

The studio band featured long-time collaborator and guitarist Steve Stevens who will join Idol on tour in Australia next year. The visit includes his first ever Perth gig alongside US rockers Cheap Trick and Aussie veterans the Angels.

"Australian audiences are killer," says Idol, who scored his first Top 20 single in this country in 1982 with Hot in the City.

Seven more Top 20 singles, including Eyes Without a Face, Sweet Sixteen and the live Mony Mony, followed until Cradle of Love ended his run in 1990.

A decade earlier Idol quickly grasped the opportunities offered by MTV, crafting eye-catching and provocative videos for the 24-hour channel.

"There was a nightmare element about making videos," he says, referring to the low budgets and tight schedules.

Eyes Without a Face was reportedly shot in one marathon 30-hour session, while the gothic wedding of White Wedding co-starred Peri Lister, long-time girlfriend and mother of Willem.

"MTV really broke down resistance the old-school 70s radio had to the new 80s music. MTV was an important platform for me, and many others."

Funnily enough, before crossing the Atlantic to crack MTV and the US market, the rocker had already been part of a sonic revolution in the UK. While Idol was a big fan of 50s and 60s rock - he started buying Beatles albums at age six and appropriated his curled-lip from Elvis - the member of the so-called Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans recognised that punk successfully cleared the way for new sounds.

"Music was so exciting through the 60s, there were a lot of evolutions and revolutions," he says. "They petered out a bit by the mid-70s. We were left with a glut of what had happened blocking anything new.

"It was great there had been all these revolutions but now we had to have one of our own," Idol adds. "Get off our backside and do something. Johnny Rotten kind of commanded us to do it."

'Music was so exciting through the 60s, there were a lot of evolutions and revolutions. They petered out a bit by the mid-70s. We were left with a glut of what had happened blocking anything new.'

Billy Idol plays Kings Park on March 14 with Cheap Trick and the Angels.

Tickets go on sale on October 23 via Ticketmaster.

Kings and Queens of the Underground is released today. Dancing With Myself: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster, $32.99 paperback, $19.99 eBook) is out now.